clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Mystics fall to 10th in WNBA Power Poll

Stewart W. Small

The WNBA released its second power rankings poll on Tuesday. Given that the Mystics have a 1-3 record and were ranked eighth in the preseason, it's not a surprise that they fell to tenth in the second set of Power Poll Rankings.

Here is the full list below:

Rank Team Points Previous Week High Low
1 Lynx (13) 167 1 1 2
2 Sparks (1) 152 6 1 2
3 Liberty 130 4 3 6
4 Wings 121 7 3 8
5 Fever 120 5 2 7
6 Dream 95 11 5 9
7 Sky 81 3 4 9
8 Mercury 69 2 5 11
9 Storm 65 9 7 11
10 Mystics 39 8 9 12
11 Sun 37 10 9 11
12 Stars 16 12 11 12


The poll doesn't stop with the aggregate. Here are the voters, who they write for, and where they ranked the Mystics:

Voter Writes for Twitter Ranked Mystics
Rhiannon Potkey Ventura County Star @Rpotkey 10
John Altavilla Hartford Courant @jaltavilla 9
Deb Antonelli ESPN @debbieantonelli 11
Michelle Smith ESPN @macsmith413 10
Mechelle Voepel ESPN @mechellev 9
Patricia Babcock-McGraw The Daily Herald @BabcockMcGraw 10
Kent Youngblood Minnesota Star Tribune @BloodStrib 10
Percy Allen Seattle Times @percyallen 12
Terrence Thomas San Antonio Express-News @en_terrence 11
Brian Gosset Fort Worth Star-Telegram @Gosset 12
David Woods Indianapolis Star @DavidWoods007 10

I'm not surprised that Washington dropped in the rankings from last week. And you shouldn't be surprised that some voters have placed them last considering that they lost three straight games at home fighting uphill battles every time.

The Mystics are 1-3, lost their three games by double digits, and ninth in offensive and defensive team rating. Their lone win came against a Connecticut Sun team that they also struggled with until overtime.

Before you start hitting the panic button on the Mystics' season, it should also be noted that they lost to the Sparks, Liberty, and Wings who are the second through fourth ranked teams in the league. Bottom line, the Mystics' schedule has been tougher than most other teams over the first week of the season.

In addition, they have some players out due to injury like Ivory Latta, and many players like Emma Meesseman and Kia Vaughn did not report to camp on time. It's not an excuse, but the Mystics are still playing their way back into form.

It's still early though and the Mystics can still catch up this season in the power rankings, and more importantly, the standings. They will play the ninth-ranked Storm on Thursday night followed by a Sunday match against the eighth-ranked (but probably underrated) Mercury this week. Barring two consecutive blowout wins, it's unlikely that the Mystics will suddenly catapult into the Top-4, but either way, they need to play better this week against two tough teams in the Western Conference.