As we mentioned on January 2nd, the MAC had some big games to play before conference game began. While a 2-4 record on Wednesday was less than we hoped, let’s compare Jan. 2 RPI rankings for the MAC to today.
MAC East
- Kent State - was #38, now #31 - a 29-point loss @ North Carolina on ESPN was apparently worth it
- Miami - was #28, now #33 - the RedHawks fall 5 spots despite no games this week
- Ohio - was #40, now #36 - a win over #205 Bucknell seems to help Ohio
- Akron - was #128, now #108 - a 2OT win would have looked a lot better, but playing Dayton on the road jumps Akron up 20 spots
- Buffalo - was #165, now #165 - no games, no changes
- Bowling Green - was #287, now #271 - a loss to Duquesne jumps BG up 16 spots
MAC West
- Toledo - was #113, now #106 - no games, but a slight improvement
- CMU - was #121, now #112 - no games, but a slight improvement
- WMU - was #164, now #178 - a win over a 1-16 team did not impress the computers
- NIU - was #240, now #229 - no games, but a slight improvement
- EMU - was #210, now #245 - another loss to another bad team drops EMU 35 spots
- Ball State - was #271, now #269 - no games, but a slight improvement
Assessment: Call me a MAC East fan or homer if you like, but MAC East contenders Miami, Akron, Ohio and Kent State need NO LESS than 5-1 or 6-0 records against the MAC West this season to maintain their RPI rankings and sweep of BG are going to be nearly essential as well. The best-case scenario, and it will not happen, would be for two teams to emerge dominant or at the very least, these four teams dominate the league and only lose to each other. While Akron’s RPI is similar to Toledo and CMU, there’s no doubt that Akron is a better team and their record shows it. For multiple bids in the NCAA Tournament, we need two to three dominant teams to have any shot. Good luck in conference play MAC teams!