If you break the basketball season into parts I'd do it like this

1) first half of the non-conf season through the thanksgiving week tournaments.
2) second half of non-conf around exams, games with students off campus, December
3) the first long stretch on conference games in front of students, January
4) the grind. roughly games 20-26 where some guys hit the wall and some start to breakout.
5) stretch run of big conference games building momentum for conf tournament
6) postseason conference and national tournaments.
....

So, it's time to rank the MAC so far (with postseason hopes noted)

looking better than expected
1) Miami, open with a quality road win and stay sharp through a stretch of low-moderate competition. (toughest part of non-conf remaining, Cincy game is looking huge. Undefeated w an ACC road win so far so postseason dreams are intact)
2) EMU is not great and may not even end up with a winning record in the MAC, but they have been very competitive in all but 1 game against solid competition. (unlikely, but postseason hopes were always slim)

looking good
1) Ohio, strong start w Belmont and Cleve St wins. Had a chance at Kentucky but played poorly down the stretch. (Huge game at LSU coming up. With a win there Bobcats could be in at large conversations down the line).
2) Kent St was picked more toward the middle than the top of the MAC, but they have been solid against good competition and are doing it with a couple of rotation guys injured. looking like a winning MAC team that may get deeper. (winning out in non-conf including @W. Virginia is probably needed to have serious NIT/NCAA hopes)

looking pretty good
1) Toledo was picked 3rd or so in the MAC and hasn't had a complete game all season but has looked very good for a half or so on way to a 5-1 record with only 1 home game. (tough stretch coming up @Mich St Bradley @Richmond Marshall. Rockets will need a winning record in those 4 to have serious postseason options)
2) Buffalo was picked to win or be the top contender by most folks. they've played a rugged schedule and won a few games and looked good in their 2 losses. (Rivalry games with Canisius and @St Bonaventure coming up along w a trip to WKU and hosting a good UC-Irvine team. UB will need an upset at ranked St Bona for a good postseason resume)

could be worse
1) NIU has been blown out a couple times already, but did get a big win at Washington. (no postseason likely)
2) CMU struggling for wins against a challenging schedule but looking good in stretches as little was expected from them. (no postseason likely)

worse than expected
1) BG because more was expected. Does this mean there is such a thing as too much depth? (remaining non-conf schedule is manageable but too many early losses to have much postseason hope beyond winning the auto-bid)
2) Akron was probably a bit overrated coming into the season without much returning offense and a near upset at OSU inflated those hopes which came back to earth with an underwhelming performance in Florida tournament this week (schedule doesn't hold any more big non conf win opportunities and the losses are piling up)
3) Ball St was a tough read coming into the season. They haven't been terrible but hopes were a little higher than the results so far. A solid win over UMass took some sting out of a poor tournament (Still some meat on BSU's schedule, so a spectacular turnaround could keep postseason hopes alive, but it looks dim)

Ugly
1) WMU gets this category to themselves. Broncos looked improved on paper and have experience, size and some guard depth, but have been terrible. There's time to turnaround the season but any postseason will come via auto-bid if that miracle comes to pass.

(11-25-2021 02:41 PM)pono Wrote:  If you break the basketball season into parts I'd do it like this

1) first half of the non-conf season through the thanksgiving week tournaments.
2) second half of non-conf around exams, games with students off campus, December
3) the first long stretch on conference games in front of students, January
4) the grind. roughly games 20-26 where some guys hit the wall and some start to breakout.
5) stretch run of big conference games building momentum for conf tournament
6) postseason conference and national tournaments.
....

So, it's time to rank the MAC so far (with postseason hopes noted)

looking better than expected
1) Miami, open with a quality road win and stay sharp through a stretch of low-moderate competition. (toughest part of non-conf remaining, Cincy game is looking huge. Undefeated w an ACC road win so far so postseason dreams are intact)
2) EMU is not great and may not even end up with a winning record in the MAC, but they have been very competitive in all but 1 game against solid competition. (unlikely, but postseason hopes were always slim)

looking good
1) Ohio, strong start w Belmont and Cleve St wins. Had a chance at Kentucky but played poorly down the stretch. (Huge game at LSU coming up. With a win there Bobcats could be in at large conversations down the line).
2) Kent St was picked more toward the middle than the top of the MAC, but they have been solid against good competition and are doing it with a couple of rotation guys injured. looking like a winning MAC team that may get deeper. (winning out in non-conf including @W. Virginia is probably needed to have serious NIT/NCAA hopes)

looking pretty good
1) Toledo was picked 3rd or so in the MAC and hasn't had a complete game all season but has looked very good for a half or so on way to a 5-1 record with only 1 home game. (tough stretch coming up @Mich St Bradley @Richmond Marshall. Rockets will need a winning record in those 4 to have serious postseason options)
2) Buffalo was picked to win or be the top contender by most folks. they've played a rugged schedule and won a few games and looked good in their 2 losses. (Rivalry games with Canisius and @St Bonaventure coming up along w a trip to WKU and hosting a good UC-Irvine team. UB will need an upset at ranked St Bona for a good postseason resume)

could be worse
1) NIU has been blown out a couple times already, but did get a big win at Washington. (no postseason likely)
2) CMU struggling for wins against a challenging schedule but looking good in stretches as little was expected from them. (no postseason likely)

worse than expected
1) BG because more was expected. Does this mean there is such a thing as too much depth? (remaining non-conf schedule is manageable but too many early losses to have much postseason hope beyond winning the auto-bid)
2) Akron was probably a bit overrated coming into the season without much returning offense and a near upset at OSU inflated those hopes which came back to earth with an underwhelming performance in Florida tournament this week (schedule doesn't hold any more big non conf win opportunities and the losses are piling up)
3) Ball St was a tough read coming into the season. They haven't been terrible but hopes were a little higher than the results so far. A solid win over UMass took some sting out of a poor tournament (Still some meat on BSU's schedule, so a spectacular turnaround could keep postseason hopes alive, but it looks dim)

Ugly
1) WMU gets this category to themselves. Broncos looked improved on paper and have experience, size and some guard depth, but have been terrible. There's time to turnaround the season but any postseason will come via auto-bid if that miracle comes to pass.

PRETTY ACCURATE ... November breakdown. It will be interesting to see if - and how much - change there will be after December.

Are you just breaking the teams into tiers or are you saying Buffalo is the 6th best team in the MAC so far?

(11-25-2021 06:55 PM)Eagle66 Wrote:  Are you just breaking the teams into tiers or are you saying Buffalo is the 6th best team in the MAC so far?

Conprehend... This is vs. expectations. No linear ranking yet.

I assume that comes when all categories and segments of the season commence.

(11-26-2021 01:46 AM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(11-25-2021 06:55 PM)Eagle66 Wrote:  Are you just breaking the teams into tiers or are you saying Buffalo is the 6th best team in the MAC so far?

Conprehend... This is vs. expectations. No linear ranking yet.

I assume that comes when all categories and segments of the season commence.

Comprehend? Obviously I didn’t. I was confused as to the “rankings” being provided, hence the clarifying question. This would be more of a performance against expectations and not a ranking. Not discounting them by any means, just making sure I understood what pono was saying. Maybe I am slow… But again, that’s why I asked.