RE: My MAC non-conf report card
My unscientific final pre-MAC rankings based on KenPom resumes. Obviously, this will get sorted out from here as league play starts.
First number is KenPom rank; second number is my ranking last week
1. Akron (87) (1): The Zips were off, but picked up a top 100 win as Marshall (99) moved up about 10 spots and is the league's second-highest rated win. Georgia Southern moved up to No. 133, which is now the fifth highest-rated win. The Zips still hold on with a league high five top 200 wins.
2. Toledo (142) (2): The Rockets didn't play a D1 team this week and remain at No. 2, though the Loyola win, which was the league's second highest last week is not as strong now as the Ramblers took a pair of setbacks to fall back to No. 140. The Rockets still have the third highest ranked win over No. 108 Evansville. They stay at No. 2 since five of the six losses were to teams ranked No. 101 or higher. Still have three top 200 wins.
3. Central Michigan (161) (3): The Chippewas played to an uninspiring 90-82 win against sub-300 Chicago State, but remain at No. 3. Like Toledo, still have three top 200 wins. Unlike last week (and the Rockets), the Chippewas will have a sub-200 loss at some point tonight when No. 188 Little Rock is recalculated ... lost by 17 at home to UL-Lafayette. Still, I'm holding them steady.
4. Eastern Michigan (109) (5): The Hurons got a blowout win against a against a deceiving No. 189 Long Beach State team. LBSU is probably more like a top 150 team. That win keeps EMU at two in the top 200 ... as Gardner-Webb fell out. Four of the five losses were to teams in the top 87 and worst loss was to No. 153 IUPUI. Hopefully, the days of this team playing four non D1 teams is over.
5. Kent State (149) (11): This was the perfect week for Kent State. Not only did the Flashes break through with the league's first, and best, OOC win against No. 79 Texas, but Wofford also moved into the top 200 at No. 194. The Flashes went from 0 top 200 wins to two, including the highest rated one. On top of that, Wright State and South Dakota both moved into the top 200, eliminating two of the three sub 200 losses.
6. Ohio (104) (4): The Bobcats didn't play a D1 team, but got a boost from No. 130 Georgia Tech, which went to Chapel Hill and handily beat a top 10 UNC team. Still, outside of that GT win, the resume is weak with the other six wins being to teams ranked No. 226 or lower.
7. Buffalo (136) (6): The Bulls didn't get any help with a win against No. 331 Maine. The resume is essentially unchanged, outside of Weber State (147) moving into the top 150. That still is the Bulls' only in the top 200. The Canisius loss is no longer looking horrible, as they are up to No. 157. Five other losses are to teams No. 77 or higher, but the Robert Morris (266) loss holds them back since there isn't much in terms of wins to go on.
8. Ball State (175) (7): The blah resume only got more blah with a win over No. 300 North Florida. The Cardinals, almost amazingly, have six wins to sub 300 teams. The best win is no against No. 245 Bradley. But there still is no losses to sub 200 teams.
9. Northern Illinois (169) (8): No DI game this week, so nothing really changes. Still, just one top 200 win against Indiana State (which they also lost to) and two sub 200 losses.
10. Western Michigan (206) (9): The bright side, got a 30-point win. The down side, it was against the lowest rated team in D1 basketball, Alabama A&M. Again, nothing changes from last week, but James Madison (No. 233) moved up about 25 spots. The other two D1 wins are to two of the worst teams in hoops. They still also have the league's only sub 300 loss and one other outside the top 200. But they still have four close losses against top 100 teams that keeps them this high.
11. Miami (281) (10): Another team that didn't play a D1 game, so not much changes. Just one top 200 win (No. 153 IUPUI), but only one sub 200 loss to No. 267 Delaware in the second game of the year.
12. Bowling Green (222) (12): The Falcons got a nine-point win against No. 311 Norfolk State. That hardly does anything to get out of the basement. They have a top 200 win against No. 185 Murray State, but the other four are to sub 300 teams. Still have the two sub 200 losses.
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