Player of the Week:
Michael Rataj (Jr., Oregon State)
If you watched the Gonzaga vs Oregon State game, you would see who the stud of the game was and that was Michael Rataj. His play in that game carried over from the game before when he and Oregon State took on Pacific where Michael had 15 points 9 rebounds and 5 assists in that game where they won in blowout fashion 91-55. He then had arguably one of his best games so far this season against Gonzaga where Oregon State pulled out an OT game win. Rataj finished with 29 points 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Michael has been great this season. He is averaging 17.2 points per game, which is 101st in the country, then also 8.4 rebounds per game being 51st in the country.
Who’s Hot:
Bent Leuchten (Sr., UC Irvine)
Having back-to-back double-doubles will definitely get you in the column of who’s hot and that is exactly what Bent Leuchten has done this week. In both of UC Irvine games this week Bent has been a huge reason that they won both of those games. In UC Irvine game against UCSD Bent finished the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Then followed that performance up with another double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Look out for this UC Irvine team and also Bent Leuchten.
Taelon Peter (Sr., Liberty)
Although Liberty has lost their two games this week you can’t blame Taelon for those losses, he has been great for this Liberty team with him coming off the bench. He is only averaging 11.9 points per game this season, but he definitely made that average go up. In Liberty first game this week Taelon played 32 minutes of the bench and finished with 33 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 55% from 3pt and 69% from the field. That hot hand continued in the next game where he had 20 points 6 rebounds and 2 assists. He finished that game shooting 50% from 3pt line.
Who’s Not:
Colby Rogers (Sr., Memphis)
In Memphis up and down season they can’t lean on Colby for solid play that much throughout the season especially the last two games for Colby have been rough. In his first game this week he only had 9 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists where he shot 42.9% from the 3pt line and 33.3% from the field. Then in his game it was not any better for him he finished that game with 6 points and 1 assist in 30 minutes of playing time. That game was against Temple where Memphis actually got upset and lost 88-81.
Tyrone Riley IV (Fr., San Francisco)
The past two games for Tyrone have been rough. He has not reached double digits in scoring in either of the past two games. In San Francisco game against Santa Clara Tyrone finished the game with only 7 points 4 rebounds where they lost that game 77-54. Then Tyrone followed that game up with another bad game with 5 points and 5 rebounds. San Francisco did win that game against Pepperdine with a final score of 80-63. Tyrone did start the season off very hot with a couple of solid games. He is just in a recent slump that he will look to get out of with their next game against Oregon State. Regardless, Riley is a prospect with a pbright future.
Top 5 teams outside the Power 5 Conferences
5. UC Irvine – Big West
There has been a new team added into my rankings of the top 5 teams outside of the Power 5 Conferences and that is UC Irvine. Sitting at 6-0 in conference play they sit at the top in 1st place in their conference. UC Irvine has been on a heater lately. They are riding a 6-game winning streak bringing their overall record to 16-2.
4. Utah State – Mountain West
Utah State has dropped a spot in my rankings after a 3-point loss to UNLV on Wednesday night. It was a close game and a good game, and they were the away team but probably still shouldn’t have lost. Utah State is still a very solid team and also 6-1 in conference play making them tied for 1st place in their conference. They are also still 16-2 on the season Utah State will look to bounce back and get back in the win column when they play Nevada.
3. Saint Mary’s – West Coast Conference
With Utah State loss this week Saint Mary’s has jumped them in my rankings. I really think Saint Mary’s is starting to figure it all out for this team. They are on a 5-game winning streak and are also 5-0 in conference play giving them the 1st place spot in their conference as of right now. I would not be shocked to see them ranked in the top 25 soon.
2. Memphis – AAC
Memphis had the chance to jump Gonzaga in my rankings this week, but they lost to Temple on Thursday night. Temple gave Memphis their first conference loss of the season. It was a close game, but Temple did come away with an 88-81 point game. Memphis is still 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in conference play they just need to stop losing games they should not lose.
1. Gonzaga – West Coast Conference
Gonzaga got lucky this week with their loss as every other team also lost so that is why they are still where they are being the best team outside of the Power 5 Conferences. Gonzaga lost to Oregon State on Thursday night as well. The final score was 97-89 giving Gonzaga their first loss in conference play. They will look to bounce back Saturday night against Santa Clara which I think they will.