RoyalBlu

If the conference tournament is designed to make money ... the current format accomplishes that. If the MAC wants to reward the regular-season Champion, either don't have a tournament ... or seed the regular-season champion direct to the MAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP game. No in between bullshit. The rest of the league fights to play the champion. For the well-rested champion, it's one game, win or go home. Think of the crowd - both in the arena and on TV - on Saturday night to see if a rested undefeated Miami could finish the job, no matter what MAC team they played.

Note above ,,, meant to say NIT, not NCAA Tournament.

Money grab is right!!! So why f with it??? The 'reward' for winning the regular-season title is playing the No. 8 seed. No matter what you say, No. 1 should be able to defeat No. 8 even on a neutral court. If not, shame on you. If you go back to all 12 teams in the tournament. Top 4 get byes. And first round games on campus sites ... I think that (A) rewards the top 4 seeds with a bye, (B) gives all team a final chance at making the tournament ... and (C) still maintains the 3-games in 3-days in Cleveland. To me, that's the most fair scenario of all. If you want to add re-seeding after the first round, I'd be open to it. But beyond that what the MAC could actually do to 'reward' the No. 1 seed, is guarantee the MAC season champ (NOT THE HIGHEST REMAINING SEED) gets the league's auto bid to the NCAA Tournament ahead of any other team, plus the MAC pays to host an opening round NIT game. ADs really need to stop smelling themselves and screwing with a proven winning formula. EDIT: I meant to say 'auto bid to the NIT Tournament' ... it also has a very modest payout, which teams should be able to keep and not share. Combined with No. 1 seed, vs. No. 8 seed, in MAC Tournament and re-seeding after the first round, a trophy, a bag of chips .... and STILL getting rewarded with a modest NIT$$$ paycheck should be enough consolation for winning the regular season, but not the MAC Tournament. IMO. Per AI, in the NIT: Schools are given about \(\$4,000\) per game played, alongside having all of their travel, lodging, and tournament expenses covered. Additionally, host teams retain all gate receipts, parking, and concession revenues for their home games.

I think you are correct ... but at the same time shows the ADs ignorance. If they are so bummed by Akron's success the last thing they should be doing is making it easier for Akron to dominate, which is what a rule change like this does. GREAT FOR AKRON ... but over time it will water down the MAC. The other thing, that makes no sense, why set. the rules up to favor a program that has never won a NCAA Tournament appearance, and only rarely came close. AKRON IS THE DOMINANT MAC BASKETBALL POWER ... that is proven. As of now, Miami is a 2-year wonder and a 1-year unicorn. ADs seem to want to favor Miami, but in the long run are really favoring the Zips. Actually, I should probably just quietly stand by. But my college basketball fandom extends beyond one or two teams to the MAC overall and the sport in general. And a rule like this is favortism, not a balanced slate.

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.

I think there is merit to this idea: Add another conference to the mix either C-USA or Missouri Valley. The key game in the two-game series is the February game as that one puts the highest ranked KENPOM teams at that time in a pool the creates hed-to-hed matchups. The challenge will be figuring out home vs. away. Of course, just like Bracket Buster the back end teams won't want to be bothered with playing these ... BUT FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME/MID-MAJORS this could be a plus.

With 22 league games ... hopefully 2-3 high-major road games ... 2 Sun Belt games .. 1 DIII ... the rest should be 250-plus KENPOM games. If a couple of those are Horizon League road wins, that improves the metrics along with the W-L column. Looking at it another way; that's 11 home MAC games, 1 home Sun Belt game, 1 home D111 and at least 2-3 HBCU/Horizon home games. That's 16 home games which should be worth a minimum 13 wins in a down year and 16 in a good year. That leaves four road wins for a 20-win season. That down year means 3 home MAC losses but along with a .500 MAC road season still means 19 wins going into the MAC Tournament. AND THAT'S A DOWN YEAR. If YSU/CSU helps get more Joe Akrons to by a few more tickets. That's worth it.

Wasn't that long ago Akron-YSU-CSU-Kent played a rotational DH via Coaches For Cancer. It died when - as I understand it - game film was not shared as agreed upon between at least two of the programs. Considering Kent has continued to play CSU, the possibility exists some combination of Akron-YSU-CSU may have sent popcorn but not video. Just guessing.

Wait a minute ... neither Miller or Dorian are PGs. Both are shooting guards and listed as such. Jones might even be a wing, albeit a short one at 6-4. Their PG is Minnesota transfer Chansey Willis, who only played/started 7 games before being injured. But he was a stud at WMU before that averaging 16ppg and 5.8apg. True, Miller and Jones are more question marks with no D1 experience. But Kent has former 6th man Sumlin (injured last season) and All-Freshman Team guard Quinn Woidke in the wings with proven experience should those two fizzle.

With the exception of Peterson ... I really haven't heard of any of these guys. Either in HS or in college. The Johnson brothers have good HS reputations. But college???

Since when did NE Ohio have a legit Top 100 recruit after LeBron James?

Personally speaking, every top tier MAC team from last season is in some form of major transition at two or more positions. To start the season, bet on experienced coaching. The talent on the well-coached teams will flourish the second half of the season. The MAC schedule changes dramatically, a complete round-robin, so by Valentines Day the standings should be interesting ... yet still in a state of flux. Talent and good coaching down the stretch will show up well into the MAC Tournament.

He looks to be the perfect roster add at this point. No matter if he starts or comes off the bench. At minimum, he should be an 8pt, 6reb, 20-minute guy with ability to deliver much more at any spot along the baseline. Those kind of players are hard to find.

Two/three PGs, 2 post players and a bunch of 6-5, 6-6. wings that can shoot is the current formula for success both Akron and Miami have used the past few seasons. Add Toledo to that list and it's easy to see where MAC success in basketball is headed.

After he left ... Kent picked up a worse 'shooter' (less than 30% on 3s) but more familiar player in 6-0, 200lb Chansey Willis, who was pretty good at Western Michigan two years ago, 16pts, 5.8ass, but got hurt at Minnesota last year and played just 7 games.