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Two-cent analysis as the OOC schedule nears its end.

AKRON
Good: Nice domination of Mississippi State.
Bad: If injured J. Woods is the player most think he is,
this Zips team would be very dangerous.
Ugly: Picked the wrong day to play ultra-hot Louisville.
Yet to Play: Wright St

BALL STATE
Good: Winning by 20+ points over a normally pesky Wright St.
Bad: Have been competitive in all of their losses.
Ugly: The season and maybe career-ending injury to star player
Peyton Stovall. He was the straw that stirred BSU's drink.
Yet to Play: Indiana

BOWLING GREEN
Good: Some joke that BGSU's best player wears a Virginia Tech
uniform. But the Falcons did lead the Hokies nearly wire-to-wire.
Bad: It turns out BG's best player just became eligible. Dakich
should have waited until December to start the season!
Ugly: Losses to mediocore teams are too numerous to mention.
Yet to Play: none

BUFFALO
Good: Stellar 9-1 OOC Record, with wins over Fresno State, Rutgers, and
rivals Canisius and Niagara.
Bad: Is the feeble game at Boston College a harbinger to an NIT
bid instead of the NCAA's?
Ugly: Almost lost at home to woeful Elon. But I'd take
an ugly win over an ugly loss anyday.
Yet to Play: at Delaware St

CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Good: Lone OOC win at home to UW-Green Bay.
Bad: How many players have left CMU only to shine at other
schools? Latest in the line is David Hoskins at Kansas State.
Ugly: All seven losses have been by double-digits.
Yet to Play: none

EASTERN MICHIGAN
Good: The win over Cal looks good on paper. This team is
probably a year away from being more than competitive.
Bad: Let a double-digit lead slip away late at UW-Green Bay.
Ugly: Getting cross-checked at North Dakota State.
Yet to Play: at Northern Colorado

KENT STATE
Good: More wins than losses. Plays competitively.
Bad: Nearly everyone gets "up" to plays the Flashes. This year
it is equating to more defeats than usual.
Ugly: Losing at home to Delaware State. The Hornets are 1-8
since their upset win versus KSU.
Yet to Play: at Syracuse

MIAMI
Good: Beating Dayton is always good. Like most Coles' teams,
the Redhawks are "in" most games.
Bad: Having one to two starters out during the toughest stretch
of their OOC.
Ugly: Pressure defense seems to often wear out Miami on their
offensive side of the court.
Yet to Play: vs. Cincinnati

NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Good: Victories over DePaul and Kansas State is always nice
to have on your resume.
Bad: Have not been able to win a road game.
Ugly: Getting smeared at (SW) Missouri State.
Yet to Play: vs. San Jose State and tourney game

OHIO
Good: 5-1 record works for me.
Bad: Bobcats' victories have not been overly impressive.
Ugly: The second-half meltdown at Cinci caused a CBS writer
ballistic on them.
Yet to Play: vs. Kentucky

TOLEDO
Good: Rockets are performing fairly well with their 5-1 record.
Bad: The competition hasn't exactly been keen and most of the
games have been at home. (Of course, wouldn't most of the
other MAC teams be envious of this?)
Ugly: Got too far beyond South Carolina to catch-up.
Yet to Play: Oakland

WESTERN MICHIGAN
Good: A pair of OOC victories.
Bad: The Broncos have not been able to reload this season. Rumor
has it this is just a single year bump in the road.
Ugly: Non-competitive in some games.
Yet to Play: at South Alabama

THE MAC AS A WHOLE
Good: Last season the league had its least number of victories
in years against the Big Boys. Five MAC squads have chalked up
a total of six this winter. The conference is hovering in the
Top 10 to 12 in the Sagarin and RPI ratings.
Bad: While injuries are a part of the game, they seemed to have
occurred too many times this year. And for teams leagues like the MAC,
it can make a big differences in the won-loss record.
Ugly: MAC to the Missouri Valley; "Thank you Sir, May I have
another!" Yes, the 0-8 record is due in part to having only a
pair of home games hosted by our lesser squads. But it's still
0-8. Let's hope the NCAA takes bids from less than impressive
leagues, like this year's Big XII, and awards one or two at-larges
to the MAC (provding we deserve them).
Yet to Play: All teams have a Bracket Buster game on February 18. One last chance for league teams to shine before the MACC and the post-season.

Okie Chippewa Wrote:TOLEDO
Good: Rockets are performing fairly well with their 5-1 record.

Unfortunalty UT is 5-2, losing to South Carolina and NIU after being down more than 20 and then getting w/in 5.

Quote:NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Good: Victories over DePaul and Kansas State is always nice
to have on your resume.
Bad: Have not been able to win a road game.
Ugly: Getting smeared at (SW) Missouri State.
Yet to Play: vs. San Jose State and tourney game

We don't play really well on the road, but we did beat Toledo in Toledo. So we have won a road game.

Okie Chippewa Wrote:Two-cent analysis as the OOC schedule nears its end.

EASTERN MICHIGAN
Good: The win over Cal looks good on paper.

Looked good on the court also, and in the record books.

I should have mentioned, I only used D-I OOC games in my GBU snippets.

Quote:WESTERN MICHIGAN
Good: A pair of OOC victories.
Bad: The Broncos have not been able to reload this season. Rumor
has it this is just a single year bump in the road.
Ugly: Non-competitive in some games.
Yet to Play: at South Alabama

I can't disagree on any of these.

It's been tough replicating the scoring production of Williams-Kann (2 years ago) and Reed-Rost (last year). The hustling and rebounding has been there, but the shooting percentage has been inconsistent at best.

We'll definitely know more by the end of January, but it certainly looks to be a rebuilding year. With a couple of highly-touted recruiting classes we just had, I'm confident that this is just a "bump" as opposed to a multi-year slide. We shall see.

I thought when I watched Kansas State play NIU on Tuesday that David Hoskins seemed familiar. Didn't realize until now that he played at CMU.

not a bad assessment there, Okie. I don't totally disagree with what you have said, and I'm certainly not here to start an argument or flame or anything like that.

i just wanted to elaborate on what you said about OU's wins being not that impressive. On the surface, that is true. Single digit wins over Marist, Rhode Island, and Detroit don't scream WORLD BEATERS at first. But, if one looks a little deeper, they are good wins because #1 they are wins and #2 last year's OU team (full of freshmen and sophomores) would have lost all three of those games. That's one thing that is not necessarily evident in scores and that's one thing that I think the general public is not really getting about this year's team. This year's team is more mature and more confident and more often than not does not let leads slip away.

Now, this paragraph is geared more toward idiots like that CBS "journalist" than at anyone on this board. That being said, yes we had one "bad" half against UC but let's give credit where credit is due and that is to UC's tenacious defense. And, by the way, in case no one has noticed, UC has not lost since their Memphis game and that includes wins over Vanderbilt, Ohio, and Dayton. And another thing about UC, they are the highest rated Big East team currently in the RPI.

Ok, I'm done! LIke i said, i like your assessment and I'm not at all flaming or trying to be a jerk. I just wanted to get this stuff off my chest! thanks for the forum to do that!

GO MAC!

UC just dropped LSU extending the win streak even more. Talk about under-rated.

theOUPDT Wrote:UC just dropped LSU extending the win streak even more. Talk about under-rated.

there ya go! hopefully UC will continue its winning ways and maybe get jerks like that CBS guy off our backs. but then again what he knows about Ohio and about the MAC you could put in a thimble. who cares about him anyway! heheheh

bobcat_backer Wrote:#2 last year's OU team (full of freshmen and sophomores) would have lost all three of those games.

Actually, last year we did lose to Marist, St. Francis, and American, and beat Detroit on a last second shot.

GoCats Wrote:

bobcat_backer Wrote:#2 last year's OU team (full of freshmen and sophomores) would have lost all three of those games.

Actually, last year we did lose to Marist, St. Francis, and American, and beat Detroit on a last second shot.

yes exactly my point. notice it did not happen again this year. just like Coach O'Shea has said, we are a work in progress. hopefully we can show that progress next friday to the nation on ESPN2 against UK.

bobcat_backer Wrote:yes exactly my point. notice it did not happen again this year. just like Coach O'Shea has said, we are a work in progress. hopefully we can show that progress next friday to the nation on ESPN2 against UK.

I hope we can beat UK too, but I think this team is going to be a late bloomer like last year's.

The MVC has had one heck of an ooc start:

Northern Iowa beat Iowa, LSU and Dayton.
Evansville(their only team that doesn't have a plus .500 record) beat Purdue
Drake lost to Iowa by 5 and Boston College by 3
Creighton beat Dayton and Xavier plus whupped Nebraska
Bradley beat So Miss, DePaul and Western Ky
Wichita St lost to Illinois by 1 and beat Providence
Missouri St won at Oral Roberts, lost to Arky by 4
IN St beat Indiana and at Butler

No embarassment losing to any of these teams.

onlinepole Wrote:The MVC has had one heck of an ooc start:

Northern Iowa beat Iowa, LSU and Dayton.
Evansville(their only team that doesn't have a plus .500 record) beat Purdue
Drake lost to Iowa by 5 and Boston College by 3
Creighton beat Dayton and Xavier plus whupped Nebraska
Bradley beat So Miss, DePaul and Western Ky
Wichita St lost to Illinois by 1 and beat Providence
Missouri St won at Oral Roberts, lost to Arky by 4
IN St beat Indiana and at Butler

No embarassment losing to any of these teams.

Except that they are also a mid-major conference and will get 2 or 3 at-large bids before we get one. We are directly competing with the MVC, A-10, CUSA, WCC, and maybe another mid-major conference for a limited # of spots and we are in sad shape. The MVC is way our in front of us. Losses to them hurt us very directly. Hard to argue our tourney runner-up or another team deserves an at-large bid over MVC teams that beat us home and road.

Well, odds are that our tourney runner up won't have lost to an MVC team...other than possibly NIU the MVC has been beating up on the bottom half of the MAC for the most part.

Further, the fact that the MVC has been so deep thus far means they are likely to do the same thing the MAC has done to itself in the past...canabalize itself. We'll see howt he committee treats a bunch of MVC teams bunched up with less than stellar conference records. In the past 2 or 3 MVC teams have separated themselves from the pack, the same thing that looks likely in the MAC this season.