I am pleased to say that the first MAC basketabll article of the year is now live on <a href='http://www.vandelaysports.com' target='_blank'>VanDelaySports.com</a>. As you all know I have expanded the VanDelay site to add more content and I am also pleased to have a couple of guest writers working with us as this article is a result of this. Hope you like it!
Good schedules for the MAC. I wouldn't worry to much about NIU's schedule. Ohio had cup cake city last year and ended up in the tourneyment. To hard a schedule can put win not enough wins while too easy may hurt rpi of not prepare you for the MAC. It takes a balance. A Mac team needs atleast 20 plus win to get in as an at-large. So more than 3 tough OOC games starts to make is a tough fit. You have to get wins no matter who you play. An rpi only helps if you win the regular season title, win 20, and reach the MAC final. You may need all three. Miami, Ohio and UB each had 2 of 3 and only the automatic bid was given to the MAC. The MAC did very well last year against the Horizon league. I see a lot of Detroit, UIC, Wis-GB, Butler, Wright State, CSU, YSU on the MAC schedules. These are the games that we need to win. Plus we play SIU, UNI, Wichita State from the MVC. Also games against the A-10 like URI. Beating the other mid-majors are just as important as beating a BCS team. Record vs top 100 rpi is a factor that the commitee looks at. They are a lot of mid-majors in the top 100. Ohio had 10 top 100 last year lifting their RPi into the top 50. Ohio had 5 top 50 rpi wins (UB and Miami). Many high majors in rpi top 50 didn't have that good a record. Last year UB and Miami had better rpi than Maryland and Notre Dame. Ohio was 5-1 vs those two. The BE gets a lot of hype, but the MAC elite last year had better resumes than 6 or 7th place BE and ACC teams. Lets kick some tail OOC and get MAC rpi #7 ahead of the A-10, MVC, WCC, MWC, and C-USA. Lets blow them away with the rpi numbers and dare them to shut us out on selection Sunday. In November and December we are one conference on a mission and the nation will see that the MAC loaded this year. Football we our ok, but basketball is our strongest sport.
NIU has to start getting more wins this season. The athletic dept. already has to practicly beg students to come to the games. At this point a win is a win, even if it is against a bottom feeder.