MAC 2021

OhioBobcatFan06

Well-known member
The season is upon us! The MAC looks tough this year. I don't always agree with the Coaches Poll but this year it looks pretty fair.

2021-22 MAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Buffalo – 143 points (11 first place votes)
2. Ohio – 126 points
3. Toledo – 107 points (1)
4. Kent State – 98 points
5. Akron – 95 points
6. Bowling Green – 93 points
7. Miami – 92 points
8. Ball State – 54 points
9. Western Michigan – 44 points
10. Central Michigan – 34 points
11. Eastern Michigan – 29 points
12. Northern Illinois – 21 points

No one would be surprised if Toledo or Ohio won the league, but both are in a wait-and-see type situation. Marreon Jackson transferred to Arizona State and Jason Preston went pro early. I view both Toledo and Ohio as "reload" not "rebuild" but losing those two guys it is hard to say how the teams will look.

Ohio did pickup Jason Carter who dominated the MAC then transferred to Xavier, but has now transferred back! Mark Sears is the PG replacement for Jason Preston and he looked very impressive in his playing time last year. One big hit for Ohio is center Dwight Wilson had ACL surgery in the off-season so he is out through OOC play (at-least, hopefully he can return for MAC play but that is iffy)

...

Pretty exciting opening slate for the MAC. Everyone but Ohio is on the road. Hopefully we can knock off some P5 schools!


Akron
#17 Ohio State

Eastern Michigan
Indiana

Belmont
Ohio

Ball State
Georgia Southern

Toledo
Valparaiso

Miami (OH)
Georgia Tech

Bowling Green
Western Carolina

Central Michigan
Missouri

Northern Illinois
Washington

 
 
Not relevant for this year, but adding WKU and MTSU is going to be big for MAC hoops. I am hoping for a two-bid league this year, but adding these two really ups the prestige of MAC basketball moving forward. The only downside is that the automatic-bid just got a lot tougher...

Good article about these two programs from the Buffalo fan-site below:
 
Akron loses on a buzzer-beater to #17 OSU. Very disappointing they couldn't pull that out (crazy finish) but a great showing. Ohio is up 8 with about 8 to play against a very good Belmont squad. Belmont won 26 games last year and returned everyone so this would be a very good win. Miami tied with Georgia Tech at the half. Toledo beating Valpo. CMU beating Mizzou. Hopefully the MAC can pull all of these out!
 
I'm impressed with OU tonight vs Belmont 26-4). Pretty deep team on offense

That was as impressive of a game as I could've hoped for.

Mark Sears with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 4-4 from 3 and 10-11 from the field. He looked great behind Preston last year and this cements that he is the real deal. Meanwhile, Jason Carter returns to OHIO and drops 20 & 10. Finally, the newcomers that saw time (Schmock & Clayton) both looked promising.

The only negative was probably that Roderick didn't shoot well from 3, but I'm not worried at all about him and it's great to see this team can thrive even if Roderick has an off-night.

This team is gonna hit a lot of 3's last year. Every single player on the roster is good from deep.
 
That was as impressive of a game as I could've hoped for.

Mark Sears with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 4-4 from 3 and 10-11 from the field. He looked great behind Preston last year and this cements that he is the real deal. Meanwhile, Jason Carter returns to OHIO and drops 20 & 10. Finally, the newcomers that saw time (Schmock & Clayton) both looked promising.

The only negative was probably that Roderick didn't shoot well from 3, but I'm not worried at all about him and it's great to see this team can thrive even if Roderick has an off-night.

This team is gonna hit a lot of 3's last year. Every single player on the roster is good from deep.
We are definitely loaded. Love to see us beat Kentucky
 
We are definitely loaded. Love to see us beat Kentucky
I'm heading down.

Here is the OHIO box score for tonight.

ohio.PNG
 
5 minutes of watching Buffalo and this may be the best MAC team I've ever seen.

This team really doesn't belong in this league.
 
staying healthy.

Toledo just doesn't look to have the pieces. Lost too much in the middle to portal and injury.
I think they will need some time to find their identity, but Shumate, Rollins & Millner is a pretty solid returning core. All averaged double-digits last year. If some young guys step up they will be a tough team come MAC play. It hurts Toledo that the MAC isn't East/West anymore... They would've been favored in the old West...
 
Solid lineup this weekend

Friday
Illinois State @ EMU
Kent @ Xavier
WMU @ MSU
Ohio Wesleyan @ BG
NIU @ Indiana

Saturday
Ohio @ Cleveland State
Omaha @ Ball State
Lamar @ Miami
CMU @ Depaul
Detroit Mercy @ Toledo
Point Park @ Akron

Thoughts:
-Kent @ Xavier is the MAC's best chance for a big-win this weekend. Go Kent!
-Ohio absolutely destroyed CSU early last season, then CSU proceeded to go on a run and win a bunch of games. They'll likely be out for revenge in their opener.
-How the heck did EMU get an MVC program into their building?
-Will be interesting to watch NIU @ Indiana. I was shocked NIU beat Washington. Are they for real?
 
Kent ultimately falls to X. EMU was able to beat Illinois State which is a solid win. I've seen EMU ranked low 200's while Illinois State is normally in the 100's... MSU rocked WMU was expected.

Everyone in the MAC is favored tomorrow except CMU @ Depaul. Toledo will have there hands full with Detroit Mercy. That's a good early test as is Ohio on the road at CMU.
 
BG @ OSU
Robert Morris @ Ohio
Buffalo @ North Texas
CMU @ Eastern Illinois

Tough road games for BG and Buffalo. Really hoping Buffalo can pull it out against North Texas. North Texas is a Top 100 team this year. Ohio and CMU should be favored. Ohio is getting one Top 25 vote this week after impressive opening wins over CSU and Belmont.
 
tOSU 89 BG 58
Pretty much over after ten minutes. BG played a zone to no avail.
Needless to say, Akron had a much better showing.
 
Toledo has another sneaky good opponent in Oakland tomorrow. Oakland just beat OK State and played WVU tight in their opener. The season is still very young, but so far this has been as good of a start for the MAC as anyone could've hoped for. A lot of very solid wins with a couple surprise wins and no big letdowns.
 
Toledo played with Oakland tight for the first 25 minutes then got blown out the final 15 minutes. Miami beats Stetson. Miami is looking very good so far.

Tonight's games:
Wheeling Jesuit @ Akron
Saginaw Valley @ WMU
Ball St vs FIU (neutral)
NIU @ Mizzou
 
First bad night the MAC has had this season. Ugly. WMU loses to Saginaw Valley State. No, not in a close game, but a 17-point beating. WMU is horrid this year. Ball State and NIU both lose by double digits and EMU falls in a heartbreaker to NKU. EMU did look like the better team. Akron pulls out the lone victory for the MAC.

Friday slate:
Weber State vs Ball State
Norfolk State (4-0!) @ BG
Ohio @ #13 Kentucky

I'm very excited for this Ohio game. We've looked great in the opening three games on both offense and defense. Kentucky surely has the most talent we've seen thus far, but I can't imagine them being as in-sync as Belmont was this early in the season. If we keep up the defensive intensity and hit around 40% from 3 this is going to be interesting.
 
Ohio looked great in the 1st half... At halftime I looked at the stats and saw we were shooting above 40% from 3 and had only 1 turnover and still down 2. Figured we were in trouble at that point. Calipari made adjustments and shutdown Vander Plas in the 2nd. Still an encouraging game... Dwight Wilson would've helped on the boards. Hoping he is back for MAC play.

Kentucky is going to be very good later in the season as they continue to gel.
 
Ball State picked up a very solid win over UMass yesterday.

Some big games tonight, everything but the WMU game is a tournament...

Mount St Mary's @ Ohio
NIU vs Little Rock
Toledo v Charlotte
Kent v James Madison
Akron v Fordham
WMU @ Iowa
Gonzaga v CMU
 
Kent hands JMU their first loss of the season and Toledo hands Charlotte their first loss of the season. Both very solid wins.

Meanwhile, Akron with a 20-point loss to Fordham. Not sure what happened there after their impressive showing against OSU. (That was typical of Groce’s Ohio teams though... exciting wins and head scratching loses) not that Fordham is horrible more just that Akron only managed 43 points
 
Toledo playing in Bahamas, which I think is just some gambling scam. Almost no attendance. Middle of the road mid-majors. Lighting sucks. Leaky roof. The win the tournament though, one point over Tulane.
 
Top