(12-23-2014 10:46 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Here are today's Sagarins. The MAC is strong at the top. Once again, no top 40 team, but 5 teams ranked within the top 100.

If these ranking are approximately valid, I don't see any team doing better than 14 - 4. There are enough strong teams to beat each other.

We have to play Toledo and CMU twice.

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

Dang, if we would've scheduled McNeese State, SIU-Edwardsville, Arkansas Pine Bluff, and Maine instead of Dayton, Michigan, Michigan State, and Missouri State, we'd have a really high Sagarin right now too.

Not buying CMU as a MAC contender, at least until I see how they do against some of the other top teams.

I don't think anyone is praising CMU as a MAC powerhouse or even favorite. However, we are 9-1 and have blown out every team we beat aside from GCU. I think the Northwestern win means something considering we beat them convincingly while WMU lost. Also blew out McNeese State twice as much as UT did. CMU beat YSU by more than EMU and KENT.

Look, I understand this is meaningless because college basketball is definitely a game where matchups matter. A 2-10 could throttle an undefeated team from a different conference. However, it seems as if many MAC fans are starting to hate on CMU because we will be 10-1 with a win over a B10 team. Let us enjoy it considering we haven't been a good MAC team since the Kaman days.

(12-23-2014 03:56 PM)george14 Wrote:  I don't think anyone is praising CMU as a MAC powerhouse or even favorite. However, we are 9-1 and have blown out every team we beat aside from GCU. I think the Northwestern win means something considering we beat them convincingly while WMU lost. Also blew out McNeese State twice as much as UT did. CMU beat YSU by more than EMU and KENT.

Look, I understand this is meaningless because college basketball is definitely a game where matchups matter. A 2-10 could throttle an undefeated team from a different conference. However, it seems as if many MAC fans are starting to hate on CMU because we will be 10-1 with a win over a B10 team. Let us enjoy it considering we haven't been a good MAC team since the Kaman days.

You should definitely be enjoying this, as your team appears to be much improved from the atrocity it was last year. If your shooters get hot, you can beat anyone in the conference. Relying mostly on three point shooting probably won't be a very good idea in the long run. It's why you can beat a team like Northwestern (who is probably the worst B1G team, but still...) and lose to a 4-8 Bradley team by double digits.

No one is "hating on" CMU, just pointing out the obvious that your record is inflated by the weakest OOC schedule in the conference. No one is saying to apologize for beating the teams on your schedule, because none of us would do that either.

KPJ, that was funny!!

(12-23-2014 03:56 PM)george14 Wrote:  I don't think anyone is praising CMU as a MAC powerhouse or even favorite. However, we are 9-1 and have blown out every team we beat aside from GCU. I think the Northwestern win means something considering we beat them convincingly while WMU lost. Also blew out McNeese State twice as much as UT did. CMU beat YSU by more than EMU and KENT.

Look, I understand this is meaningless because college basketball is definitely a game where matchups matter. A 2-10 could throttle an undefeated team from a different conference. However, it seems as if many MAC fans are starting to hate on CMU because we will be 10-1 with a win over a B10 team. Let us enjoy it considering we haven't been a good MAC team since the Kaman days.

George, you are totally in the right. CMU is solid. They lost to Bradley sure. But that seems to be the fluke rather than the norm in their body of work this non-conference season. It was a weak schedule but as soon as they beat Northwestern people should have started to recognize they are legit. 29 point win over McNeese St is actually really huge too.

CMU will be competitive in the MAC and I look forward to EMU playing them. And moreso beating them! :-)

Buffalo played a very, very good game against highly ranked Wisconsin Sunday night.

I assume they are the team to beat in the East.

With today's (Saturday) games, final OOC games, left to be played here are the Sagarins:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sag...15ziwkk5do

MAC appears to be as strong as it has been in many years (I attribute it to strong coaches such as Todd K, B. Hurley, R. Murphy, and apparently K. Davis, as well as the strong holdovers like Dambrot, Hawkins, etc.). MAC appears to be a coaches league again.

MAC play starts Tuesday with CMU @ Toledo and WMU @ Akron.

Does it get any better than that in the MAC?

EagleSam, on the main board, noted that NIU has suffered another injury.

(01-03-2015 02:51 AM)emu steve Wrote:  With today's (Saturday) games, final OOC games, left to be played here are the Sagarins:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sag...15ziwkk5do

MAC appears to be as strong as it has been in many years (I attribute it to strong coaches such as Todd K, B. Hurley, R. Murphy, and apparently K. Davis, as well as the strong holdovers like Dambrot, Hawkins, etc.). MAC appears to be a coaches league again.

MAC play starts Tuesday with CMU @ Toledo and WMU @ Akron.

Does it get any better than that in the MAC?

EagleSam, on the main board, noted that NIU has suffered another injury.

CMU is first in the country in scoring which is pretty dang impressive even with their crappy schedule. With that being said I expect Toledo to show them whats up on the 6th.

I think at the end of the day it will be us battling it out with UT for the West crown. And who knows who will come out to be a leader of the East. I still think that anything other than West crown and anything less of a MAC Championship game would be underachieving.

We should start out the season 2-0 then KSU will be a great test followed by in my opinion an easy win against NIU at home. Then we have CMU and BGSU away which also will show how this team can do in the MAC

I am expecting big things from the guys !

Looking at the value for simple average, MAC seems to be in a conference "grouping" with American Athletic, Missouri Valley, and Mountain West in the range of 74.09 to 75.18. That is really, really nice company for a Mid-Major conference to be in!

Note: I am averaging the MAC East and West at 74.91.

This would put them put the MAC as the 10th best conference. The '99/'00, was the last time they could claim that. During the 1990s, the MAC was routinely Top Ten and they were as high as 7 at least in one year. There were some great teams in the early 2000s as well, but conference as a whole declined. After that, the MAC mainly bounced around the 11-15 spots. But a few of the seasons in the last 5-10 years were even worse than that.

This years improvement, seems to be more a result of the West skyrocketing the standings rather than any improvement in the East. So this will be a really tough MAC season for EMU. Nonetheless, should be really entertaining!

(01-03-2015 12:04 PM)rayEMU Wrote:  Looking at the value for simple average, MAC seems to be in a conference "grouping" with American Athletic, Missouri Valley, and Mountain West in the range of 74.09 to 75.18. That is really, really nice company for a Mid-Major conference to be in!

Note: I am averaging the MAC East and West at 74.91.

This would put them put the MAC as the 10th best conference. The '99/'00, was the last time they could claim that. During the 1990s, the MAC was routinely Top Ten and they were as high as 7 at least in one year. There were some great teams in the early 2000s as well, but conference as a whole declined. After that, the MAC mainly bounced around the 11-15 spots. But a few of the seasons in the last 5-10 years were even worse than that.

This years improvement, seems to be more a result of the West skyrocketing the standings rather than any improvement in the East. So this will be a really tough MAC season for EMU. Nonetheless, should be really entertaining!

I agree with everything your wrote.

When I think of it, a very good (?) CMU and a very good (!) EMU is enough to move the MAC West forward.

Maybe, need to give UB credit for rising so high (?). We'll see how good CMU and UB are.

I still believe that the new, good coaches who are have around a few years are 'pumping up' this conference.

Steve:
Definitely, I am not taking anything away from Buffalo, their high standing this year prevented the East from dropping. Speaking of great new coaches, is this just Bobby Hurley's Second year at UB?

Realist:
CMU's weak schedule (#349) may have provided them a 7-1 record. But EMU's was ranked #314, and added a loss. Not sure how these two compare.

It's pretty simple. We lost to RPI top 25 Dayton and to Michigan State. CMU lost to 5-9 Bradley by double digits. If we had a hiccup like that, I'd be pretty disappointed. Thankfully we don't.

my take:

We have reason to believe UB is really good even they lost a lot from last year.

EMU seems good because of our good record and we were good last year. Any team with Ward, Lee and Talley is likely a pretty good mid-major.

CMU is a wild card. Maybe they're good; maybe not. Maybe they're 14 - 4 or maybe 6 - 12. They do return all of their starters and have added post players.

If I were setting an over/under line I might:

EMU over/under 12.5 wins meaning say 14 or 13 wins would be 'beyond expectations' and 11 or 12 'below expectations'.

CMU might be say 8.5 wins with possible win totals of say 10, 9, 8, and 7. CMU plays a lot of games vs. EMU, WMU, Toledo, etc. so they could be a good team but still rack up the losses.

If I had to pick the team with the most conference Ws before the start of our tourney: UB. I can see them doing very well in the MAC East.

Buffalo looks very legit. Glad we get them at home this year.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion.../21243353/

Might UofM be a NIT team?

Could EMU be a NIT team, if we don't win it all?

Re-match?

(01-04-2015 04:13 AM)emu steve Wrote:  http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion.../21243353/

Might UofM be a NIT team?

Could EMU be a NIT team, if we don't win it all?

Re-match?

I see definitely as a possible NIT team if we don't win the MAC tourney.

(01-04-2015 04:13 AM)emu steve Wrote:  http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion.../21243353/

Might UofM be a NIT team?

Could EMU be a NIT team, if we don't win it all?

Re-match?

And, of course, regardless of records or the fact that EMU beat UM if these two teams met again the game would be in AA.

CMU has playesd an easy schedule, yes. That said, we have had easy schedules in the past and not hit double-digit wins. This is also a youngish team, especially on the interior, so tough to say how things will go. I know I am enjoying the ride so far. Also looking forward to our two matchups this season.

(01-06-2015 02:50 PM)CMichFan Wrote:  CMU has playesd an easy schedule, yes. That said, we have had easy schedules in the past and not hit double-digit wins. This is also a youngish team, especially on the interior, so tough to say how things will go. I know I am enjoying the ride so far. Also looking forward to our two matchups this season.

i'm excited as well. and despite a slower start than many expected, WMU is still a solid team. MI MAC games will be entertaining this year.

(01-06-2015 02:50 PM)CMichFan Wrote:  CMU has playesd an easy schedule, yes. That said, we have had easy schedules in the past and not hit double-digit wins. This is also a youngish team, especially on the interior, so tough to say how things will go. I know I am enjoying the ride so far. Also looking forward to our two matchups this season.

I too see the young big guys, Meyer, Scott, and Cabarkapa (7 foot redshirt frosh from Serbia), as key.

I've seen Meyer play a few games. He can really run the floor for a big.

Scott has some nice size.