MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

It is sometimes said that a team may”grasp defeat from the jaws of victory,” and nothing could prove more true than the Ohio Bobcats loss at Toledo on Wednesday night. Ohio lead 45-35 with 6:43 to play then saw Toledo go on a 13-2 run to take a 48-47 lead at the 1:23 mark. Ohio then battled back to take a 52-48 lead with 41 seconds to play only to give away the victory in a game that featured 40 total fouls, 25 of which were called against the Bobcats. Meanwhile, the Akron Zips proved their mediocrity by losing at home on Tuesday night to the NIU Huskies, a team that has been ranked as one of the bottom 50 Division I programs by the RPI most of the season. Akron (17-7) fell 88-78 to NIU (6-17) as the Zips and Bobcats remain tied at 7-4 in MAC play heading into the final 5 games of the MAC regular season. But Ohio and Akron were not the only MAC East teams to lose this week as the MAC West won 5 of the final 6 cross-divisional games. With the West securing a 5-1 completion to the matchup of the East vs. the West, the East ended 22-14 against the West despite a 21-9 record heading into February 12th games.

I have watched enough seasons of MAC basketball to know that we probably will not be a 2-bid league yet again this season. Kent State could potentially sneak into strong at-large consideration. At 20-5 with an RPI ranking of #53, Kent State has 3-4 games with Top 100 RPI teams (Akron ranks #108 and is a win or two from being Top 100). With wins at home over Ohio (#61), Miami (#82) and a tough road matchup @ RPI #21 St. Mary’s, the Golden Flashes could move up enough if they can win all the way to the MAC Championship game. Outside of Kent, only Ohio as an outside chance at even sompeting for at-large consideration, but at 16-8 and a RPI rank of #61, Ohio needs to win out thanks to last night’s embarassing loss.

In the end, I expect we will see the “same old, same old” with the MAC in 2008; one team making the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Hopefully that one team will at least get a win or two for the first time in years.

As we mentioned, January 2nd was a night of big games in the MAC, and MAC basketball teams came to play. Western Michigan tipped off hosting North Carolina Central and cruised to a 77-43 victory to improve to 6-7. Ohio played @ a dangerous Bucknell but escaped with a 53-47 win to improve to 9-4.

Akron travled to Dayton and took the #20 Flyers into 2OT’s before falling 83-80 to the #20-ranked team in the nation. Akron drops to 10-3 with the loss. Kent State (10-3) played in a hostile Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC, falling to #1 North Carolina by a score of 90-61.

Unfortunately more losses plagued the MAC despite lesser competition. Eastern Michigan fell to 4-8 overall with a 70-68 home loss to Chicago State. Menawhile, Bowling Green lost a home game to A10 member Duquesne by a final score of 96-78 to fall to 5-7 on the year.

Buy Ohio Bobcats merchandise, Kent State clothing & apparel & more through VanDelay Sports.