As teams took finals this week, I played around with how they ranked so far.
Here's what I have (listed by record) as of Friday afternoon (Dec. 13).
Buffalo (7-2). RPI 89. Power ranking 114. Not a strong schedule so far. Freshman Dyaisha Fair leads the MAC at 23.4 points a game.
Ohio (6-2). RPI 108. Power ranking 77. Has league's best win — 74-68 over Ohio State in Columbus.
Kent State (5-3). RPI 66. Power ranking 150. Has beaten 5 mid-majors with 3 games decided in last minute. Lost to 3 Big Ten teams.
Bowling Green (5-3). RPI 110. Power ranking 112. Leads MAC in offense but hasn't beaten a team with RPI under 150.
Central Michigan (4-3). RPI 104. Power rating 74. Lost first three to very good teams, then won four in a row.
Western Michigan (4-3). RPI 223. Power ranking 241. Beaten 3 Division I teams with combined 3-24 record. Lost to 3 with 20-6 record.
Ball State (4-4). RPI 130. Power rating 104. Has 2-3 record against teams in RPI to 100.
Akron (4-4). RPI 169. Power ranking 159. Played well in loss vs. Michigan, but wins other than Youngstown were against weak teams.
Miami (4-5). RPI 154. Power ranking 148. Lost to 2 top-25 teams and haven't beaten team with RPI above 199.
Northern Illinois (3-5). RPI 161. Power ranking 196. Lost 3 closes games to good teams, beat 2 weak teams in overtime.
Eastern Michigan (3-6). RPI 195. Power ranking 246. Toughest schedule in MAC, but average loss is by 20 points.
Toledo (2-5). RPI 272, Power ranking 174. Four of 5 losses have been by fewer than 8 points.
Lots more detail is on the blog at
http://wbbFlashes.com.
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League ranks about 11th of 32 conferences in most ratings I've seen. Last two years it was eighth.
Buffalo looks better than I expected. All-MAC post Summer Hemphill hasn't played yet because of an injury.
Ohio plays at TCU and at Texas next week. That should be interesting.
Ball State and Bowling Green are playing better than predicted. Toledo, Northern Illinois and Miami are doing worse.
League looks as if it go in a lot of different directions once conference play starts.