2026 Off-Season Tracker

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Really not impressed with Miami OH's offseason. 

 

I still think Miami, Ohio, and us are the top 3 contenders in the MAC for next year based off where rosters stand today.

 

Maybe a team like UMass has some moves lined up that would enable them to enter this conversation, but they have been very underwhelming. Particularly because their AD said they would be competing on another level financially before joining. Not sure where that money went.

Edited 22 hours ago by kreed5120

[kreed5120]

Billy Donlon made a very nice signing for EMU. Still a downgrade compared to what they lost in Habhab

 

https://x.com/i/status/2047714264954110206

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I still think Miami, Ohio, and us are the top 3 contenders in the MAC for next year based off where rosters stand today.

 

Maybe a team like UMass has some moved lined up that would enable them to enter this conversation, but they have been very underwhelming. Particularly because their AD said they would be competing on another level financially before joining. Not sure where that money went.

 

Still waiting for all the dust to settle before I start thinking Power Rankings, but I would agree that Akron/Miami OH are in the top echelon. I just don't think Miami OH was able to retain or retool with any of their "special" qualities from last season. They were a mismatch all over the place due to their size that could also shoot, and they've largely lost that. Skaljac is a nice player but how much of his early success has been due to all of the support around him? Defenses will be able to play him differently and can afford to put a longer defender on him instead of needing all their length for Suder/Elmer/Byers. 

 

Todd Simon always does well in the Portal and this year is no exception. He wins in April, Tod K wins Nov. through Feb., and Akron wins in March. 

 

Balls, WMU, and EMU should be much improved, especially if the new coaches can actually coach. They've done well so far in rebuilding really bad rosters. 

 

Kent & Toledo are TBD. They'll always be competitive, but I'm not seeing anything special.

 

Ohio has added some decent offense it appears, but I question their defensive abilities at the moment which has been their achilles heal.

 

Buffalo and CMU are ? and has anyone heard from UMass? 

[RoyalBlu]

3 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Still waiting for all the dust to settle before I start thinking Power Rankings, but I would agree that Akron/Miami OH are in the top echelon. I just don't think Miami OH was able to retain or retool with any of their "special" qualities from last season. They were a mismatch all over the place due to their size that could also shoot, and they've largely lost that. Skaljac is a nice player but how much of his early success has been due to all of the support around him? Defenses will be able to play him differently and can afford to put a longer defender on him instead of needing all their length for Suder/Elmer/Byers. 

 

Todd Simon always does well in the Portal and this year is no exception. He wins in April, Tod K wins Nov. through Feb., and Akron wins in March. 

 

Balls, WMU, and EMU should be much improved, especially if the new coaches can actually coach. They've done well so far in rebuilding really bad rosters. 

 

Kent & Toledo are TBD. They'll always be competitive, but I'm not seeing anything special.

 

Ohio has added some decent offense it appears, but I question their defensive abilities at the moment which has been their achilles heal.

 

Buffalo and CMU are ? and has anyone heard from UMass? 

 

I agree Kent is TBD, but I would put Toledo up there w/Ohio-Akron-Miami. Toledo has picked up a nice veteran PG from Marquette, and have a pair of high-quality freshmen guards coming in. Don't sleep on UMass, either. If they pick up a couple shooters their stock will rise.

 

Sadly, with graduations and the portal the 2026-27 season likely won't be as good as the last one. But somehow come March the MAC still puts 4 quality teams on the court for the MAC Tournament semis ... no matter what their records.

[Let'sGoZips94]

8 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

 

I agree Kent is TBD, but I would put Toledo up there w/Ohio-Akron-Miami. Toledo has picked up a nice veteran PG from Marquette, and have a pair of high-quality freshmen guards coming in. Don't sleep on UMass, either. If they pick up a couple shooters their stock will rise.

 

Sadly, with graduations and the portal the 2026-27 season likely won't be as good as the last one. But somehow come March the MAC still puts 4 quality teams on the court for the MAC Tournament semis ... no matter what their records.

 

As the MAC focuses on getting bigger, a 5'10" guard who averaged 6 ppg with a 30% 3P rate from Marquette isn't very threatening IMO. 

 

I don't know how anyone can say with any confidence that next year's MAC won't be as good as this year. The bottom of the MAC looks to be getting better and there were only 3 20-win teams last season. For as amazing as Miami OH's undefeated regular season was, they weren't spectacular and their metrics/rankings reflected that. Plus, the MAC is going to an even schedule this year thanks to NIU's official departure. 

Edited 18 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

23 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I don't know how anyone can say with any confidence that next year's MAC won't be as good as this year. The bottom of the MAC looks to be getting better and there were only 3 20-win teams last season. For as amazing as Miami OH's undefeated regular season was, they weren't spectacular and their metrics/rankings reflected that. Plus, the MAC is going to an even schedule this year thanks to NIU's official departure. 

 

We'll see how things play out, but right now Toledo, Kent, Akron, Buffalo, and Miami all look weaker when you compare what players they lost to graduation/transfer vs what they added via the portal.

 

The only team that I think is definitively better is Ball State. 

 

The others are about the same, maybe slightly better or slightly worse. CMU has 1 transfer so far. EMU has added all but 1 non-D1 transfers. The one D1 transfer they added is nice, but a downgrade from losing Habhab. WMU added a bunch of guys but I'm not really sure if they're any better than the players they had before. BG has added some players, but none as good as Campbell.

 

I'll give UMass an incomplete as I do think they will be improved as I have to imagine they have loads of NIL still to spend. 

 

Edit: If I'm TBH I don't think the MAC will have 1, let alone, 2 top 100 teams. The bottom of the MAC may or may not improve, but the top of the MAC will almost certainly be weaker. There certainly won't be a 2 bid MAC next year.

Edited 18 hours ago by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

3 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

We'll see how things play out, but right now Toledo, Kent, Akron, Buffalo, and Miami all look weaker when you compare what players they lost to graduation/transfer vs what they added via the portal.

 

The only team that I think is definitively better is Ball State. 

 

The others are about the same, maybe slightly better or slightly worse. CMU has 1 transfer so far. EMU has added all but 1 non-D1 transfers. The one D1 transfer they added is nice, but a downgrade from losing Habhab. WMU added a bunch of guys but I'm not really sure if they're any better than the players they had before. BG has added some players, but none as good as Campbell.

 

I'll give UMass an incomplete as I do think they will be improved as I have to imagine they have loads of NIL still to spend. 

 

Toledo, Kent, and Buffalo weren't all that great last year, with Kent being the only 20+ win team of the bunch (they lost to Akron 3x, including 2 significant double digit losses). Miami OH should very likely be significantly worse, but that was expected. Very much looking forward to seeing their schedule, too, to see if they actually challenge themselves this year. Who knows if Akron will be weaker; every year Akron loses top talent and every year they retool and keep on humming. 

 

EMU's improvement will come more from a coaching standpoint than anything. WMU as well.

 

BG has had some really nice additions. Whether or not any are as good as Campbell is likely irrelevant to their overall success as they weren't a 20-win team with Campbell. 

 

UMass is very much an incomplete. They still have one of the best coaches in the MAC. If he can find the talent - especially shooting - that he lacked last year, they'll likely be dangerous. 

[kreed5120]

25 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Toledo, Kent, and Buffalo weren't all that great last year, with Kent being the only 20+ win team of the bunch (they lost to Akron 3x, including 2 significant double digit losses). Miami OH should very likely be significantly worse, but that was expected. Very much looking forward to seeing their schedule, too, to see if they actually challenge themselves this year. Who knows if Akron will be weaker; every year Akron loses top talent and every year they retool and keep on humming. 

 

EMU's improvement will come more from a coaching standpoint than anything. WMU as well.

 

BG has had some really nice additions. Whether or not any are as good as Campbell is likely irrelevant to their overall success as they weren't a 20-win team with Campbell. 

 

UMass is very much an incomplete. They still have one of the best coaches in the MAC. If he can find the talent - especially shooting - that he lacked last year, they'll likely be dangerous. 

 

Buffalo actually was pretty good. I think they were 3rd in NET/Kenpom in the MAC at the end of OOC play. The wheels fell off for them when Frietag got injured. Sabol just transferred up to Providence.

 

Toledo started the year off slow, but peaked in February/March, which is when Blyden made big strides. He's now playing for and likely will start for Kansas. They lost another All-MAC player as well.

 

Once again, Gillespie and Whaley look better than anything they signed. I agree Kent was good, not great last year. Just not sure how you can think they will be any better after losing Gillespie to Houston.

 

Even Groce in year 1 didn't turn lemon into lemonade. It's going to take time and an increase in resources for WMU and EMU to improve. I actually don't think EMU was that bad until Hart got suspended. You have to remember they beat Cincy, who barely missed the tournament, in OOC play.

 

Akron and Miami went a combined 35-1 in MAC play. If you back out Akron/Miami H2H other MAC teams were a combined 0-34 against Akron/Miami. That alone dragged down the win totals of all the other teams. 

 

Edit: If UMass isn't improved Frank should legally be required to required to change his name to Fraud Martin. Dudes the new generation Stan Heath. Riding off of success from 1 magical season a decade ago.

Edited 17 hours ago by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

18 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Buffalo actually was pretty good. I think they were 3rd in NET/Kenpom in the MAC at the end of OOC play. The wheels fell off for them when Frietag got injured. Sabol just transferred up to Providence.

 

Toledo started the year off slow, but peaked in February/March, which is when Blyden made big strides. He's now playing for and likely will start for Kansas. They lost another All-MAC player as well.

 

Once again, Gillespie and Whaley look better than anything they signed. I agree Kent was good, not great last year. Just not sure how you can think they will be any better after losing Gillespie to Houston.

 

Even Groce in year 1 didn't turn lemon into lemonade. It's going to take time and an increase in resources for WMU and EMU to improve. I actually don't think EMU was that bad until Hart got suspended. You have to remember they beat Cincy, who barely missed the tournament, in OOC play.

 

Akron and Miami went a combined 35-1 in MAC play. If you back out Akron/Miami H2H other MAC teams were a combined 0-34 against Akron/Miami. That alone dragged down the win totals of all the other teams. 

 

Edit: If UMass isn't improved Frank should legally be required to required to change his name to Fraud Martin. Dudes the new generation Stan Heath. Riding off of success from 1 magical season a decade ago.

 

Correct, Buffalo was pretty good with Freitag. They were nothing special without him and even with him failed to beat any top MAC teams. 

 

Toledo needed to beat Akron in the Title Game to hit 20 wins and they didn't. Overall they weren't very good. 

 

I never said I think Kent will be better. The discussion is about the MAC as a whole, which does not require improvement from Kent. I said I believe they'll be competitive per usual.

 

Groce's 1st year wasn't during the NIL/Portal era. Invalid comparison and it's much easier nowadays to take a sizeable leap in a coach's 1st year. I also never said EMU was bad, but 4-14 in the MAC isn't good. There is room for them to improve to good. 

 

Akron & Miami OH being 35-1 vs. the MAC wasn't the reason the MAC failed to have more than 3 20-win teams. Only 4 teams had winning records in conference - Akron, Miami OH, Kent, and Toledo. Everyone else just beat up on each other because nobody was particularly good.

 

I know you dislike Frank Martin, but dismissing his K-State resume and only focusing on his Final Four at South Carolina is disingenuous. The guy is a good coach.

 

Again, my point is the MAC can absolutely be better next year. Not saying it will, not saying it won't, but any sort of confidence either way is silly.

[kreed5120]

Time will tell. I'm just not seeing where the improvements are happening when viewing unbiasededly. Then again UB came out of nowhere last year before injuries made them irrelevant. But you're probably asking half the league to replicate that UB type overachievement to offset the MAC being weaker at the top. What really needs to happen for the bottom half of the MAC to improve is WMU, CMU, and EMU need to invest more, but that's not happening. Only Ball State has stepped up.

 

It just seemed last year in the MAC there was a much more solid foundation to build off of. Existing players that people knew you could build a team around. This year more and more teams are relying on unproven players. There will be some hits, but also a lot of misses.

 

Edit: Also, it does matter that the rest of the league went a combined 0-34 against Miami/Akron. That means every other team would have had to go 9-5 or 9-6 in non Miami/Akron games just to get to .500 in conference play.

Edited 16 hours ago by kreed5120

[Zippy87]

Personally, I think this season will be unlike any other and damn near impossible to predict. Of the 15 players named as All-MAC 1st-3rd teams, I believe Luke Skaljac is the only one with eligibility remaining returning to his school. With so much turnover everywhere, I think it's damn near impossible to project who will do what next season. This level of universal turnover is unprecedented in the MAC. 

 

Now, that doesn't mean there isn't talent, or there won't be good teams. I just don't think we'll know who that will be until we see every team on the floor for 8-10 games. 

[RoyalBlu]

I don't even think 8-10 games will be a good measuring stick. Buffalo was a different team in MAC play, even with Freitag, than what they looked like early. Ohio was a disaster early, then became MAC-average. Toledo was also under-whelming, but improved down the stretch. UMass didn't wake up until the MAC Tournament.

 

 

 

[clarkwgriswold]

Right now, I've seen two of the current Zips who combined played 20 minutes a game last year.  I've never seen Dustin Ford be a head coach.  There are still roster spots to be filled.  As such, I'm not quite ready to make predictions.