MAC Basketball

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Now that the Super Bowl is over, sports fans can turn their attention to March Madness. But since the MAC is so weak this year, the tournament winner is more than likely a "one and done" participant in the NCAA Tournament. I believe one ESPN bracketology had the projected MAC champ as a #16 seed in the Big Dance. If this bracketology is accurate and the MAC champion becomes a 16 seed, it will be difficult to get too excited over March Madness this year. Thoughts?

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

If you believe I'm being a little too harsh on MAC basketball, take a look at what Alex Varone, the Rush the Court correspondent for the Mid-American Conference, says about the MAC.

Checking in on the MAC

 

[RyanLewisOhio]

Two big reasons would be the dreadful MAC West and that Ohio--who most of the preseason publications picked to win the MAC--has really struggled after losing a couple of scorers and is last in the MAC East.

Then the MAC East beats up on each other and no team holds a really great record. Especially when Akron beats the first place team (KSU, obviously) the first game of conference play and then drops the ball and is now in second-to-last place.

The East has great parity, just no real strength in the polls. Parity is good, but not when teams don't have a major win on the resume.

 

[RyanLewisOhio]

The MAC's current ranking is 20th...
This post was edited on 2/18 7:53 PM by RyanLewisOhio

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

According to RealTimeRPI.com, the MAC's conference RPI ranking is 21 compared to the Horizon League's conference RPI ranking of 11. Once again I forgot about the game against Drexel and did not realize that Kent had lost until this morning. I didn't expect the Flashes to win this game and the loss just validates my argument that the MAC is very weak this year in basketball. Certainly a MAC title will be nice to have but a 25 point blowout in the NCAA tournament against a top seed team is not something that I'm looking forward to watching.

RealTimeRPI.com

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

I wasn't going to explain why I have lost interest in KSU basketball but thought that I should just go ahead and get it off my chest. As everyone knows I'm a big Zanesville Blue Devil fan and always try to do my best to promote ZHS athletes. Back in August, I talked to both Coach Ford and Coach Mincy about Tanner Gibson. To my amazement, Coach Mincy didn't even know about Tanner Gibson despite his performance in last year's state tournament. Coach Ford said he knew who Gibson was but was not looking for another point guard. I understand why he would want to recruit players to fill other positions but that doesn't explain why he didn't recruit Logan Aronhalt a few years ago. Aronhalt was the OHSAA Division I Player of the Year in 2008. When talking to Coach Ford, I told him I have a video of him when he played against Zanesville as a freshman. I reminded him that Cambridge won that game and he quickly pointed out that he only lost to Zanesville once when he played against them. Looking back on the records, he was right. During his years at Cambridge, the Bobcats were very good and Zanesville was not very good. Personally, I don't hold a grudge against Coach Ford for defeating the Blue Devils and actually commend him for being able to do it. But when listening to the Zanesville-Cambridge game this year, the Cambridge coach admitted that "Cambridge is Zanesville's little brother" and that got me thinking. Could Coach Ford be envious of Zanesville's reputation and not want to recruit its players? When I competed against Cambridge years ago, I never really saw the Bobcats as a threat or a rival like I did with Newark and I admit losing to them is a little embarrassing. Maybe I'm wrong and Coach Ford doesn't suffer from the little brother syndrome, but it seems odd to me why he hasn't recruited the 2008 Player of the Year or Gibson who is one of the favorites to win the Player of the Year this season. I would never want to question Coach Ford's basketball IQ, but take a look at the video below that shows Gibson as a junior and try to tell me the kid isn't good enough to play in the MAC. I don't know who Austin Rivers is but one person commented that Gibson is just as good as Rivers, who signed to play for Duke. There are other reasons why I have lost interest in KSU basketball, but at least now you know one of them.

Tanner Gibson, Underrated PG In Class of 2011

 

[Thanksjim]

Nashville,
With all due respect, please do not come jumping back on the bandwagon next year when they make their run. I think you are be completely unfair to Coach Ford. They are a half game out of first place in a REBUILDING year. What more could you want? They will finish right around 20-22 wins for the year and return everyone but Rod Sherman and a amazing recruiting class (even if your Zanesville players are not a part of that class). But back to this year because this team still excites me. Do I expect a deep post season run? Absolutely not. They have a decent chance to win the MAC tourney and probably lose in the first round. But that's okay. More realistically, they will be playing in one of the lower tournaments and win a game and then get knocked out. I find it hard not to be excited about Kent State basketball, I wish you felt the same.

 

[Polish-Hammer]

I think Geno has done a great job and have been pretty content with what he's done. Wasn't so thrilled with the playing or coaching the other night though (@ Drexel) as I thought they were outdone substantially. Hopefully they get back on track tonight @ WMU.

 

[Polish-Hammer]

I think it was key that they were able to pull a W out on the road against a quality opponent last night. Had they lost last night, the season could have continued to unravel, but they won to snip that losing streak and can now try and win the whole thing. Tough games up ahead, but 3 of the 4 are at home.

 

[RyanLewisOhio]

As I've said before, Geno and his staff have been fantastic this season managing the roster.

Through so many new faces (Porrini, Guyton, Manns, Gaines, Henniger all new to the system), to a five-game suspension that never should have happened (passes the stipulated polygraph, he never did anything wrong, was just a casualty of the system), to a couple of minor personnel issues (benches Porrini/Greene to start a very diffucult game, both respond with one of the best games of the season for both. Then, Manns sulks, is benched, and has since changed his attitude and injected himself back into the rotation) to two separate spans of playing at least three games over a five-game span against quality teams.

Take any of those, and it'd be easy for KSU to fall into the mix of MAC East teams.

As far as recruiting, I haven't spoken with Geno about the 2011/2012 classes as much as I would like, but only Sherman is leaving the rotation heading into next year, and Nealy/Johnson/Leonard are all waiting in the wings.

It looks like the staff was very confident Brewer would sign. Add in Bradley from Arkansas, Chris Evans and Pat Jackson, the transfer from Rutgers, and it looks like KSU had a clear plan for recruiting this season and they haven't had to deviate from that plan one bit.

Have a gut feeling Brewer may act as a bigger PG next year behind Porrini as well, rather than playing more of a combo-guard role.

And, as everything indicates, KSU should be the clear-cut favorite in the MAC next year, no questions asked.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Joe Lunardi projects Kent as a 15 seed.

Bracketology with Joe Lunardi

 

[Polish-Hammer]

We may win the league, but for whatever reason, this season I have absolutely no confidence we will win a postseason game at all. Usually I think, hope and pray we can make some noise in the tourney, but I just don't see it at all. Hope I'm wrong.

Guess that is as much a statement on the MAC as anything, that even when we're down and rebuilding we have a good shot at winning it all. But still have no confidence a MAC team will do anything in the tourney. Coupled with the MACs showing in bowl games really leads me to think the MAC is as low as it's been in awhile.
This post was edited on 2/26 2:24 PM by Polish-Hammer

 

[RyanLewisOhio]

Say what you want about MAC basketball, the league is without question down, but the East has some serious parity.

Right now, I'd be very worried about KSU playing any East team, especially Buffalo and then Ohio and Akron. And then you have Miami and BG as the two "easier" teams. That's pretty formidable at the moment.

 

[Polish-Hammer]

Yeah, the depth is there and any one of them could get hot this coming week and win it all, like Ohio last year. Of those teams listed I would be more cautious of Ohio than the rest, look at what they did to the Zips the other day.

 

[RyanLewisOhio]

Worried about Ohio, but more-so of Buffalo.

 

[donaldimus]

Akron lost to Temple, 84-47.
Kent lost to Drexel.
Drexel lost to Penn.
Would that make both Kent and Akron the seventh and eighth best teams in Philly?

 

[jonynitro38]

There has been a turnover of players at Dallas since their title championship and many are claiming that’s too much for them to overcome. Tyson Chandler and Caron Butler both left. Critics state they aren’t realistic title chances this year because of those losses. Perhaps they’re right, but Mavs coach Rick Carlisle insists a side with Dirk Nowitzki, plus newboys Delonte West and Lamar Odom can challenge and won’t be making excuses.

Web design kent

 

[Polish-Hammer]

Wow, good luck to anybody that thinks they can control Delonte West and keep a steady locker room.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Bandwagon? What bandwagon?

 

[Polish-Hammer]

Originally posted by Polish-Hammer:
Yeah, the depth is there and any one of them could get hot this coming week and win it all, like Ohio last year. Of those teams listed I would be more cautious of Ohio than the rest, look at what they did to the Zips the other day.

Like deja vu all over again (that post above is from last season).