MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

Bracket Buster Saturday for the MAC started slow with an Akron loss, received a boost with a Ohio comeback victory, then continued to show why many feel the M.A.C. stands for “Mediocre Athletic Conference.” In typical up-and-down MAC fashion, the MAC went 5-5 through the first 10 games, thus blowing a great opportunity to improve the conference RPI in these 10 games. It’s now up to Kent State to pull off the upset @ St. Mary’s and firmly plant the Golden Flashes on the bubble. Ohio remains the only other MAC team with legitimate at-large chances, but even the Bobcats need a hot streak and more than a little help.

• Kent State (22-5, #39) @ St. Mary’s (22-3, #26)
• Ohio (17-9, #59) vs. George Mason (19-8, #68) - Ohio wins 69-57
• Akron (19-7, #91) vs. VCU (20-6, #60) - Akron falls 57-52
• Miami (13-12, #87) @ Valparaiso (13-12, #130) - Miami falls 99-94 in 2 OT
• Western Michigan (15-10, #140) @ UW Green Bay (13-13, #133) - WMU wins 74-67
• Bowling Green (11-14, #208) @ Detroit (6-19, #280) - BGSU wins 81-65
• Eastern Michigan (10-15, #223) vs. SE Missouri State (10-16, #277) - EMU wins 86-82
• Buffalo (7-17, #272) vs. Youngstown State (7-18, #194) - UB wins 95-82
• Toledo (8-16, #203) vs. Delaware (11-15, #182) - Toledo falls 77-69
• Central Michigan (10-13, #175) @ Missouri State (12-15, #156) - CMU falls 90-76
• Ball State (5-20, #281) @ Eastern Kentucky (11-13, #245) - Ball State falls 51-48

Trailing 32-19 at the half, things did not look good for the Ohio Bobcats on Bracket Buster Saturday. Trailing 28-11 in the first half it looked even worse. But Ohio’s 8-0 second half lead got them back in the game then a fantastic half by Bubba Walther and the Bobcat offense lead Ohio to a 50 second half points. Ohio outscored George Mason 50-25 in that second half en route to a 69-57 win over the RPI’s 68th-ranked team giving Ohio a 5-5 record against the RPI Top 100 and keeping Ohio’s NCAA Tournament dreams alive. Coming in at #59 in the RPI themselves, the Bobcats should get a nice boost from the win.

With the win, the MAC improves to 1-1 in the Bracket Buster games played so far today with Akron losing vs. VCU earlier in the day.

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After an early basket made it 32-21 the second half of George Mason @ Ohio looked a lot like the first half with turnovers and sloppy basketball. But Ohio senior Bubba Walther responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the George Mason lead to 5. With 15:59 remaining in the game, Ohio now trails George Mason 32-27 after having trailed by as many as 17 in the first half.

Bracket Buster Saturday has proved to be a huge disappointment for the MAC thus far as the Ohio Bobcats trail the Patriots of George Mason at the half 32-19. Ohio’s shooting was ice-cold as the Bobcats made just 4 of their first 20 attempts from the field and trailed by as many as 17 at 28-11 with 5 minutes left in the half. The Bobcats went on a modest 8-4 run to close the half in an effort to get back into the game. George Mason (19-8, #68 RPI) comes into the game 7-7 in road and neutral-site games while Ohio (17-9, #59 RPI) enters Saturday’s contest 10-0 at home on the season.

DFN Sports and partner sites feature Ohio Bobcats merchandise & George Mason apparel for fans of both schools.

There’s no single day where a conference can improve their RPI better than in the Bracket Buster games each year, yet each season the MAC proves why we are a one-bid league. Mediocre showings in the annual Bracket Buster games are becoming expected, and while Akron fought hard at home agains a talented VCU team, the Zips had muliple chances to make a better game of it as they fell to VCU 57-52. The key stat of this game was shooting as Akron was ice-cold all day long. Akron shot 28.3% from the field (13-46) for the game and had just one player, Cedric Middleton (17 points), in double-figures scoring.

The O’Reilly Bracket Busters have begun as Colonial member VCU (20-6, #60 RPI) is in Akron (19-7, #91 RPI) facing the Zips. With an 11 am tip-off, the VCU @ Akron game marks the first game of the day for both the MAC and the Bracket Buster match-ups. At halftime, Keith Dambrot’s Akron team holds a slim 24-23 lead after a sloppy and slow first half from both teams. We’re not sure if VCU Fears the Roo, the 2007 Capital One Mascot of the Year, but what we do know is that we have a good game going on in Akron.

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