MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

With 5 games played at MAC West arenas on Saturday, the West had a perfect chance to cut into the East’s 9-3 edge in head-to-head competition. Home court proved to be valuable for MAC West teams as Toledo upset Kent State, Western Michigan defeated BGSU and Central Michigan topped Buffalo in 2 overtimes, while East member Akron used another big second half to beat up EMU. Meanwhile Ohio and Miami won on the road as the Bobcats dominated NIU with a 20-point halftime lead and Miami handled Ball State.

With the overall record in head-to-head competition now at MAC East 12 - MAC West 6, a few takeaways I have from play thus far include the following:

• Kent State is a top-tier MAC team, but very beatable. With road games remaining @ CMU, Buffalo, BG and Akron, the Golden Flashes will reach their annual 20-win mark, but I do not see Kent State winning the remainder of their MAC games.
• Miami is a team nobody wants to play come Tournamnet time in March. Charlie Coles is starting to get his team going with 4 wins in their past 5 games.
• Ohio has the talent to win the remainder of their MAC games this season. Avoiding the upset bug on the road @ EMU this week and @ Toledo next week are critical given the Bobcats’ history of dropping MAC road games against lesser competition.
• Kent, WMU, Akron and Ohio look to be solidifying their places as the top 4 seeds heading into the 2008 MAC Tournament in March.
• Buffalo is not as bad as their 0-8 MAC record indicates. With 4 of their next 5 games at home, expect to see the Bulls pickup 2-3 wins for the home crowd.
• While WMU has a solid MAC record, I’d still rather get the #3 seed and be on WMU’s side of the bracket in the MAC Tournament than have the #1 or #4 seed. I am still not a believer in the Broncos, but they host Akron and Miami and travel to Athens to face Ohio in their next three. If they can take 2 of these 3 games I may change my tune.

Up next for the MAC in cross-divisional play this week includes:

• Tuesday - Buffalo (6-14, 0-8 MAC, RPI #259) @ Northern Illinois (5-15, 2-6 MAC, RPI #276)
• Wednesday - Central Michigan (9-11, 4-4 MAC, RPI #174) @ Bowling Green (10-10, 5-3 MAC, RPI #191)
• Wednesday - Ohio (15-6, 6-2 MAC, RPI #50) @ Eastern Michigan (7-13, 3-5 MAC, RPI #247)
• Wednesday - Ball State (3-17, 2-6 MAC, RPI #295) @ Kent State (17-5, 6-2 MAC, RPI #48)
• Wednesday - Akron (16-5, 6-2 MAC, RPI #75) @ Western Michigan (12-9, 6-2 MAC, RPI #163)
• Wednesday - Toledo (7-13, 4-4 MAC, RPI #186) @ Miami (10-10, 4-4 MAC, RPI #76)

The first two games of cross-divisional play in the MAC are in the books, and already the MAC is screwing up my thoughts on the MAC East vs. the MAC West. Ohio hosted Ball State and trailed 35-23 at the half, but Tim O’Shea’s club had enough to comeback and win 61-59. Meanwhile Akron visited Mount Pleasant, but nothing pleasant results for the Zips. Central Michigan out-shot and out-rebounded the Zips to hold on for a 65-64 win.

In the short term, the win helps Kent State, Ohio and Bowling Green in the MAC East and obviously helps CMU in the MAC West. The updated MAC basketball standings show Ohio and Akron tied in the MAC East, but the loss by Akron hurts Ohio & Kent State as well as Akron. With the RPI being a factor for the NCAA Tournament selection committee, The Zips are sure to fall from #71 with a loss to the #194 Chippewas. Kent State (RPI #33) and Ohio (RPI #36) will surely take a slight RPI hit as well as both teams benefit from the MAC East rivals playing a strong schedule with solid results.