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Talk about a traffic jam at the top, how about a 4-way 6-3 tie in the East, which is really wide open now. In the West, UT is all alone at 6-3. Zips home game with UB Saturday is pretty big.

OU 83, Zips 82

WMU 67, Can't 66

UB 82, BSU 78

BGSU 76, CMU 74 (OT)

UT 84, EMU 60

NIU 69, MU 67

EAST

Zips 6-3

Can't 6-3

UB 6-3

BGSU 6-3

OU 3-6

MU 3-6

WEST

UT 6-3

CMU 5-4

WMU 5-4

EMU 3-6

NIU 3-6

BSU 2-7

Saturday's matchups:

6-3 UB @ 6-3 Zips

3-6 MU @ 6-3 Can't

6-3 BGSU @ 3-6 NIU

6-3 UT @ 2-7 BSU

5-4 WMU @ 5-4 CMU

3-6 EMU @ 3-6 OU

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The East is down to a 3-way tie at the top, and another co-leader will fall Tuesday when Can't visits the Zips.

Zips 75, UB 72

Can't 61, MU 60

BGSU 69, NIU 65

UT 72, BSU 61

CMU 70, WMU 65

OU 76, EMU 73

EAST

Zips 7-3

Can't 7-3

BGSU 7-3

UB 6-4

OU 4-6

MU 3-7

WEST

UT 7-3

CMU 6-4

WMU 5-5

EMU 3-7

NIU 3-7

BSU 2-8

Tuesday's matchups:

7-3 Can't @ 7-3 Zips

7-3 BGSU @ 5-5 WMU

7-3 UT @ 6-4 UB

6-4 CMU @ 4-6 OU

3-7 MU @ 3-7 EMU

2-8 BSU @ 3-7 NIU

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So, I'd say its clear to say we are rooting for WMU tonight, but should we cheer for Toledo or Buffalo? That seems like a tough call to me even with UB a game back and the Zips having games left with both, but Buffalo being on the road.

That is a tough call. But at the end of the season I'd rather be battling Toledo for the 1 and 2 seed than Buffalo and Can't for the 2 seed.

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IMO it won't matter. Buffalo is the tougher team. Toledo has more offensive talent but the chemistry is lacking some. Sometimes Juice just doesn't feel the need 0t to give it up so they can get a bit selfish. They also can get lazy on the defensive end. I would not at all be surprised to see the Bulls take them down by DDs.

I'll stand my ground for now proclaiming Buffalo to be the best and most complete team in a very tight conference.

Probably the best schedule of games the MAC could ever muster tonight. 3-4 really good ones on tap.

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I'll reserve my final judgment about Toledo until we play them at home next week.

But if Buffalo is really the best team in the MAC, and we just beat them, that would make me feel really good about our chances in March.

Call me a pessimist but I would consider it more of a case of. holding serve. I do see and agree with your POV though. No doubt, we proved that we can play with them and we are getting to be a mentally strong lot ourselves. I like that.

A loss at home to the Bulls would have been a tough hurdle to overcome for the team psyche, may have had some serious lingering effects.

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Probably best that UT beat UB as it gives the Zips a 2-game lead over the Bulls with a game at their place still left while the Zips' remaining game with UT is at the JAR. But you never know how it's going to shake out at the end of the regular season ...

Zips 61, Can't 52
BGSU 65, WMU 49

UT 92, UB 88
CMU 68, OU 57

EMU 83, MU 69

NIU 75, BSU 63

MAC STANDINGS

8-3 - UT*

8-3 - Zips

8-3 - BGSU

7-4 - Can't

7-4 - CMU

6-5 - UB

5-6 - WMU

4-7 - OU

4-7 - EMU

4-7 - NIU

3-8 - MU

2-9 - BSU

* Currently owns tie breaker for MAC tournament seeding

FRIDAY MATCHUP:

7-4 Can't @ 8-3 UT

SATURDAY MATCHUPS:

8-3 Zips @ 4-7 EMU

8-3 BGSU @ 2-9 BSU

7-4 CMU @ 6-5 UB

4-7 OU @ 3-8 MU

4-7 NIU @ 5-6 WMU

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Toledo went into Buffalo and went 12-14 on 3-point attempts. That's frigging ridiculous. That's 86%. Toledo, in my mind, is the most dangerous team in the MAC. They are just built to beat the other top MAC teams. Their problem is that they struggle against bad teams (though they are usually just good enough to win).

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The MAC is a top-10 conference for the first time since who knows when. http://www.rpiforecast.com/confrpi.html

Above the Missouri Valley, Conference USA, Mountain West, and nearly every other mid-major.

It's about time !!

Look at how competitive the league is this year? There's more than just a few tops teams, which had been the case for years. We've all known that that others needed to get better, which would make the league better..............and hopefully..........our top teams will be viewed differently at the end of the season.

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The MAC is a top-10 conference for the first time since who knows when. http://www.rpiforecast.com/confrpi.html

Above the Missouri Valley, Conference USA, Mountain West, and nearly every other mid-major.

Down side - how much better could the conference be? Sitting at 10 with an out of conference strength of schedule of 31 (with only 32 conferences plus independent NJIT). When people complain about out of conference scheduling (across the league) there is something to point at.

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The SWAC is #3 in conference OOC SOS yet #33 and dead last in conference RPI, so all those road losses to stronger opponents did nothing for their RPI. That along with the MAC's OOC SOS of #31 and RPI of #10 only goes to show that there is RPI value in consistent winning against weaker opponents.

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Comparing the MAC with the AAC is a great case study of how much value is available from beating stronger opponents.

The #10 RPI MAC's OOC record is 80-50 vs. 80-49 for the #8 RPI AAC.

The MAC's OOC SOS is #31 vs. #12 for the AAC.

The MAC's RPI forecast is 0.5174 vs. 0.5220 for the AAC.

So moving all the way up from the 31st strongest OOC SOS to the #12 strongest while maintaining the same won-lost record, which is easier said than done, doesn't really gain all that much.

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