2014-15 MAC East Division Predicted Order of Finish
1. Akron - 117 points (17 1st Place)
2. Ohio - 92 (2)
3. Kent State - 66
4. Buffalo - 58
5. Bowling Green - 52 (1)
6. Miami - 35

2014-15 MAC West Division Predicted Order of Finish
1. Toledo - 118 points (18 1st Place)
2. Western Michigan - 94 (1)
3. Eastern Michigan - 68
4. Northern Illinois - 63
5. Central Michigan - 49 (1)
6. Ball State - 28

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Overall, I think this is one of the better polls in awhile. In the East, I would flip Buffalo and Kent. I think Buffalo will benefit from the addition of Rodell Wigginton. That kid is good. I also think BG should be solid, Richaun Holmes looked as good against Ndour as any other MAC big did last year.

In the West, I would flip NIU and EMU. NIU really made strides last year and I think EMU won't have the same defensive feel without Riley. His huge size is what really made that zone they ran so dominate at times. I'm interested to see what WMU can do without their big center. That undersized PF Tava torched us but I don't know if he will be as effective without a true center next to him to draw pressure away. They do bring back guard David Brown as the NCAA granted his waiver. Obviously huge for them...

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I think Ohio at #2 in this poll is very fair. While we are bringing in a new coach and a lot of new faces, we are also a program that has won a lot of games the last three years (25, 24 and 29) returning a potential poty and a seasoned PG with some other very talented and PROVEN pieces.
When I look at Kent, Buffalo, BG and Miami, none of those programs have a combination of guys like Ndour, TV Taylor, Bean, Setty and Campbell coming back for them. Those 5 guys for us are a very strong CORE of proven talent. The remainder of our roster doesn't need to set the MAC on fire for this team to excel.
All we need is a couple of the new faces to give us 15 minutes a game of high effort working within our system and we are going to be a very good team.

I think a big reason why so many people have Ohio at #2 is because there simply isn't anyone else in the East to put there.

Akron at #1 is easy. After that?

Buffalo has to replace McCrea.
Kent graduated their THREE highest scores
BG returns a lot, but they were also dead last in the division last year.
Miami sucks.

With what we bring back, Ohio is an "easier" pick at #2. I am curious to read more in-depth looks at Ohio by the prognosticators as we get close to the season. A lot of talent here, but quite a few unknowns.

I am glad we open the season with some easier games before Hawaii and MAC play. That should help to establish the deeper portion of our rotation that is unproven.

My take on Miami was more of a jab at our rivals than anything else.

I agree that they could be a sleeper. Other than a 5 game losing streak in the heart of last year's conference slate, Miami's MAC performance was solid. They split with Akron and managed to take WMU to OT in one of their matchups.

But we also swept them in three games. I agree they could be a sleeper, but no way am I taking them #2 in the East or above Ohio.

Two questions:

1. Do people turn against Bobby Hurley this season or next?
2. Who voted BG to win?

I turned against Hurley in 1989.

The play/health of Tony Campbell will play a big part in where we finish. He could be a 16/10 guy. If you put that with Mo's 16/10, then you have a really good foundation to build the season on.

Mo 19/8
Tony 10/7
Setty 7/5
Bean 13/2
Stevie 9/1

Starting Five 58/23

Not bad - but will need some action off the bench. I think we will get that.

I think Toledo rolls in the West, but that's about it. Everyone else will be relatively close.

Akron brings back to most in the East, but do they have that killer instinct when games get close? W/o a seasoned PG they could stumble hard when Tree isn't on. IMO Last year, Hurley looked to be a decent coach, that could become a great coach (a la Mr. Toole at Bobby Mo'). He got his guys to play last year.

We've got only 2 proven entities in Mo & ST, and we all expect growth from them. The others that have experience are still unproven, but we all see the potential of Campbell, Willis, & Setty. Another big wild card is how does Saul affect the team in crunch situations. Communicating in high pressure situations is tough for any team, but even more so for one that has a brand new leader from the outside. He had lots of time to curate at NDSU. How quickly can he here? (JC was horrible at this his first year.)

I think the winner of the East will have at least 4 losses if not 5.

JSF...must be the same guy that picked CMU in the West!

I'm of the opinion that Bean is a proven commodity as long as he's not asked to be the primary ball handler. He's proven he can shoot anyway.

I agree that Tony & Setty aren't yet as "proven" as others believe, but I don't think they'll regress. I'm particularly interested to see what Setty's role evolves into.

I disagree that Stevie and Mo are our only proven players. Tony finally got a chance and led us to end the season in the postseason. I always believed his minutes were great last year but he didn't get a ton until Jon left. I also see Bean as a proven player. Big 12 starter and then last year he was killer from the outside. Treg also showed up.

I think the top two wildcards are Wadley and Khari. We all heard how good Khari was but he hasn't played yet. Wadley looks good in videos, etc and if he can become a 5/4 type of guy, we will be very solid.

BG will be much, much better this year. Mark my words. They were probably the only team to win at Ohio and at WMU last year and that was with a joke of a coach in Louis Orr who didn't even fill his own roster with enough players (sat on scholarships). Orr is finally gone and they have a guy in Jans who has already rolled up his sleeves and is getting to work, something Orr never did. He brought in some JUCO's to fill their open spots and they return four starters including Holmes who is one of the best in the MAC. Not saying they'll win the MAC this year but they're gonna be back soon to how they were before the Orr disaster.

NBC Sports College Basketball Talk picked OHIO 2nd in the east as well. They also had Ndour on the All-MAC team.


http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/29/201.../