(03-14-2014 08:02 PM)axeme Wrote:  And how far back do you have to go to not have KSU, Miami, OU, or Akron in the finals? Long, long time.

this is the first time since 2000 that Kent St, Akron or Ohio aren't in the finals. If you add Miami to the mix its the first time since 1996.

Here's the total number of MAC tournament championships per school and the year of their last win-

7 Ball State, 2000
6 Ohio, 2012
5 Kent State, 2008
4 Miami, 2007
4 EMU, 1998
3 Akron, 2013
2 CMU, 2003
1 WMU, 2004
1 NIU, 1982
1 Toledo, 1980
0 Buffalo, N/A
0 BGSU, N/A
0 Marshall*, N/A

This is why I love the MAC. The experts rarely get it right. Pretty unpredictable.

Not sure anybody really predicted an all West division final this year, did they?

Bronco fans were guardedly optimistic coming into this year, I think, but were concerned with replacing transfer Darius Paul. Few predicted a regular season MAC title. We thought we would compete for the West but I think most of our fans thought we'd finish behind Toledo.

The Broncos have an improving Tava, who is a matchup problem, freshman Tucker Haymond has contributed and Brown has been a scoring machine all season. On a given night, Richie can go off. Of course, Whittington has been a beast all season but especially so the past 10 - 15 games. He's playing with a purpose - so that his career ends in the big dance, not the NITCBICIT, or other meaningless tournament.

I was optimistic because WMU had a nice post season run in the CIT last season but I wasn't about to shoot off my mouth around here about how good we were gonna be. I really didn't know. Not until WMU had slain some of their demons of recent years winning at Miami, at KSU, sweeping Ohio and beating Akron, did I realize that nobody in the league was dominant. The two best teams in the league were Toledo and Western, with Eastern and Buffalo capable of beating anybody. People knew Toledo was going to be good. Not so for Western.

What happened against Akron tonight in the semi-finals has happened several times this year for the Broncos. These kids don't panic when in a big hole but keep plugging away. They believe in each other and it has worked for them. They've won 13 of their last 15 games.

Should be another great MAC Championship game tomorrow. Normally, I'd root for the MAC West team, if there were one. That's a problem tomorrow for some people.

But not for me. Go Broncos!!

Tava played aweful vs. Toledo a few weekends ago. 4 points in only 14 minutes? The rockets need to keep Whittington out of his element and let Brown get frustrated and try to take the game into his hands. Both first halfs vs. Toledo WMU has shot better than 60% from three. I personally don't think they can handle UT defensively, without the high shooting percentage.

Toledo needs: Boothe to box out and contain big Shane, Drummond to have more than 10points, Pierson to stay confident with his shot because he hasn't been too good away from home (except yesterday, and vs. Kansas), J.D. to have some dunks and keep the crowd in it as well as get boards, brown to have 18 and find his groove with that elbow jumper, Lauf to play hard, Garber to D up while Boothe is out, Jon Jon to hit 50% from three, and Smith to hit 50% from three.

TOLEDO:
Boothe 11, Drummond 13, Pierson 15, Juice 19, j.d. 10, Lauf 2, Garber 0, Jon Jon 5, Smith 6 =81
WMU: Brown 22, Whittington 17, Tava 5, Richie 9, Haymond 4, Clyde 4, Perry 10, Avery 3, Mccormick 3, Klein 3 =80

Hope WMU brings a better following than they did yesterday. I also hope Toledo has a better following today.

(03-15-2014 04:21 AM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Tava played aweful vs. Toledo a few weekends ago. 4 points in only 14 minutes? The rockets need to keep Whittington out of his element and let Brown get frustrated and try to take the game into his hands. Both first halfs vs. Toledo WMU has shot better than 60% from three. I personally don't think they can handle UT defensively, without the high shooting percentage.

Toledo needs: Boothe to box out and contain big Shane, Drummond to have more than 10points, Pierson to stay confident with his shot because he hasn't been too good away from home (except yesterday, and vs. Kansas), J.D. to have some dunks and keep the crowd in it as well as get boards, brown to have 18 and find his groove with that elbow jumper, Lauf to play hard, Garber to D up while Boothe is out, Jon Jon to hit 50% from three, and Smith to hit 50% from three.

TOLEDO:
Boothe 11, Drummond 13, Pierson 15, Juice 19, j.d. 10, Lauf 2, Garber 0, Jon Jon 5, Smith 6 =81
WMU: Brown 22, Whittington 17, Tava 5, Richie 9, Haymond 4, Clyde 4, Perry 10, Avery 3, Mccormick 3, Klein 3 =80

Tava is going to be a good one, a very good one.

(03-15-2014 12:51 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  Hope WMU brings a better following than they did yesterday. I also hope Toledo has a better following today.

Don't count on it. WMU doesnt even draw 3,500 for home games, with 1% being students. Being 5 hours away also isnt an incentive.

(03-15-2014 12:54 AM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  Bronco fans were guardedly optimistic coming into this year, I think, but were concerned with replacing transfer Darius Paul. Few predicted a regular season MAC title. We thought we would compete for the West but I think most of our fans thought we'd finish behind Toledo.

I predicted that we would finish 3rd in the West behind Toledo and EMU. I LOVE BEING WRONG!

Was watching WMU-UT game on ESPN3 here on my laptop....mostly tight shots of the arena but the crowd looks decent, at least in the lower level.