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Another season of MAC hoops is underway and J. Scott Fitzwater drops by MAC Report Online with the first of his weekly power ratings. Plenty to discuss ---

Here is the direct link: http://macreportonline.com/index.php/Foo...kings.html
There's a debate? Seems about right to me so far.
I'm trying to figure out where you saw any optimism in any Bulls fans until, say, about a week ago.
You have to be on crack to think that the 18th ranked rpi conference is gonna get an at-large. Miami has beaten no one and was crushed by every top team they played. No top 50 wins by the entire conference.....MAC winner will have double digit losses and no top 50 wins and atmost 1 or 2 top 100 wins when all is said and done. The MAC West is at the level of the SWAC this year for the most part. The East has teams with good players, but each team has critical flaws. Miami at the point, Kent ft shooting, BGSU lacks confidence and can't win road games, Buffalo frontline, Ohio has weak center position, Akron lacks a go to scorer.
Maybe we should call this the
MAC Disempowered Rankings
...or disembowled rankings
....really, we should start at the bottom
here's my version

12. eastern michigan; total trainwreck of a program, less than 500 fans a game, incomplete roster, always injury prone, maybe they should just hire a really good trainer and some assistants at the end of the season when they fire ramsey.
11. northern ill; bad team, few fans, no good wins, at least they have a little bit of talent coming into the program with dinunno, kowal, siles, ...
10. western mich; they are probably better than this but don't deserve the ranking cause they suck so bad. hard to see this one coming. hawkins has always been a decent coach and there is too much experience and depth here to be terrible.
9. toledo; the rockets should be ranked lower (which is higher in the mac) based on their results, just one d1 victory, but have enough talent and fan support with the new arena to win the west. after firing one of the mac's winningest all-time coaches in stan joplin, they've seen their worst start ever under new coach gene cross who is carving up the program while getting so mad at times it looks like his head may explode. with their frontcourt starting to tighten up and ridley johnson coming back from injury they could become half decent.
8. central michigan has looked decent at times but the roster is kinda thin and the injury to spica exposed them a bit.
7. ball state; go to guy of sorts in newell, solid freshman big in jones, and an emerging pg in davis the cards could be respectable in this year's mac, but they won't scare anyone
6. bg; the falcons have a fairly complete roster but some things are fishy in the small ponds of nw ohio, stud forward chris knight has become a bench warmer, team captain darryl clements went at it with an asst on bench during the game before he stormed off the floor, and more, but the top 7-8 guys in the playing rotation match up pretty well in the league this yr
5. ohio has been one of the league's most consistently decent teams this yr which makes them a threat to win the league. they have some talent, a good vet in tillman, a respectable pg, a talented young cat on the wing in coleman, and the devaughn washington experiment inside (apparantly groce has realized that the only way his talent might pay off is if he gets a lot of pt). this is a program on the way up that could make a run at the title but is probably a couple yrs away from getting enough pieces in place.
4. kent has been terrible so far as a team. the things that made kent successful for so many yrs (defense, clutch play, togetherness) seem to have faded under new coach geno ford, but they have a mean group of perimeter ballers who will be tough to stop in the weak middled mid american if they figure out how to play as a unit
3. akron is a quality team, although not loaded in talent with a little bit of a weak link at shooting guard with mcnees, but the program is solid, fans will support this team during the mac season, and the humpty to Big Z connection is less than a yr away.
2. buffalo: reggie witherspoon is the clint eastwood of mac coaches, able to reinvent himself in the same role resurrecting dying programs, their roster isn't intimidating but it has good balance and go to guys in pierce and betts. plus they've played well in close games and there aren't a lot of mac teams that'll blow you out, although some do blow.
1. miami is the only team in the league capable of winning an ncaa game. close losses at ucla and dayton, some incredible games by mike bramos, generally good play when kenny hayes was healthy, and charlie coles makes the team the one to beat, but their secret weapon is tyler dierkers, the best role player in the league.
its fair to have kent as 6 right now, however, I think these rankings will change in the next two weeks, if we start playing up to our potential... I'm ciked for the upcoming games, the MAC east schedule because of geography is always fun!!!
WMU winning at CMU may make them the team to beat in the west. Yes, that is a big win because with Ball State losing Newell for the season.
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