(11-15-2016 12:41 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 11:50 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Even teams picked toward the bottom of the division, like CMU, handed Tennessee Tech a big defeat on their home court. I guess it was only their 2nd loss at home in the last 40 games. I know the MAC is going to cannibalize itself with the depth it has, but if there is any justice and anyone with knowledge is making the decision, the MAC can be a 2-bid league this year. It is THE best mid major conference in the nation right now.

Hope you are right but MAC teams need to win some tough OOC games. Losing to Oakland twice already isn't good. EMU beating Pitt would have been nice and Akron beating Youngstown would have helped too. We just need to take of business ultimately since we can only worry about ourselves in the end. You left off Idaho for our OOC schedule. They aren't a sexy name but are at or near the top of the Big Sky.

Those teams get a pass because they were on the road

(11-15-2016 12:43 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(11-15-2016 12:41 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 11:50 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Even teams picked toward the bottom of the division, like CMU, handed Tennessee Tech a big defeat on their home court. I guess it was only their 2nd loss at home in the last 40 games. I know the MAC is going to cannibalize itself with the depth it has, but if there is any justice and anyone with knowledge is making the decision, the MAC can be a 2-bid league this year. It is THE best mid major conference in the nation right now.

Hope you are right but MAC teams need to win some tough OOC games. Losing to Oakland twice already isn't good. EMU beating Pitt would have been nice and Akron beating Youngstown would have helped too. We just need to take of business ultimately since we can only worry about ourselves in the end. You left off Idaho for our OOC schedule. They aren't a sexy name but are at or near the top of the Big Sky.

Those teams get a pass because they were on the road

That's usually the only place MAC teams face quality opponents. Doesn't matter in RPI either. The MAC is ranked higher this year but they have to pull off those wins to be considered a 2 bid league. It's early of course and a couple teams could go on a serious run. We need to take care of business first.

(11-15-2016 12:56 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(11-15-2016 12:43 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(11-15-2016 12:41 AM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 11:50 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Even teams picked toward the bottom of the division, like CMU, handed Tennessee Tech a big defeat on their home court. I guess it was only their 2nd loss at home in the last 40 games. I know the MAC is going to cannibalize itself with the depth it has, but if there is any justice and anyone with knowledge is making the decision, the MAC can be a 2-bid league this year. It is THE best mid major conference in the nation right now.

Hope you are right but MAC teams need to win some tough OOC games. Losing to Oakland twice already isn't good. EMU beating Pitt would have been nice and Akron beating Youngstown would have helped too. We just need to take of business ultimately since we can only worry about ourselves in the end. You left off Idaho for our OOC schedule. They aren't a sexy name but are at or near the top of the Big Sky.

Those teams get a pass because they were on the road

That's usually the only place MAC teams face quality opponents. Doesn't matter in RPI either. The MAC is ranked higher this year but they have to pull off those wins to be considered a 2 bid league. It's early of course and a couple teams could go on a serious run. We need to take care of business first.

You do get more credit for road wins compared to home wins in the RPI

A bit off topic, but I really like the uniforms we wore last night. Definitely an upgrade from the Bulls jerseys.

(11-14-2016 09:58 PM)niu79 Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 09:43 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 09:29 PM)niu79 Wrote:  

(11-14-2016 09:23 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  These games are fine, because NIU does have some really tough non-conf games this year and second, the MAC is an absolute gauntlet run this year. I think after 18 games with the depth of this conference we will appreciate 1 or 2 easy nights. Ohio looks to be the class of the conference, possibly by far.

We have maybe one "tough" non-conference game (at Minnesota). The rest of this non-conference schedule is just garbage. If we are going to be ready to face the "gauntlet", you don't prepare by playing schools that would struggle against some of the better high school teams in this state.

Elon, Indiana State, Minnesota, CS-Northridge (who gave #16 UCLA all they wanted), and then those Florida road games. Its a lot to bite off.

Elon finished 16-16 last year, Indiana State 15-17, and Northridge was 10-20. That fearful trip to Florida will pit us against FIU who finished 13-19 last year, and South Florida 8-25. Thank god the Elon game is at home. Thankfully we have Roosevelt, Olivet, and UI-Springfield to ease us through.

Of course, you forgot to mention Idaho, whicFrh may actually be the best team we face.

Forget last year....focus on this season and bring fans to the games