MAC Basketball 2022-2023

clarkgriswold

clarkgriswold

Well-known member
The MAC Preseason Poll ranks the teams as follows:
1. Kent State (6) – 135 points
2. Toledo (4) – 131
3. Akron (2) – 127
4. Ball State -- 94
5. Ohio -- 91
6. Buffalo -- 82
7. Eastern Michigan -- 68
8. Western Michigan -- 66
9. Bowling Green -- 42
10. Central Michigan -- 38
11. Miami -- 36
12. Northern Illinois -- 26

The All-MAC teams:
First Team
Enrique Freeman, F, Akron, Jr.
Payton Sparks, C, Ball State, So.
Sincere Carry, G, Kent State, R-Sr.
JT Shumate, F, Toledo, Sr.
Lamar Norman Jr., G, Western Michigan, Sr.

Second Team
Xavier Castaneda, G, Akron, Sr.
Kevin Miller, G, Central Michigan, So.
Emoni Bates, F, Eastern Michigan, So.
Malique Jacobs, G, Kent State, R-Sr.
Setric Millner Jr., F, Toledo, Sr.
 
 
Akron opened with a very tough opponent in South Dakota State and won in OT. They get Mississippi State in the Barstool Invitational in Philly tonight, then they start their "warmup" part of the schedule. Toledo is playing in the first game of the Barstool Invitational against UAB.

Toledo opened with a win over Valpo.
 
We're gonna suck. 🤷
Maybe. UAB was encouraging. Just got destroyed by an FCA playing transfers, the another loss. Got no post presence and lost some outside shooting and replaced it with perimeter defense. Doesn't seem to be working.
 
Kent St gave both Houston and Gonzaga a game. Couldn't hold on til the end.
Their football coach hired away but how about that AD? Getting games like this in BBall. Wash, Ok and Georgia in football.
 
Ohio @ Buffalo.

Should be a tight one. I think Ohio is the better squad but on the road I give Buffalo the edge. Ohio will be interesting this season. Lots of new faces but plenty of experience. Lost a lot through the transfer portal but gained a lot as well. OOC play has helped develop chemistry through the ups and downs and I expect this team to be a contender come tournament time.
 
Ball St @ Toledo, identical 9-4.

Ball St, three losses to teams with 11 wins, their fourth to a Vermont team that Toledo handled easily. Ball St balanced and deep, and has solid bigs in Payton Sparks with back-up. Toledo doesn't match up well here. I dont know how they win without a hot night of shooting.
 
Akron thumped Northern to start MAC play. Castaneda, Akron's leading scorer and primary outside threat, was out. Northern never doubled down on Akron's big man like every other team has done, and paid for it. They then guarded Akron's worst shooter on the perimeter like he was Ray Allen. Just awful coaching.

Akron/Ball State on Friday night should be good.

BGSU killed EMU. EMU was 18 of 64 from the field and 3 of 22 from the 3 point line. Ouch. I guess even Emoni Bates can rescue Stan Heath.
 
Who had Ball St at the top of their preseason bracket? Beat Toledo by 7 and it wasn't that close. Beat Akron by 7.

Toledo had the first off the bench guard come in off injury, former Ball St player Cochran provided a huge improvement on D. Their only big on roster who was all-Frosh two years ago and been injured two years since, looks like he might be getting his groove back. Toledo has a shot at this.
 
eastisbest said:
Who had Ball St at the top of their preseason bracket? Beat Toledo by 7 and it wasn't that close. Beat Akron by 7.

Toledo had the first off the bench guard come in off injury, former Ball St player Cochran provided a huge improvement on D. Their only big on roster who was all-Frosh two years ago and been injured two years since, looks like he might be getting his groove back. Toledo has a shot at this.
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Akron is going to struggle. This is their least talented squad in the last 4 or 5 years. They were also down their leading scorer against Ball State. Ball State has to be happy with their start. They were predicted to finish 4th in the MAC and have already beaten #2- Toledo and #3- Akron.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Akron is going to struggle. This is their least talented squad in the last 4 or 5 years. They were also down their leading scorer against Ball State. Ball State has to be happy with their start. They were predicted to finish 4th in the MAC and have already beaten #2- Toledo and #3- Akron.
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who was Akonr missing and why?

Toledo's best new roster player formerly of Ball St is Cochran. Four games with turf toe. Alot of minutes but not much affect against Ball St. Returned and jabbed it again a minute into playing WMU but played the entire game. Definitely a spark on both sides of the court but more importantly on D. Only 6'2" but strong enough to hold off a big if someone loses him on the rotations. Turf toe doesn't go away so quick. He might have come back too soon. If he can come back, I like Toledo's chances on a rematch with Ball St.
 
eastisbest said:
who was Akonr missing and why?

Toledo's best new roster player formerly of Ball St is Cochran. Four games with turf toe. Returned and jabbed it again a minute into playing WMU but played the entire game. Definitely a spark on both sides of the court but more importantly on D. Only 6'2" but strong enough to hold off a big if someone loses him on the rotations. Turf toe doesn't go away so quick. He might have come back too soon. If he can come back, I like Toledo's chances on a rematch with Ball St.
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Toledo should not have an artificial turf basketball court! LOL.

Akron has missed Xavier Castaneda (injured wrist), their All-MAC guard, the last two games. They got what appeared to be two nice transfers, Sammy Hunter a 6'9" power forward from Ole Miss and Trendon Hankerson who had been a decent player for Northern Illinois. The Marshall color commentator after stating how Groce said Hunter was a great shooter in practice summarized Hunter by saying he "can't shoot when you can smell popcorn", meaning he can't shoot it in games. Hankerson is adequate. They lost a 6'11" kid from Senegal who could have been a big help. Right now, the only real threats are Castaneda outside and Freeman inside. They brought in nice freshman, Tavari Jackson, from Chicago who is playing the point, but he plays like a freshman most of the time.
 
BG gave a game away to Akron. That program never seems to be able to get over the hump. Looks like Kent ran away from Toledo in the second half, as did OU with Ball State. The Michigan teams again look a little rough. CMU got pounded by NIU and NIU is pretty bad.

Akron gets the EMU Emonis Friday night.
 
clarkgriswold said:
BG gave a game away to Akron. That program never seems to be able to get over the hump. Looks like Kent ran away from Toledo in the second half, as did OU with Ball State. The Michigan teams again look a little rough. CMU got pounded by NIU and NIU is pretty bad.

Akron gets the EMU Emonis Friday night.
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It was four points with a minute to go. ESPN has that margin indicator. Coach has his head up his butt. Had one particular player in, Kent would separate. Replace player, Toledo would come back. Toledo's forwards are better but Kent was able to rest his by putting in a tall beefy kid and Toledo's coach wouldn't counter with the taller, quicker and more experience player he has on his bench. He gave away 9 easy points and a couple RBs to a not very good player. Toledo couldn't hang at the end. think they got Kent's best shot. If the coach learns a little, Toledo will be there.
 
eastisbest said:
It was four points with a minute to go. ESPN has that margin indicator. Coach has his head up his butt. Had one particular player in, Kent would separate. Replace player, Toledo would come back. Toledo's forwards are better but Kent was able to rest his by putting in a tall beefy kid and Toledo's coach wouldn't counter with the taller, quicker and more experience player he has on his bench. He gave away 9 easy points and a couple RBs to a not very good player. Toledo couldn't hang at the end. think they got Kent's best shot. If the coach learns a little, Toledo will be there.
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That makes sense. I saw the score at half and saw it was close then saw the final and realized the Rockets were outscored by 15 in the second half.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Akron thumped Northern to start MAC play. Castaneda, Akron's leading scorer and primary outside threat, was out. Northern never doubled down on Akron's big man like every other team has done, and paid for it. They then guarded Akron's worst shooter on the perimeter like he was Ray Allen. Just awful coaching.

Akron/Ball State on Friday night should be good.

BGSU killed EMU. EMU was 18 of 64 from the field and 3 of 22 from the 3 point line. Ouch. I guess even Emoni Bates can rescue Stan Heath.
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We got EMU next. I really thought they'd be better. Their coach can't be long for this job. Which means they'll beat us.

Kent destroyed Ball St. I'm not sure what to make of that. Sparks is MIA. Kent and your Akron get three bunnies before playing but you follow Kent with Toledo. Be tired.
 
Kent not getting ranked after that blow out over Ball St tells me that they likely can't get ranked. Losing to NIU certainly doesn't help. Kent is super talented. The MAC has to be one of the hardest conferences in NCAA bball since the teams are so good but only one bid goes to the dance. I have to wonder if Kent needs to explore leaving for a better conference.
 
There not getting into the American or Mountain West with their football program. Best they could hope for is Atlantic 10 and drop to FCS in football.
 
Akron - Kent was apparently a mad house. Toledo - Akron with two games against each other and one against Ball St. Both teams lost already to Ball St. by 7 pts. Ball St slid by EMU just as they're getting better. Akron and UT have one more game against them. Ball St still has one game left against Kent, Akron and EMU.

It's going to be CRAZY!!!
 
Huge 3-game stretch for Ohio coming up here. Ohio had the toughest schedule to open MAC play. They did not look good but they didn't completely fold either.

Coming off a huge rivalry win yesterday against Miami they head to NIU on Tuesday where they can hopefully pull out a win where Kent could not. Then they've got Akron and Buffalo at home. They lost to both on the road.

3-0 on this stretch is tough but plausible and would position them nice for Cleveland
 
3-1 to finish out wouldn't be that tough for OU. They should be heavily favored to end on that score.

Ball St could reasonably lose 3 or 4, they've Akron, Kent, Toledo and dangerous EMU and Ohio has the tie breaker on them.

Central reasonably could go 1-3, letting someone else into the top 8.
 
Toledo is Akron's kryponite. Akron just can't keep up on defense against what's essentially a 4 guard lineup with a stretch 3 at the 5. Maybe this is the year Toledo overcomes its post-season woes. They certainly have the talent to do it. Akron won't repeat. They have 2 of the top talents in the MAC and otherwise very average talent. Dawson's injury along with Ali and Bandaogo's transfers put them behind the eight ball.

I think it comes down to Kent and Toledo in Cleveland.
 
Ohio on a nice winning streak right now. They are seeing the reverse end of that tough schedule to open MAC play.

Toledo on quite the W streak of its own
 
Toledo has managed to avoid upsets. They have the most experienced team in the league. Solid players, that know the game. Bench hasn't developed as well as would have been helpful. Against most MAC teams, the bench is fine, though still weak in the post against beefy players.

Kent is only Kent's second best chance at beating Toledo. EMU is Kent's best chance at beating Toledo.

EMU I think is the team that has the others thinking. They have a very legit shot at making that 8 spot. Toledo wins out, that would be a 3rd game against the one team that has had Toledo down in both games. EMU has 3 of the best players in the league and maybe by a distance. They will be as the next four improve. Having a coach that has won at a high level.... EMU could win the whole thing. AND with that very losing record and Bates on the team, they would be instant media darlings of the dance.
 
I think OU has really grown up as the season has progressed. You could see the talent but it just needed to mature. The youngsters are really starting to come around. I also think Boals is a decent head coach.

I don't see EMU going far. They fold and quit when they face adversity. With their talent they should easily be in the top half of the league but between Bates' bad attitude and Heath's ineptitude they consistently throw it all away.

All in all, I think it is a down year for the MAC. Toledo and Kent are decent but the other teams are average at best. I'm starting a petition to ditch any team with a direction in their name.
 
clarkgriswold said:
I don't see EMU going far. They fold and quit when they face adversity. With their talent they should easily be in the top half of the league but between Bates' bad attitude and Heath's ineptitude.
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I've heard this about Bate's attitude but haven't seen it in two games in which they were ahead and lost. I saw him always trying to get his teammates involved. After first game, that one he made all the news scoring 29 straight points, he was still passing, trying to help those lesser players get in the game. After losing, he was signing autographs for OUR fans. I never saw him being antogonistic and trust me, me have one player whose major role is to antagonize. In fact, at the free throw line in that midst of not being able to miss, one of our guards made a comment and he laughed and bantered back. He has a grump snoop dawg look but when in close-up, you can see just how young he is.

Heath is proven. He doesn't have all the skill sets he needs yet. Those three players though...
 
eastisbest said:
I've heard this about Bate's attitude but haven't seen it in two games in which they were ahead and lost. I saw him always trying to get his teammates involved. After first game, that one he made all the news scoring 29 straight points, he was still passing, trying to help those lesser players get in the game. After losing, he was signing autographs for OUR fans. I never saw him being antogonistic and trust me, me have one player whose major role is to antagonize. In fact, at the free throw line in that midst of not being able to miss, one of our guards made a comment and he laughed and bantered back. He has a grump snoop dawg look but when in close-up, you can see just how young he is.

Heath is proven. He doesn't have all the skill sets he needs yet. Those three players though...
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Never a fan of Heath. He had the good fortune of following Gary Waters at KSU and has done very little but jump job to job since.

I don't think Emonie is antagonistic, he is just young and immature. He goes into full sulk mood when things aren't going his way. At Akron, he let the crowd get to him, scored three points spent the end of the game on the bench with his head under a towel not leaving his seat during timeouts. The kid's notoriety has done him no favors. Here's a pretty good article on him-

www.nytimes.com

He Was Billed as the Next LeBron. But Will Emoni Bates Make It at All?

Bates was on a magazine cover at 15. He was playing Division I college basketball at 17. Now he’s 19, his college career may be over, and N.B.A. success is anything but guaranteed.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
we had one job today, come out healthy. Milner lands on his wrist trying to drive to the basket into a double team.
 
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