MAC Power Rankings: It’s Finally Over Edition

Or should they be called the weakness ratings? Whatever. The important part is, it’s over. I can finally put this mess behind me. I spent a long time staring at this list trying to make sure it made sense. I eventually had to just admit it doesn’t really matter; all these teams are more or less the same. At this point, NIU could storm to the finals and I wouldn’t even bat an eye.

Either way, it’s freaking late, I’m exhausted, and I have to drive to Cleveland in about 14 hours. Huzzah. Hope you’re going to be there, too. It may not be pretty, but it’s still going to be the best week of the year.

1. Bowling Green (18-12, 11-5) (1): With all due respect to the Falcons, this is the weakest top seed the conference has ever produced. BG needed a few things to fall their way to secure the top spot, and they did. The blowout win over Ohio looks great, but they’re not going to shoot an effective field goal of 70% again. If anybody can shoot well enough to force them out of the 2-3 zone, BG will be extremely vulnerable. If not, they just might crawl out of Cleveland the champions.

2. Buffalo (19-10, 11-5) (2): Buffalo has a sweet draw, facing the winner of NIU/Kent in the quarterfinals and then a guaranteed West opponent in the semis should they win Thursday. The comeback win in Athens looks to have revitalized the Bulls and might be the favorite in Cleveland. UB’s depth and versatility are going to be big weapons should they make a deep run in the bracket. Still, the defense was not as tight in the last week as it has been; they’re going to want to fix that quickly.

3. Kent State (18-13, 10-6) (5): The other East team in the bottom half of the draw, the Flashes might not have the depth to win four games in five days, but they’re playing as good a brand a basketball as anybody in the conference right now. However, they are still a poor team at the free throw line, and that is exactly the kind of weakness that submarines a squad in a tournament setting.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from this. No sound.

4. Miami (17-12, 10-6) (4): Miami let the #1 seed slip through their fingers at Buffalo, but managed a bye anyway. Can Carl Richburg be relied upon to guide them to three wins? He had one awful game and one strong game last week; the RedHawks cannot afford such fluctuations.

5. Akron (19-12, 10-6) (3): Once again, the Zips had a great opportunity on their hands to get at least a share of the regular season championship when Chris Singletary was ejected. Once again, they failed. Given Akron’s poor offense (they haven’t produced a point per offensive possession in a month) and Keith Dambrot’s inability to keep his team from tightening up previous tournaments, it’s hard to consider them true contenders this year.

6. Central Michigan (11-18, 7-9) (8): Also known as the only team in the West that had a sense of something to play for. Left for dead, the Chippewas rallied, watched the teams in front of them stumble, and snuck into the seventh seed. Possible surprise semifinalist? Entirely plausible, given their draw.

7. Western Michigan (10-20, 7-9) (6): The Broncos’ defense has been getting torched lately. It was surprising to see WMU allow Central Michigan to come into Kalamazoo on Senior Day and dictate the action, but that’s exactly what happened.

8. Ball State (13-16, 7-9) (6): Talk about the wheels coming off. Needing to win a single game to clinch the West Division and a first-round bye with three to play, the Cardinals could not seal the deal. As it turns out, they didn’t have to do the work themselves, as they were able to back into Thursday. The three losses were by a combined 5 points, though, so it may be easier to forget those losses than one would think.

9. Ohio (14-16, 7-9) (9): Generally, it’s not a good sign when a coach benches his seniors to send a message on the last game of the season. The Bobcats are capable of doing damage at The Q, but not if they continue to treat the basketball like it’s covered in Vaseline. Rebounding from the nightmare at Bowling Green will be a test of the seniors’ mettle, but also of John Groce.

10. Eastern Michigan (8-23, 6-10) (10): Give the Eagles credit. They have raised their level of play when for all the world it looked like the towel had been thrown in. EMU comes into the tournament on a nice four-game winning streak, with both of their opponents in front of them victims of said streak. Charles Ramsey might be buying himself some time in Ypsilanti with this late run.

11. Toledo (7-24, 5-11) (12): The Rockets decided to stop allowing anyone and everyone to score on them. Not by coincidence, they won 2 of the last 3.

12. Northern Illinois (10-19, 5-11) (11): One step forward, two steps back. The Huskies could have forced a four-way tie for the division crown at 7-9, but instead dropped their final two. The exact opposite of Toledo, NIU sprung major leaks in their defense in the last week.

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