MAC Games 2015-2016

[zippyfan34]

Starting a thread to discuss other MAC teams games this season. Central played 6 guys over 25 minutes, 1 8 minutes, 1 6 minutes and 1 1 minute. Surprised they didn't rest their starters more.

MAC favorite Central Michigan struggled a bit with Alma College tonight. They won 79-64. Alma is a D-3 school similar to Hiram which posted similar record last year as both had 11 wins.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400841910

[wadszip]

Starting a thread to discuss other MAC teams games this season. Central played 6 guys over 25 minutes, 1 8 minutes, 1 6 minutes and 1 1 minute. Surprised they didn't rest their starters more.

MAC favorite Central Michigan struggled a bit with Alma College tonight. They won 79-64. Alma is a D-3 school similar to Hiram which posted similar record last year as both had 11 wins.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400841910

While a 15-point win is a bit surprising, the fact they couldn't dominate a D3 team without Fowler, like Akron did, isn't. CMU has very good top end talent, led by Chris Fowler. But hey aren't nearly as deep as Akron, which could've played the walk-on from Manchester, the ex-manager and the last three scholly players off the bench for 40 minutes and still beat a D3 school by 15.

Once Fowler is back, CMU will have their three-headed monster of him, Rayshawn Simmons and John Simons, that could beat anybody in the league. But it seems like they will have to rely heavily on those three to have a shot at winning the MAC.

In basketball, though, having three great-to-very-good players (for the MAC level) will keep them near the top. Luckily, Akron's top-end talent can hang with CMU, and Akron's depth is way better.

[ace]

Central is going to be very tough with Fowler back. He's pretty much the consensus best player in the league coming into the season. They kind of remind me of the DJ Cooper-led OU teams...space the floor with lots of great shooters, both had very veteran laden teams, and outstanding point guards. Like OU, they could get hot and make a run in the tourney if they were to get that far. However, I think they are just as likely to flame out and go cold. For example, they lost by 20 last year to bottom-feeder Ball State on an off shooting night. For as good as they can be offensively (Kenpom has them as the 21st most efficient offense in the nation), they have quite a poor defense (264th), so they really are a very hit-or-miss ballclub.

CMU, along with us, are likely the two best teams in the MAC, and with the way schedules worked out were going to get to play them twice, which should both be great match-ups. Last year's game had an interesting dynamic of us pounding them inside while they got streaky from 3 to keep it close...one of the more entertaining games of the year I thought. The inside-outside, offense-defense match-ups with us this year will be exciting.

Elsewhere in the MAC, Buffalo proves how much the offseason turmoil hurt them, as they got smoked by a good-not-great Old Dominion. ODU is pretty comparable to a lot of the high-level MAC teams in terms of quality, so we'll see how telling that result is.

Northern Illinois is already 3-0 and have a OOC schedule full of cupcakes so they could conceivably reach MAC play with something like a 10-2 record. I don't think there's much there, but who knows, they could potentially be a dark horse team to watch out for, same as Central last year.

The bobkitties seem improved. Haven't played a good team yet, but they seem better than last year's trainwreck. Transfers Jaaron Simmons and Kenny Kaminski, a former Medina product, are two very solid newcomers for them.

[zippyfan34]

I didn't realize Fowler was out. That definitely makes a difference.

[LoyalZIP]

I didn't realize Fowler was out. That definitely makes a difference.

http://www.hustlebelt.com/2015/11/17/9752698/cmu-guard-chris-fowler-out-for-a-couple-of-weeks-with-injury

[Z.I.P.]

I see on WatchESPN (waiting for Akron vs Ark) that Cincinnati has 20-16 lead on BeeGee, at the Stroh Center. AND, there appear to be plenty of empty seats in that bandbox!

[ace]

Buffalo's downfall continues. Got their doors blown off yet again, this time by St. Joe's, a middle of the road A-10 team.

Can't currently losing to Southern Illinois.

MAC East is weak this year (not that the west is any better).

[LoyalZIP]

Can't loses to a bad SIU team, shooting 16-36 at the free throw line.

EMU loses at Oakland

Buffalo crushed by St. Joes

Toledo pounds YSU

Cincy beat BG by 33 at Stroh

[The Hip Zip]

Can't loses to a bad SIU team, shooting 16-36 at the free throw line.

EMU loses at Oakland

Buffalo crushed by St. Joes

Toledo pounds YSU

Cincy beat BG by 33 at Stroh

I'll give EMU a mulligan with Raven Lee suspended. They have a couple of young guys that can play and can be a big factor in the west, Losing to Oakland is no disgrace, the Griz are very, very good. Can't is still bad as evidenced by the Pengs taking them down to the wire in the first game of the DH, Despite being hit hard by graduation Toledo can play.. Booth has a really nice inside/ out game, great touch for a big.

Edited November 20, 2015 by The Hip Zip

[Balsy]

Good lord does our Basketball and Soccer teams need out of the MAC...

[LoyalZIP]

Good lord does our Basketball and Soccer teams need out of the MAC...

Let's win an NCAA tournament game or two in basketball first

[lance99]

Good lord does our Basketball and Soccer teams need out of the MAC...

Who are we going to dial?

The only options would be the OVC(again) and the A-10 with Football dying on the Independent vine. Just stay the course for right now(I know I hate it also).

[LZIp]

Ohio blew a 19 point second half lead to Tulsa today to lose 90-88. Tulsa seems like a decent team, they just beat #9 Wichita State the other day.

Saul Philiips had this classy quote after the game:

Jason Arkley ‏@JasonAmessenger

"They have 9 seniors, we have 1. When those guys are selling car insurance, we'll be winning championships." -- Phillips

[The Hip Zip]

MAC related.....

Great to see John Groce and Illinois get handled on their own floor by the U T Chattanooga Mocs. Sitting on the Mocs bench was a familiar face. None other than Reggie Witherspoon who is now an asst. coach there. I always liked Reggie so that was really sweet to see.

[UAZips]

Someone is having fun on Wikipedia

[ace]

The CMU hype train derailed as the Chipps lost to Weber State at home last night.

Round up on all the MAC schools so far:

School Record (Kenpom ranking)

1. Akron 3-1 (53)

2. Central Michigan 2-1 (103)

3. Western Michigan 2-2 (126)

4. Toledo 2-1 (128)

5. Can't State 2-1 (138)

6. Buffalo 3-2 (149)

7. Eastern Michigan 2-2 (160)

8. Ball State 3-2 (174)

9. Northern Illinois 4-0 (181)

10. Miami 3-2 (190)

11. Ohio 3-2 (192)

12. Bowling Green 3-2 (248)

So 10/12 teams are now in the 100-200 range, with the outliers of Akron and BG. Conference will be pretty mediocre this year.

On an individual level, Nathan Boothe is lighting it up now that he's "the guy" for the Rockets. 23.3 PPG with a ridiculous 35 PER. Could end up being a POTY front runner.

Rayshawn Simmons has exploded for Central in the absence of Fowler, from 9 PPG last year to almost 20 this year.

Kellon Thomas, after missing much of last year, has been surprisingly good for the Flushes and has formed a really good inside-outside with Jimmy Hall.

OU has solid newcomers in Jaaron Simmons and Kenny Kaminski and I expect the Bobcats to be pretty tough come conference play.

Big Dog leads the league in defensive rating...one of 4 Zips in the top ten of that category. The metrics especially like Kretzer, of all people, as he's in the top 3 of win shares, which is a pretty all-encompassing stat.

[LoyalZIP]

CMU shoots 10-41 from 3 and trails by as much as 36 in an 88-60 loss to Western Kentucky.

[The Hip Zip]

CMU shoots 10-41 from 3 and trails by as much as 36 in an 88-60 loss to Western Kentucky.

Have seen bits and pieces of their last copuple of games and they looked like crap, sans Fowler. With what they had returning around him, they should be playing better, much better.

[LZIp]

I wouldn't be so quick to write of CMU. They are missing the best player in the MAC.

[ace]

Some weird stuff going on in this conference.....Central has lost three in a row and is 2-3. Ball State, last year's bottom feeder, just beat a VERY good Valparaiso team. 10/12 teams are above .500, and the two that aren't are CMU and WMU, two of the preseason favorites. I'm not really sure who's good anymore, seems to be a lot of parity in the league

[Z.I.P.]

The CMU hype train derailed as the Chipps lost to Weber State at home last night.

Round up on all the MAC schools so far:

School Record (Kenpom ranking)

1. Akron 3-1 (53)

2. Central Michigan 2-1 (103)

3. Western Michigan 2-2 (126)

4. Toledo 2-1 (128)

5. Can't State 2-1 (138)

6. Buffalo 3-2 (149)

7. Eastern Michigan 2-2 (160)

8. Ball State 3-2 (174)

9. Northern Illinois 4-0 (181)

10. Miami 3-2 (190)

11. Ohio 3-2 (192)

12. Bowling Green 3-2 (248)

So 10/12 teams are now in the 100-200 range, with the outliers of Akron and BG. Conference will be pretty mediocre this year.

On an individual level, Nathan Boothe is lighting it up now that he's "the guy" for the Rockets. 23.3 PPG with a ridiculous 35 PER. Could end up being a POTY front runner.

I watched a couple of the Alaska Shootout games on CBSSN -- including Boothe's TRIPLE-DOUBLE vs SJSU. He has clearly developed into the best big man in the MAC, probably since Chris Kaman. It seemed a short time ago that Akron fans thought they would be able to say that about their own center. Now some wonder who should be our starter. In any case, I have to feel that even with the loss to a very good MTSU team in the final (as good as the Raiders teams Akron played 2-3 yrs ago), that Toledo should be the favorites in the West.

Boothe MAC West POY (again): http://www.utrockets.com/news/2015/11/30/MBB_1130152544.aspx?path=mbball

[The Hip Zip]

I always thought that Boothe was the goods, exceptional touch for a big. We are just now seeing what he can do . With guards like Juice Brown and Rian Pearson running the show the past few years he didn't get as many quality touches as he should have,

[LoyalZIP]

Check the bottom of the first page on this Can't vs. CSU thread

http://csnbbs.com/thread-760892.html

[The Hip Zip]

Watched bits and pieces of all the games on Weds...

Eastern was really impressive tonight in taking CMU down hard on the Chipps own floor. Raven Lee was on fire. Glad we don't have to go to their place this season but even here they will be a handful.

Toledo looked really bad at Ball St. Their guard play is not nearly at the level it has been. In fact, other than Boothe their talent level at all 1-4 spots has slipped significantly. They got smoked.

Miami is awful and BG is not as good as they were with Jans coaching. Both should be easy outs for just about everybody.

NIU and Ball St both looked good. One thing for sure, the days of trotting over to Muncie and Dekalb for easy wins is over.

Edited January 7, 2016 by The Hip Zip

[UAZippers]

Tonight proved earlier than I expected that the MAC is going to be really weird this year. It is going to look a lot different than most people would have expected coming in to the year.