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.

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)

In my post nearly a week ago that looked at the MAC East vs. the MAC West games for 2008, I made it very clear that teams in the MAC East needed to post a stellar record against teams in the MAC West in order to maintain their much stronger RPI rankings and keep Kent State, Ohio & Akron alive for a potential at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. We have now completed 2 of the 6 cross-divisional games for each of the MAC’s 12 basketball programs and all I can say is so far, so good.

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Over the weekend, Ohio edged Ball State, Miami topped EMU, Kent State defeated WMU and BG knocked off NIU, but all four were home wins for these MAC East teams. Meanwhile, Akron fell @ CMU and Buffalo remained winless in the MAC losing @ Toledo. While the MAC East went 4-2, they went 0-2 on the road. In mid-week games, Ohio used a strong 2nd hald to crush CMU and Akron did the same to beat Toledo, while BG, Kent & Miami all scored road wins. Only Buffalo lost in midweek play as the Bulls fell at home to WMU in OT. A 5-1 midweek performance with a 2-1 home mark and 3-0 on the road.

Overall, with 12 games in the books and 24 remaining between the MAC East and MAC West in the regular season, the East holds a commanding 9-3 edge going 6-1 at home and 3-2 on the road. Meanwhile, Saturday features 6 MAC match-ups with MAC East teams on the road in 5 of those 6 games. Only Akron plays a home game as they host EMU. Ohio is @ NIU, Miami @ Ball State, Kent @ Toledo, NG @ WMU and Buffalo @ CMU.

Prediction time. The East is clearly the better division, but Akron has already disappointed with their loss @ CMU last weekend, and Ohio is notorious for blowing a road game or two against lesser competition. They already did so @ Bowling Green, and I see them doing the same @ NIU or @ EMU next week. Kent is tough, but Toledo is better than their record indicates. The East goes 3-3 this weekend with Miami, BG and Buffalo all falling. Expect Miami to lose in the final minute of the game while WMU handles BG by 4-8 points and UB continues to struggle. Kent State wins by 10 @ Toledo, Ohio sets the Bobcat faithful up for disappointment by winning @ NIU before losing to EMU this week, and Akron handles the Eagles with a strong 2nd-half run.

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.

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.

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.

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MAC teams have some big games coming up on January 2nd as Kent State and Akron face Top 20 ranked teams and 6 MAC teams have games on the 2nd. Ohio, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Bowling Green all are in action along with Kent State and Akron. The Zips (10-2) are @ #20 Dayton (11-1) at 7 pm while Kent State is @ #1 North Carolina (13-0) @ 8 pm on ESPN.

It’s MAC Basketball time and it appears that again this season the MAC East is going to be the power of the Mid-American Conference. While there have not been a lot of marquee wins in 2007 thus far, Ohio’s win @ Maryland last night inspired me to take a deeper dive into the MAC East teams to date in 2007.

Kent State 8-2 - The Golden Flashes have started strong at 8-2 with solid wins over George Mason, Illinois State and St. Louis. A loss at nationally-ranked Xavier should help in the RPI, but an opening loss @ Detroit will hurt. A amatch-up with #1 North Carolina will prove to be a test and a SOS boost.

Akron 6-2 - The Zips look a lot like the 2006-2007 team that fell short of the postseason despite the MAC’s top record and #1 seed in the MAC Tournament. Losing to perennial Big Dance participant Wintrop is not a bad loss at all, but Portland State, the other team that beat the Zips, does not exactly have the media clamoring over their NCAA Tournament pedigree. A win over Mountain West member Wyoming is solid.

Ohio 6-2 - Ohio has been up and down this season starting 2-0, dropping two close games on the road @ Holy Cross and @ Temple, then winning 4 straight including a win @ Maryland. Temple appears rather mediocre this season and Holy Cross is 7-1, but both will hurt the Bobcats resume. The wins over New Mexico State and Maryland are impressive and should help their RPI. Ohio has a visit to #3 Kansas coming up this weekend.

Miami 4-3 - Charlie Coles has the RedHawks doing what they do every season; playing a tough non-conference schedule and pulling off an upset or two. Miami already has solid wins over Mississippi State, Xavier and Indiana State and their SOS should be solid with losses to Louisville, USC and Dayton. The RedHawks still have games @ Illinois, @ #3 Kansas and @ Cincinnati remaining and should have the highest Strength of Schedule in the MAC this season.

Buffalo 5-4 - The UB Bulls pulled off a mild upset over Big East member USF and have losses to #17 Pittsburgh, and UConn which whould help the SOS and RPI. However, losses to mediocre Niagara and a poor Florida International will be killers in the RPI. UB still has @ Wyoming on the schedule before MAC games begin.

Bowling Green 4-4 - BG defeated in-state rival and Big East member Cincinnati which will help their SOS, but all of their 4 losses were to mediocre teams which will hurt in the RPI. BG has games with Missouri Valley Conference members Illinois State and Indiana State remaining before MAC play.

Overall, I think the standings are fairly accurate to date. BG and Buffalo will hold onto the 5th and 6th spots in the MAC East as Miami, Kent, Ohio and Akron will once again beat each other up for the MAC East title and #1 seed in the 2008 MAC Tournament.