Toledo makes the list at #142 , 2 slots head of the Fighting Illini.

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens...4-previews

It appears as though they have 4 other MAC teams to come on their daily countdown which is pretty amazing for the MAC to have 5 top 144 preseason teams.

Guessing other four are all in the East: Akron, Buffalo, Kent, Ohio?

Id say Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, and then either Kent or NIU

(06-23-2016 02:39 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Id say Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, and then either Kent or NIU

In reverse order ... EMU, OU, Akron, Buffalo.

But suspect come next March there will be maybe 6-7-8 MAC teams among the Top 150 with at least four in the Top 100.

(06-23-2016 05:32 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(06-23-2016 02:39 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Id say Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, and then either Kent or NIU

In reverse order ... EMU, OU, Akron, Buffalo.

But suspect come next March there will be maybe 6-7-8 MAC teams among the Top 150 with at least four in the Top 100.

Four in the top 100 is pretty optimistic.

I do think EMU will be one of the top 4 MAC teams come next March.

This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

(06-25-2016 06:30 AM)Terrell Owens Wrote:  This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

I totally agree ... without a doubt, guards win championships, but ... you do not get to the NCAA Tournament without good baseline play ... and any league East of the Mississippi would be hard pressed to have the collection of centers/power forwards that will play in the MAC this season, with the bulk of them being very experienced.

I'll let everyone else run down the list because there are so many, I might forget one or two!!!

(06-25-2016 06:30 AM)Terrell Owens Wrote:  This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

I hope this is true, but the parity in the league just makes me nervous that it won't be.. No team will go 16-2 in conference and lose in the championship. It will be another year where 12-6 teams and 11-7 teams all fight for the title because of the balance and I just think that hurt the at large chances.

(06-25-2016 07:44 AM)BullBoy Wrote:  

(06-25-2016 06:30 AM)Terrell Owens Wrote:  This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

I hope this is true, but the parity in the league just makes me nervous that it won't be.. No team will go 16-2 in conference and lose in the championship. It will be another year where 12-6 teams and 11-7 teams all fight for the title because of the balance and I just think that hurt the at large chances.

YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT ?!?!?!?! ... Went back to check the 2002 MAC Standings ans was really amazed. ... My memory said Ball State, BG, Toledo, OU and Marshall were very good that year and gave Kent a run for its money despite going 16-1 ...

However ....

Every other team in the MAC that year had six league losses or more ... and ... only three teams won 20-games (Kent, BG, Ball) with Marshall, OU and Toledo all right at .500.

If you think about those teams and players (Blackshear, Slay, Hunter, McCleod, Matella, Stempin??, Theron Wilson, Jackson) from that year and those records are pretty amazing.

KSU was 17-1 in regular season conference play with the lone loss coming at Buffalo.

Kind of changing the topic, but pretty cool to see Buffalo going to the Great Alaska Shootout this year. I also know they are playing on the road at Xavier

(06-25-2016 07:44 AM)BullBoy Wrote:  

(06-25-2016 06:30 AM)Terrell Owens Wrote:  This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

I hope this is true, but the parity in the league just makes me nervous that it won't be.. No team will go 16-2 in conference and lose in the championship. It will be another year where 12-6 teams and 11-7 teams all fight for the title because of the balance and I just think that hurt the at large chances.

This is why the bid thing is just ridiculous to me. The conference needs to be bad to have a chance at multiple bids. That is so anti-intuitive. For once I wish college sports would base things on performance and not brand name.

no, you don't get bids by being bad. the problem is that if a team has 6 mac losses they probably have a couple to sub 200 rip teams which kills ncaa hopes. to get an at large you need top 50 wins and no sub rpi 150 losses. for a mac to get an at large they need to go 500% or better in their tough non conf games and have the league as a whole be good enough for a couple teams to be top 50 rpi and a couple more top 100 rpi.

next year is interesting because eastern, northern, toledo, buffalo, akron and ohio all have experienced rosters with some size. any of those teams could gel and be top 50. also, teams like bg, central, kent, ball st have potential to be very competitive.

personally, i like eastern next year. they have a very experienced team that knows how to play that zone. plus, after years of watching EMU run a ymca offense, they seemed to find joy in passing the ball as last season went on. if they continue that emerging offensive approach look for them to pull off some big wins. they will run out a roster that physically will match up with anybody outside kentucky and north carolina.

(06-27-2016 02:42 AM)pono Wrote:  no, you don't get bids by being bad. the problem is that if a team has 6 mac losses they probably have a couple to sub 200 rip teams which kills ncaa hopes. to get an at large you need top 50 wins and no sub rpi 150 losses. for a mac to get an at large they need to go 500% or better in their tough non conf games and have the league as a whole be good enough for a couple teams to be top 50 rpi and a couple more top 100 rpi.

next year is interesting because eastern, northern, toledo, buffalo, akron and ohio all have experienced rosters with some size. any of those teams could gel and be top 50. also, teams like bg, central, kent, ball st have potential to be very competitive.

personally, i like eastern next year. they have a very experienced team that knows how to play that zone. plus, after years of watching EMU run a ymca offense, they seemed to find joy in passing the ball as last season went on. if they continue that emerging offensive approach look for them to pull off some big wins. they will run out a roster that physically will match up with anybody outside kentucky and north carolina.

Indeed. The two sitouts, Lamar Wofford-Humphreys (JUCO) and Nick Madray, are both 6' 9". LWH is the long and lean type; Madray has more bulk, maybe like Boothe.

Madray played a stretch 4 at Binghamton. I believe he will back up JT4 at center.

Should be interesting if behind JT4 if EMU doesn't have a Boothe-clone good enough to start for many MAC teams.

EMU lost Brandon Nazione to graduation. A good player but not necessarily the long, lean defender necessary for the Murphy zone.

EMU also added a JUCO center, Baylee Steele, who I think is 6' 11". Don't know if he'll play or redshirt this year.

At '4' beside LWH, we have Jordan Nobles who came on late and a lower level transfer, Jones, who might be a contributor.

So the roster has 6 players at the 4 and 5 positions. Very deep there.

(06-27-2016 05:03 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 02:42 AM)pono Wrote:  no, you don't get bids by being bad. the problem is that if a team has 6 mac losses they probably have a couple to sub 200 rip teams which kills ncaa hopes. to get an at large you need top 50 wins and no sub rpi 150 losses. for a mac to get an at large they need to go 500% or better in their tough non conf games and have the league as a whole be good enough for a couple teams to be top 50 rpi and a couple more top 100 rpi.

next year is interesting because eastern, northern, toledo, buffalo, akron and ohio all have experienced rosters with some size. any of those teams could gel and be top 50. also, teams like bg, central, kent, ball st have potential to be very competitive.

personally, i like eastern next year. they have a very experienced team that knows how to play that zone. plus, after years of watching EMU run a ymca offense, they seemed to find joy in passing the ball as last season went on. if they continue that emerging offensive approach look for them to pull off some big wins. they will run out a roster that physically will match up with anybody outside kentucky and north carolina.

Indeed. The two sitouts, Lamar Wofford-Humphreys (JUCO) and Nick Madray, are both 6' 9". LWH is the long and lean type; Madray has more bulk, maybe like Boothe.

Madray played a stretch 4 at Binghamton. I believe he will back up JT4 at center.

Should be interesting if behind JT4 if EMU doesn't have a Boothe-clone good enough to start for many MAC teams.

EMU lost Brandon Nazione to graduation. A good player but not necessarily the long, lean defender necessary for the Murphy zone.

EMU also added a JUCO center, Baylee Steele, who I think is 6' 11". Don't know if he'll play or redshirt this year.

At '4' beside LWH, we have Jordan Nobles who came on late and a lower level transfer, Jones, who might be a contributor.

So the roster has 6 players at the 4 and 5 positions. Very deep there.

But the key is Raven Lee ... If he plays like a quality point guard for 25 games, EMU is good enough to challenge Buffalo for the league title and an at-large bid. If Lee plays like he has the last three years ... EMU struggles to get a MAC Tournament Bye ...

(06-25-2016 06:30 AM)Terrell Owens Wrote:  This could be the MAC's best chance for more than a decade.

I think everyone got what I was saying...
Should read "best chance *IN* more than a decade *for an at-large*"

The main reason I am encouraged is because we should have so many teams with RPI's in the Top 100. As others have mentioned, you kinda need one team to really run away with the regular season then lose in the MAC tournament which may not setup correctly this year, but this year absolutely sets up for a record RPI finish for the MAC.

I think we could have more than one team in the Top 50, especially if the conference plays well OOC.

(06-27-2016 06:03 AM)cleveland Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 05:03 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-27-2016 02:42 AM)pono Wrote:  no, you don't get bids by being bad. the problem is that if a team has 6 mac losses they probably have a couple to sub 200 rip teams which kills ncaa hopes. to get an at large you need top 50 wins and no sub rpi 150 losses. for a mac to get an at large they need to go 500% or better in their tough non conf games and have the league as a whole be good enough for a couple teams to be top 50 rpi and a couple more top 100 rpi.

next year is interesting because eastern, northern, toledo, buffalo, akron and ohio all have experienced rosters with some size. any of those teams could gel and be top 50. also, teams like bg, central, kent, ball st have potential to be very competitive.

personally, i like eastern next year. they have a very experienced team that knows how to play that zone. plus, after years of watching EMU run a ymca offense, they seemed to find joy in passing the ball as last season went on. if they continue that emerging offensive approach look for them to pull off some big wins. they will run out a roster that physically will match up with anybody outside kentucky and north carolina.

Indeed. The two sitouts, Lamar Wofford-Humphreys (JUCO) and Nick Madray, are both 6' 9". LWH is the long and lean type; Madray has more bulk, maybe like Boothe.

Madray played a stretch 4 at Binghamton. I believe he will back up JT4 at center.

Should be interesting if behind JT4 if EMU doesn't have a Boothe-clone good enough to start for many MAC teams.

EMU lost Brandon Nazione to graduation. A good player but not necessarily the long, lean defender necessary for the Murphy zone.

EMU also added a JUCO center, Baylee Steele, who I think is 6' 11". Don't know if he'll play or redshirt this year.

At '4' beside LWH, we have Jordan Nobles who came on late and a lower level transfer, Jones, who might be a contributor.

So the roster has 6 players at the 4 and 5 positions. Very deep there.

But the key is Raven Lee ... If he plays like a quality point guard for 25 games, EMU is good enough to challenge Buffalo for the league title and an at-large bid. If Lee plays like he has the last three years ... EMU struggles to get a MAC Tournament Bye ...

I don't disagree with you. Lee needs to score 10 - 20 points per game, each game.

BTW, Toney, not Lee is the PG.

We have one true PG, Toney, on the roster. Bond can play the point. Lee can play lead guard.

We'll see how things play out...

Akron went 24-7 in the regular season and won the MAC regular season by 2 games (3 games better than Buffalo). Akron is returning 4 starters. Not only do you guys have Buffalo favored over them, which I can see some justification for, but now you guys have an 18-15 EMU over them as well?

In no specific order I expect Buffalo, Akron, and OU to be the top 3 teams. How teams finish after those 3 is up in the air.

i

(06-27-2016 12:13 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  Akron went 24-7 in the regular season and won the MAC regular season by 2 games (3 games better than Buffalo). Akron is returning 4 starters. Not only do you guys have Buffalo favored over them, which I can see some justification for, but now you guys have an 18-15 EMU over them as well?

In no specific order I expect Buffalo, Akron, and OU to be the top 3 teams. How teams finish after those 3 is up in the air.

The only argument I see for EMU "challenging for the MAC title" is the fact that Ohio, Akron and Buffalo might beat up on each other in the East. The positive for the schools in the East is that the division is going to offer a pretty high quality of schedule

FWIW, Ohio beat EMU 86-64 in their only matchup last year. Ohio returns 4 of 5 starters and the entire bench.

(06-27-2016 12:13 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  Akron went 24-7 in the regular season and won the MAC regular season by 2 games (3 games better than Buffalo). Akron is returning 4 starters. Not only do you guys have Buffalo favored over them, which I can see some justification for, but now you guys have an 18-15 EMU over them as well?

In no specific order I expect Buffalo, Akron, and OU to be the top 3 teams. How teams finish after those 3 is up in the air.

While I agree with most of this post, what is going to hurt Buffalo, Akron and Ohio is that each of these teams will have to play each other twice. A strong team in the West can hang with these team's record wise, because they might be playing an easier conference schedule.