Leaderboard

Here's some scuttlebutt ... hearing the MAC ADs want to go back to a double-bye for MAC BB regular season champ and second place. Coaches, so far, are not on board. ADs spooked by Miami's first-round MAC Tournament loss to UMass, but, IMO, completely ignore the fact Miami needed at least 4-6 last possession wins during the regular season. Also, Akron's last-possession jump shot kept 4-seed Toledo from pulling an upset. All credit to Miami for its undefeated season. But let's recognize that was a unicorn. In this age of Portal/NIL the best MAC team may not emerge until February. The best thing the MAC has is the men's BB Tournament. The ADs should figure out FB revenue, and not F+CK with the Golden Goose. Miami's unicorn season got the MAC a 6-year boost in NCAA Tournament revenue, thanks to (1) making the 68-team cut and (2) winning a PIG (Play In Game). I wouldn't expect another MAC team undefeated BB season until ... who knows when ... now that there is a 22-game schedule. These ADs are short-sighted idiots, looking at end results and not the overall product. Yes Akron has dominated the last three to five seasons. Eastern Michigan has had a run, Miami has had a run, Ball State has had a run, Kent State and Ohio have had runs. Why stack the deck? 1) Akron's BB 3-peat success in the MAC Tournament have all come down to the last possession. 2) Those 3 title games were against an 8-seed, a 2-seed and a 4-seed. The beauty of Akron's MAC Tournament success is the Zips have won against a level playing field, on a neutral court, against all (equal) odds. If the MAC ADs want to stack the deck for the MAC regular-season champion, Miami, let the regular-season champ host the tournament on its home court. Toledo would have hosted three straight, I believe. Certainly they would have won one of those. ADs need to take your AD pampers off, put your britches on, and man-up. I would be shocked if Dustin wants anything other than a 'true' MAC Tournament. And he should say that to the AD. SCUTTLEBUTT NO. 2: The Sun Belt Challenge is expected to continue. Final thought: If the ADs want to re-seed the MAC Tournament after the first round, I would be consider that. (But understand, if that had been the case this year, the Zips would have played a very physical UMass in the semifinal ... and we have seen over the years physical defensive teams consistently pull upsets in the MAC Tournament.

And to the surprise of no one, as soon as a couple teams weren't as competitive as they magically thought they would be sans Louisville, the EBC will be itself dead in a couple years.

Looks like it may have been sold again.

A big reason why they went away from the double bye was because schools thought it was too over powered and used it as an excuse for why Akron constantly made the finals under Dambrot. Now that both Toledo and Miami got embarrassed by an early upset a few years apart and Akron is dominating even more so than before they want to make changes once again. It seems the other ADs are just tired of Akron winning.

It's surprising how consistently bad women's basketball has been. They have access to the same training facility and analytical tools men's basketball has. I know they don't have the same NIL that the men's program has, but none of the MAC women's programs are spending big dollars on NIL.

Props to him not just sipping martinis from the balcony of his beachfront condo like I probably would.

Thanks, happy to do it. I think the offense could be really good this year. If Poffenbarger plays as well as I think he can, he’ll be a candidate. I’d be surprised if Mason and Williams weren’t selected at WR. There’s a chance both Patrick and Gant will be worthy, but neither make it if snaps are split fairly evenly. In that situation they wouldn’t have the same amount of opportunities as some of the other backs in the conference. Lyons and Jones are probably the best candidates along the OL. I think the collective parts of the defense will make it solid, but I’m not sure if we’ll have that many standouts this year. I like Hull at DT, but for some reason even when we’ve had strong DT play in the past, our players have been passed over. Then at DB, White at CB and David at safety could be candidates it if they can stay healthy.