Winsidr Power Rankings: Volume 4
Following the month-long Olympic Break, the WNBA is back!
With the resumption of the regular season, that also means we are back with another edition of our Winsidr Power Rankings, where our staff got together to update our ranking of all 12 teams in the WNBA.
The dash towards the postseason and earning the best possible seed is starting to heat up with a month left in the regular season. So far, one team has secured a playoff spot, that being the league-leading New York Liberty. With a little over a dozen games remaining, the other 11 teams will continue to fight for the final seven postseason spots.
As the year gets back underway and we head into the final stretch of the year, let’s jump into our latest Winsidr Power Rankings.
Biggest Increase – Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Los Angeles Sparks (+1)
Four teams are tied for the largest increase in our latest rankings, with the Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks all jumping up one spot.
Connecticut has had an up-and-down stretch in two games out of the break, splitting both of those road contests while now returning home for a pair of games against Los Angeles and Chicago. The Sun should not only be able to get back on track and remain near the top of the standings, but if they are able to get Marina Mabrey acclimated quickly, this team could be dangerous down the stretch.
Indiana could be a team that benefits the most from the Olympic Break, giving the young core time to regroup and recharge ahead of the final month of the regular season. The Fever have hit the ground running out of the break, winning both games while inching closer to Phoenix and the sixth seed. Over the first two games after the break, Indiana’s offense has turned things up a notch, owning a league-best offensive rating over the pair of contests.
The final two teams, Dallas and Los Angeles, have struggled as of late but have shown flashes of improvement to jump at least one spot in our rankings. The two still sit as one of the bottom four teams in the league, with Dallas going 3-7 over its last 10 games and Los Angeles holding a 2-8 record over the last 10 contests. Though these two squads look to be heading towards the WNBA Lottery when the season comes to a close, they do have some recent positives to try and build upon. For the Wings, getting Satou Sabally back will immediately boost the team alongside Arike Ogunbowale. For the Sparks, the recent play of rookie Rickea Jackson has been a bright spot, stepping up to lead the way for the team behind Dearica Hamby.
Biggest Decrease – Washington Mystics (-2)
The squad that saw the biggest drop in our Power Rankings is the Washington Mystics, who are back at the bottom of the WNBA standings and are tied with the Los Angeles Sparks with a league-long four-game losing streak.
Washington has once again dealt with injuries most of the season, something we have seen from the Mystics it seems like on an annual basis. Two key producers for Washington, Shakira Austin and Brittney Sykes, have only played for a combined total of 13 games this season (Austin, 8; Sykes, 5), which has fed into some of the struggles in the first three-fourths of the regular season.
Now that they are back to being fully healthy — at least for now — Washington could become more competitive down the stretch as seen in the first two games against Minnesota out of the break. But the Mystics also have one of the top five hardest remaining schedules in the league according to Tankathon, so they have their work cut out for them if they want to try and get out of the bottom of the WNBA standings.
Team to Watch – Indiana Fever
A team worth watching over the next few weeks and the final month of the regular season is the Indiana Fever. Not only is it worth watching the fun style of play of Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston and company, but the Fever look like they will end up being a playoff team and could improve their seeding before the postseason arrives.
Out of the Olympic Break, Indiana resumed play by taking down the Phoenix Mercury, a team right in front of the Fever in the standings, and the Seattle Storm, a top five team in the WNBA. The Fever enter the new week just two games back of Phoenix and the sixth seed, and if those two teams end up needing a tiebreaker to decide their playoff seeds, Indiana owns that tiebreaker behind a 3-0 season series advantage over Phoenix.
Over the final month of the regular season, the Fever also have one of the two easiest remaining schedules, meaning they could continue to rise up the standings while reaching the postseason for the first time since 2016. We all know eyes are already on Clark and the Fever, but now eyes could be on them because of their level of play as of late.
The post Winsidr Power Rankings: Volume 4 appeared first on Winsidr.
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