http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sag...onference/

Sagarin has the MAC East #11 and West #13.

Not many years ago (I think four) the MAC was ranked #17 overall.

According to the team-by-team rankings, only one MAC school is below the median (I believe there are about 350 D-I schools).

I went through the D-I records (listed by the Sagarins) and the MAC is +14 so far this season.

Except for one school, all are ranked between #87 and 174, which is what most MAC observers who probably say: Very well balanced conference, all most top half of D-I, but no real power house team.

A couple weeks ago, I thought yes, the MAC had improved quite a bit, even the bottom from last season...but after this past week, I'm not so certain. My Rockets have led the way in stepping backwards with losses to Detroit and Oakland, and a few other MAC brethren lost what looked like winnable games. Just a bump in the road, or a sign of more disappointment to come?

I believe it is too early to know for sure. Wait until the new year.

(11-30-2014 04:37 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  I believe it is too early to know for sure. Wait until the new year.

Toledo, Miami, and Kent have had some losses this last week we really needed.

BG is doing surprisingly well.

UB has brought in seven new players this year and is off to a really good 4-1 start with their only loss coming at #1 Kentucky by 19 points...Looks like there might not be as much of a drop off from last year as we may have thought.

My Golden Flashes aren't back. I've seen 4 of our 5 home games and I'm not impressed. We managed to lose twice to less than stellar competition. We're a shell of what we used to be...

Miami is very weak so far. We are only playing 3 returning players in our regular 9 man rotation so far, and nothing looks smooth, everything is a struggle. We may get a lot better later on when the transfers and the freshman get acclimated and when Eustace gets healthy or maybe we are just really bad.

I don't know if NIU is any better than last year. We do make more free throws so that helps a lot. We still have poor outside shooting most games and consistently fail to finish when driving the lane and getting a layup opportunity, or if we try a shot from 3-5 feet away. Orris will help with ball movement somewhat. We're probably good enough to beat the poor teams.

(12-02-2014 01:09 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I don't know if NIU is any better than last year. We do make more free throws so that helps a lot. We still have poor outside shooting most games and consistently fail to finish when driving the lane and getting a layup opportunity, or if we try a shot from 3-5 feet away. Orris will help with ball movement somewhat. We're probably good enough to beat the poor teams.

One of your guys on our board says NIU is the prohibitive favorite in the West. He seemed pretty certain of this.

(12-02-2014 07:43 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 01:09 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I don't know if NIU is any better than last year. We do make more free throws so that helps a lot. We still have poor outside shooting most games and consistently fail to finish when driving the lane and getting a layup opportunity, or if we try a shot from 3-5 feet away. Orris will help with ball movement somewhat. We're probably good enough to beat the poor teams.

One of your guys on our board says NIU is the prohibitive favorite in the West. He seemed pretty certain of this.

All teams have delusional people associated with them. Heck just a few days ago your football coach thought they were going to play for a MAC championship.

(12-02-2014 09:06 AM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 07:43 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 01:09 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I don't know if NIU is any better than last year. We do make more free throws so that helps a lot. We still have poor outside shooting most games and consistently fail to finish when driving the lane and getting a layup opportunity, or if we try a shot from 3-5 feet away. Orris will help with ball movement somewhat. We're probably good enough to beat the poor teams.

One of your guys on our board says NIU is the prohibitive favorite in the West. He seemed pretty certain of this.

All teams have delusional people associated with them.

Heck just a few days ago your football coach thought they were going to play for a MAC championship.

Guess, I missed where he said that.

I believe Ball State is on its way back. In its first four games, 79.4% of its scoring is being done by freshmen and sophomores. And two of their freshmen are the No. 1 and No. 4 scorers in the MAC. Now that won't last, but that's a good thing because one of their best players, Cincinnati transfer Jeremiah Davis, has not yet played due to injury. He is due back early-mid January.

We'll be back when we have a team or teams threatening to enter the top 25 or maybe even have someone beat a ranked team and at least a couple of teams in the top 50 or close once MAC play starts.

Still too early to look at RPI or Sagarin as even broad measures, but they are decent rough tools once everyone has 10 games or so played.

It appears to me that there is more balance across the whole league than there usually is. While that's good for competition, it's probably bad for measuring MAC schools against other conferences.