The decline of play in the MAC has been widely discussed on this board.  Many theories and ideas have been presented and discussed.  While I agree with many of the thoughts discussed on here, some simple some complex.  I believe a large part of the decline is simply a result of the cyclicality that is mid-major basketball.  Conferences constantly rise and fall.  The MAC's rise and fall has been a little more extreme than some conferences, but I still anticipate a rise in the near future.  Even the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 10 haven't been immune to cyclicality. 

With that said, I think the MAC may be approaching its next rise.  This postseason should be a great indicator of what to expect next year.  Kent has already advanced in the NIT and Ohio in the CIT.  I am really rooting for the MAC teams to continue that to hopefully earn a little respect or turn a few heads going into next season.  Ohio is a young team with lost of potential. Miami is also a young team and Kent has only one senior on there roster.  If those three teams can grow and improve from this year, the MAC may be able to get a few early season non-conference wins next year and earn some respect.

I really believe the youth in the MAC will bring back respect for this conference over the next few years.

      Couldn't agree more, Joe.

     That is why, back in Nov./Dec., I was one of the few on here who took exception to those who stated that all the non-league losses, for Ohio as well as other MAC teams, didn't matter. That's why I disagreed with the many on here who stated that the only games that matter are those played in March.

Toledo isn't typically part of the problem. They have a traditional commitment to basketball but the Gene Cross debacle has set them back much like the Ronnie Thompson debacle set Ball State back.  I have no doubt that both those programs will be strong shortly.  NIU, EMU and CMU are a different story however. 

When I was at the MAC tournament this past week, I sensed that the seeds could be there for a Renaissance of the league. 

Again, I don't want to be like Linus awaiting the Great Pumpkin...but I do think it's likely the league will improve over the next couple of years. 

Someone else that was there can tell you how giddy that made me.  It was near the end of the game... I wanted to give the person that played it a five-spot.

MAC Sagarin schedule rankings 3/15
miami sucks-84
Kant St-151
Holy Toledo-169
Ohio U-183
Zippo marx-195
Bison U-207
Bugs-209
cow chips-217
northern lights u-220
emus-228
balls state-246
other michigan direction-253

Not a pretty picture to be sure.  Without Toledo, everyone would be about 20 spots higher I'm sure.  They will improve greatly next year IMHO.

Anyway, it looks like there's only one school scheduling like they really mean it and it's not us.  In all fairness to the Cats, we're pretty young.  Let's see who we schedule next year. BTW, Oakland has 3 seniors and 1 junior starting.  It may make a difference if we had that experience.

Oakland's scheduling sure got them a great seed, huh?

Thats their total schedule. They have a non-conference SOS of 3.

http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Oakland

I am asked quite often about the MAC in the circles I run in...

for 3 years I have talked about the hires that have been made and apart from Zieg and Patton I thought most of the schools are in a good position to not only bring back the MAC with regard to recruiting prowess but should have the hoops accumen to schedule and win games OOC.

I think we will see the corner turn in the next 2 years withthe caliber of athletes coming in and the systems getting in place and all counterintention getting out of systems. CMU has more talent than they know what todo with ...in fact if Ford or Dambrot had that talent we would see a long run of dominance. Good thing Zieg is not a very good coach. I think Hawkins keeps hanging on and Bacari steps in when he is gone unless he waits for Ray to leave Detroit. Not sure what it is going to take Eastern to get better but I wlook for TOledo to start their rise. Northern needs to get better and this league will be back where it was.

Other than Kron scheduling better to be ready for the end of the season rather than relying on winning one title game every so many years I do think that the MAC office needs to look at a Valley approach and fining teams for not scheduling strong enough. Save for UT CC (part of the tourney) Illinois state a Valley opponenet, Delaware from the TOS era,  and Norfolk St most of our OOC teams are still playing and the ones that aren't were fairly competitive right up to end . ....IUPUI, Valpo,and most of those others turned out to be fairly quality opponents... a tribute to Operation swho spends months researching teams taht are on the rise or fall that will help is at end of year. We had to play the schedule inthe Convo early against certain teams to get our youngsters ready.  Now it is time to start challenging them and ratchet it up a notch.....clear across the MAC

There was really nothing wrong with OU's schedule this season.  Out of 15 nonconf opponents, there was one top ten team (Kansas), two teams that made the NCAA (Oakland and Temps), and three other teams that made post-season tourneys (Valpo, Terd and Santa Clara).  Maybe one or two more Big 6/Top 25 teams would've been nice.  But the real problem with the schedule is that the Cats were 2-4 against these teams, and only 8-7 overall vs. nonconf.  You can't lose to the likes of St. Bonnie, IUPUI (home) and Robert Morris (home) and expect to get anywhere.  If the Cats had gone 3-0 against them and at least 2-1 vs. Oakland, Terd and Temps (all at home), they would've been 22-9 regular season, and would've had more serious consideration for The Dance or the NIT.

I don't think the MAC is ever going to be strong enough where its going to deliver Ohio an at-large bid for what is only an above average season like the A-10 did this year for Richmond. Instead I really think the formula for Ohio is more in conference play, if Ohio can finish in the top 3 every year they'll have significant advantage in winning the MAC tourney over trying to do it as a #5 or #9 seed as we are known to do it now. I know Ohio is one of those MAC basketball programs like Miami or Ball State that in any given year could win the MAC tourney. The fact is if Ohio had 2 more regular season MAC wins the odds of the program making the NIT or NCAAs is significantly higher.

Fixed that for you...

St. Bonaventure is playing in a post-season tournament also (CBI)