MAC Basketball: East meets West
Conference play for MAC basketball teams can easily be divided into three segments. MAC teams play against division opponents for the first five games, they face the six teams from the opposite division, then they again face off with five games against their division rivals. We have completed the out of conference portion of the schedule, and we now know the results of the first segment of MAC play. Western Michigan leads the MAC West by a game at 4-1, but played 3 of their 5 against the MAC West at home and will have to play 3 of 5 on the road the second time through the MAC West schedule. Eastern Michigan is the surprising second place team in the West at 3-2 with all other MAC West teams tied at 2-3.
Meanwhile, the MAC East is where the class of the conference plays. No disrespect to the MAC West teams, but the most talented teams in the MAC hail from Kent, Akron, Oxford and Athens, Ohio. Meanwhile, Bowling Green looks better than expected, and while Buffalo’s MAC start is disappointing, I don’t think they are as bad as their 0-5 MAC start. BG’s 3-2 start is somewhat a surprise as wins at home over Ohio, Buffalo and Miami have the Falcon faithful hopeful.
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Back to the top tier MAC teams. Miami is staying on this list based on their RPI (#66); it’s hard to justify the RedHawks as a top-tier MAC team otherwise. But with wins over Xavier and Illinois and a coach named Charlie Coles, I will not count out Miami. Ohio (RPI #37) went 2-0 at home and 1-2 on the road in the first round against the East and lost in the final minute @ Akron and @ BG. However, the loss to Bowling Green not only hurts the Bobcats in the MAC standings, but also in the RPI. Akron fell last night @ Kent State (RPI #33), but playing against Miami, Ohio and Kent State boosted Akron’s RPI ranking from near 100 to #68 after last night’s loss. Akron and Kent State are 4-1 apiece currently with Kent’s lone loss @ Ohio, but both Kent and Akron have 3 road games remainning againt the MAC East.
The MAC East race may come down to how the East plays against the West, and anything less than 5-1 or 6-0 from Kent State, Akron and Ohio would be a major disappointment from their fans as well as for the MAC as a whole. In order to get the maximum national attention come March, the MAC would be best-served to have 3-4 dominant teams (based on what we have seen thus far). That having been said, a 6-0 run against the West for Kent, Akron and Ohio and solid 4-2 or better play for Miami, BG and Buffalo would help boost the MAC East as they head into the third segment of MAC play.
Tags: akron basketball, bg basketball, bowling green basketball, buffalo basketball, kent state basketball, MAC Basketball, miami basketball, ohio basketball, ub basketball
January 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
[...] MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports MAC football & basketball coverage from the staff at VanDelay Sports. « MAC Basketball: East meets West [...]
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February 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
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