After an utterly chaotic first week, order may have been restored in the MAC. Preseason favorite Western Michigan has asserted itself as the leader of the West and Akron has emerged as the overall top dog in the conference. We’ve even seen a couple more road wins. Still, going into cross-division matchups this weekend, teams fighting for a bye in Cleveland are going to need to be careful not to surrender any ground now.
1. Akron (14-3, 4-0) (1): An emphatic beating of Bowling Green Sunday is just what the Zips needed to do to show that they are the alpha male of the conference. Nate Linhart lived up to his “MVP” nickname with an off-hand putback to lift the Zips to a one-point win over a game Ohio squad on ESPN U. 9-1 in their last 10, two wins this week would put Akron in the driver’s seat for the #1 seed. By the way, why are the Wagon Wheelers not on TV? This should be a showcase for the conference. The crowd and the game are sure to be hot, so why can’t we show this off?
This week: @Kent (Wednesday), @Central Michigan (Saturday)
2. Kent State (14-4, 3-1) (2): Losing in The Convo is rarely a thing to be ashamed of, but the more important result of the week was the Flashes going into Millet and having their way with Miami on both sides of the ball. Like Akron, Kent now has a road win. Defend the home court Wednesday and it will be them sitting atop their standings, not their bitter rival across Interstate 76.
This week: Akron (Wednesday), Western Michigan (Sunday)
3. Western Michigan (9-8, 3-1) (9): I’m not ready to say the Broncos are poised to make a strong run through the West now, but those were two strong statement they made last week in pulling away from Toledo and Ball State. If they can find consistent defense like they demonstrated in those wins, they’re going to be tough to beat for anyone.
This week: Central Michigan (Tuesday, ESPN U), @Kent (Sunday)
4. Ohio (11-6, 2-2) (5): Holy Bobcat, Batman, Ohio is playing defense! The ‘Cats have held their four MAC opponents under 65 points and very nearly surprised everyone in the JAR. Still, because of a miserable performance at Bowling Green, they have ground to make up. They’ll need to root for Kent State Wednesday to pull them back into the East race. If Ohio can win in Buffalo and avoid losing to Ball State like they usually manage to do, they might have to be taken seriously as a contender.
This week: @Buffalo (Wednesday), Ball State (Saturday, ESPN Full Court)
5. Bowling Green (7-9, 2-2) (4): The Falcons had the chance to show they were real… and completely failed. Oh well. While they may not be able to go on the road and present a serious challenge to the MAC’s best, they will be a handful at home and may even score another upset win. Would you want to have to go into Anderson in late February with a seed on the line? I wouldn’t.
This week: Miami (Wednesday), Northern Illinois (Sunday)
6. Ball State (3-13, 2-2) (3): The Western game was hard to watch, but the Cardinals’ play suggests this is an improving team. Still, they haven’t done anything noteworthy on the road, so they may have a few more lessons to learn yet. The free throw shooting needs to get better if they want to earn a few more wins this season.
This week: @Northern Illinois (Tuesday), @Ohio (Saturday, ESPN Full Court)
7. Eastern Michigan (6-10, 2-2) (7): The Eagles had the opportunity to keep pace with Western but could not control the glass against the lilliputian Cardinals. However, that disappointment is not enough to dissuade me from the belief that Eastern will be right there with Western most of the year. They will need to avoid falling flat against the East, though.
This week: Toledo (Tuesday), @Miami (Saturday)
8. Toledo (5-11, 2-2) (11): So the offense goes, so does Toledo. The defense plays well enough, but it is the ability of the Rockets to put the ball in the basket that determines if they can win or not. In the win over Central Michigan, Toledo score one point per offensive possession, the first time they were able to manage that since Nov. 22 against Dayton. In other words, the Rockets have a bad offense.
This week: @Eastern Michigan (Tuesday), Buffalo (Saturday)
9. Central Michigan (7-9, 2-2) (6): This is the thanks I get for putting the Chippewas in third to begin the season. They are either playing lockdown defense or allowing layup drills for 40 minutes, and I don’t think that’s how Ernie Zeigler draws the defensive sets up. They’re not exactly lighting the nets up, either, as they haven’t scored a point per offensive possession beating Michigan more than a month ago. They’re going to need to figure this out quickly with three difficult games ahead.
This week: @Western Michigan (Tuesday, ESPN U), Akron (Saturday)
10. Miami (7-9, 1-3) (8): The RedHawks are in a freefall, and it’s difficult to see when and if they can pull out of it. It doesn’t help that shooting guard Michael Bramos is sidelined with an ankle injury, but the problems were evident before he went down. While it’s nearly unthinkable to even suggest, but Charlie Coles’ team is playing really poor defense. Until taking out the moribund Bulls, Miami was unable to stop their first three opponents from doing anything on the defensive end. Such ineptitude forced Coles to throw in some zone against Buffalo, something rarely seen from a Coles team. It worked, though, so we might have to get used to it.
11. Northern Illinois (4-12, 1-3) (10): It’s hard to fathom playing good defense yet losing by double digits, but the Huskie offense managed to pull it off against Central Michigan. It’s hard to pinpoint anything they’re doing well right now, and it may very well be a dogfight at the bottom with Buffalo this year.
This week: Ball State (Tuesday), @Bowling Green (Sunday)
12. Buffalo (6-10, 0-4) (12): Good effort against Miami, but the Bulls need to stop acting like the basketball is nuclear. They finished last week with a turnover differential of -16. To overcome that, a team is going to have to play great offense and defense, and the Bulls don’t even have a decent one of either.
This week: Ohio (Wednesday), @Toledo (Saturday)
on Jan 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Sadly, I have to agree with the way you’ve ranked ‘em this week. My Bulls always get up for Ohio but this doesn’t seem like season they’ll win that game. Tough to see how the Bulls “bigs” we’ll deal with Leon. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see if Bubba Walther decides to shoot the Bobcats out of the game.