NIU wins 85-52 against somebody named Roosevelt.

The MAC was on average double digit underdogs in yesterday's games. Hardly a disaster to lose those games. Credit to those teams who are scheduling better opponents. It doesn't do the MAC good to beat up on bottom of the barrel opponents and never play ranked teams.

(12-22-2015 02:31 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  with the preface that the RPI is a flawed and imperfect math formula I note that there is a definite gap forming between two halves of the conference-

49 Kent St (7-2)
68 EMU (3-4)
103 Ohio (7-3)
118 Buffalo (5-5)
121 Akron (7-2)
133 NIU (6-2)
148 Toledo (7-4)
----------
250 Ball St (6-3)
254 Miami (5-5)
258 BGSU (6-4)
264 WMU (3-5)
318 CMU (3-5)




The gap in SOS-

38 EMU (3-4)
83 Buffalo (5-5)
128 Kent St (7-2)
163 Ohio (7-3)
---------------
227 Toledo (7-4)
256 WMU (3-5)
261 Miami (5-5)
289 NIU (6-2)
308 Akron (7-2)
318 CMU (3-5)
337 BGSU (6-4)
340 Ball St (6-3)

Probably need to put an asterisk next to CMU on that list. They just got Fowler back, who is the best player in the MAC and makes the offense work. If he stays healthy, I think they're still among the teams to beat in the MAC.

poor Cleveland State loses to a MAC team for the 5th time this season.

Akron beats Iona 78-64 to win their "tournament". Iona was without their leading scorer, but so was Akron. Pat Forsythe sat with an ankle injury.

Junior center Isiah Johnson filled the void nicely with 15-10. Six Zips in double figures.

Akron is definitely looking like the class of the league so far. The Zips were scorching it from three In Vegas, going 28 of 65 (43 percent), and Forsythe (the one game he played ) and Johnson were unstoppable down low.

A little O/T if this is (only) a men's basketball thread:

EMU's women come from 16 behind to beat UofM by 1.

Reminds of the men's win a year ago...

BTW, for those who like to rub it in, EMU outscored UofM 19 - 6 in the fourth quarter (women play 4 quarters this season).

That has to smart. Bad.

Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

Exactly. I see Akron as one of the better 3-4 teams in the conference, but I haven't seen anything to make one think they are more than that.

(12-23-2015 06:35 PM)axeme Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

Exac looptly. I see Akron as one of the better 3-4 teams in the conference, but I haven't seen anything to make one think they are more than that.

Good thing this will be sorted out in Cleveland. I like the Zips' chances.

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

C'mon, Roosevelt University is a powerhouse. So is Madonna College.

KSU plays Penn St. tonight from Vegas at 8 pm (ET) on Fox Sports-1.

(12-23-2015 07:29 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

C'mon, Roosevelt University is a powerhouse. So is Madonna College.

Madonna has all those dancers and they're pretty good athletes. I thought she used up her eligibility about twenty years ago, though.

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

I think you have to put Akron as the favorite right now. They have been much more consistently good than anybody else and have a veteran lineup. The conference as a whole has been good but far from great.

Per Ken Pom there have only been three wins over teams in the top 100. Both WMU and Miami beat Northeastern (90) at home and Akron getting the best win at Arkansas (84). The good news is that there haven't been many really bad losses (+250) with BG, Miami and Ball State accomplishing this dubious feat. In fact, nobody except those three have lost to a team with a rating above 200. Miami undoes their good win with three really bad losses. But overall it's really hard to get a read on the MAC this year. Ohio doesn't have one single quality win but they don't have a bad loss either. Their offense keeps them in games against good teams and their defense keeps the bad teams in games. Personally I think Ken Pom's ratings are in line with what I have seen with Akron maybe a bit too highly rated.

Akron - 49
Kent St - 117
Toledo - 124
EMU - 136
Ohio - 160
WMU - 168
NIU - 169
Buffalo - 179
CMU - 180
Ball St - 187
BG - 203
Miami - 204

I think we'll see a lot of teams within 2 games of 9-9. The seeding possibilities going into the last week of play is going to be interesting.

Miami almost pulled out a victory over Dayton.....showing improvement.

(12-24-2015 10:15 AM)OUVan Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 06:28 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 05:59 PM)axeme Wrote:  Who has Akron beaten that's any good? What am I missing?

Nobody. Same as everybody else in the MAC.

I think you have to put Akron as the favorite right now. They have been much more consistently good than anybody else and have a veteran lineup. The conference as a whole has been good but far from great.

Per Ken Pom there have only been three wins over teams in the top 100. Both WMU and Miami beat Northeastern (90) at home and Akron getting the best win at Arkansas (84). The good news is that there haven't been many really bad losses (+250) with BG, Miami and Ball State accomplishing this dubious feat. In fact, nobody except those three have lost to a team with a rating above 200. Miami undoes their good win with three really bad losses. But overall it's really hard to get a read on the MAC this year. Ohio doesn't have one single quality win but they don't have a bad loss either. Their offense keeps them in games against good teams and their defense keeps the bad teams in games. Personally I think Ken Pom's ratings are in line with what I have seen with Akron maybe a bit too highly rated.

Akron - 49
Kent St - 117
Toledo - 124
EMU - 136
Ohio - 160
WMU - 168
NIU - 169
Buffalo - 179
CMU - 180
Ball St - 187
BG - 203
Miami - 204

I think we'll see a lot of teams within 2 games of 9-9. The seeding possibilities going into the last week of play is going to be interesting.

Iona was also top 100 before Akron beat them. But there may have been some other similar examples of a team dropping out after a loss to a MAC school, so not a true top 100 win at this point. But Iona is solid and probably finishes in the top 100 now that AJ English looks to be back. Akron caught a break not having to face him, but Akron also didn't have Forsythe, so it mitigates that ... And Akron won by 14. Both teams at full strength on a neutral court and Akron still likely wins.

I disagree that Akron is over ranked by Pomeroy. They lost by 19 at a top 15 Villanova team in a game they lead nearly all of the first half. And Akron was without Noah Robotham. Villanova was at full strength.

The only other loss was a last-second defeat at Green Bay. Again, no Robotham. Plus, that was Akron's third road game in a 7-day span... @Arkansas, @Villanova, @Green Bay is a tough stretch, both in terms of travel and competition, especially without a guy who was considered one of the top 15 players in the MAC, and Forsythe (who thought he broke a rib against Villanova) wasn't 100 percent. And Jake Kretzer had left the Nova game with a rapid heart rate, but he also played. But not sure if he was really over that. Kretzer has played very good recently and Dambrot said they have cut his practice back significantly because of the heart issue. Unfortunately, his issue is something he has dealt with since he's been at UA, and a situation where the coaches really have to monitor him.

If NIU beats UIC they'll probably end up the OOC season at 11-2 without having beaten anyone with a pulse. Well, not entirely true, South Dakota was 6-5 and an RPI in the low 100s the last time I looked so I guess they have a pulse. But this tells us nothing about how we'll do in the MAC.

(12-25-2015 06:28 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  If NIU beats UIC they'll probably end up the OOC season at 11-2 without having beaten anyone with a pulse. Well, not entirely true, South Dakota was 6-5 and an RPI in the low 100s the last time I looked so I guess they have a pulse. But this tells us nothing about how we'll do in the MAC.

That NIU/Ohio game to open the conference season should be a great close game.

(12-27-2015 05:20 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  That NIU/Ohio game to open the conference season should be a great close game.

Opening week is going to be fascinating throughout the conference.

EMU uses a big 2nd half to pull away from Detroit, 88-73. Thompson fouled out with 5 minutes left (double-double streak snapped) and Raven Lee injured his finger, but a couple role players stepped up huge. Brandon Nazione, in particular, had 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 steals. We finish up our non-conference schedule with a home game against North Florida on Saturday.