And the article called that an "announced crowd", which usually means there weren't actually that many people there.

I think EMU is still winless vs. Div. I clubs.  They have had some close calls with decent teams, however.

This attendance is unacceptable for the MAC. 

That's just sad.  Oakland stole EMU's lunch.  And, it doesn't look like EMU is gonna ever get it back.

It's a shame with that very nice basketball facility they have. 

There is hierarchy of attendance leaders in this league and we are always at the top

Several thousand for a weekend game, a few thousand for a weeknight game
Ohio

2K - 3.5K for any game, same people no matter the day
Akron
Kent State
Ball State
WMU

Rarely over 2K despite not being a terrible program
Miami
Buffalo (I wonder if interest will grow this season. They appear to be a contender and are in a highly-populated area)
Bowling Green

Bring a book because you won't be distracted
EMU
NIU

Incomplete, new arena has stimulated interest, even though the team sucks
CMU
Toledo (With the right coach, these guys should always be contenders)

Not to mention having one of the better MAC programs under Ben Braun. Starting to become a distant memory, but those teams of Earl Boykins, Derrick DIal, Grant Long, etc. .  . were as good as get in this league.

Note: speaking of Boykins, he recently scored 22 in a MIlwaukee win on the road v. Lakers. An ageless wonder.

So what do you do after you boot out EMU?  Pick another to boot out and just goto 10 teams?  Scout promising programs from "lesser" conferences?  Just asking.

I think the MAC needs new blood in hoops.  Time to add Oakland and IUPUI to the west division and Cleveland State and Wright State to the east division.   All 4 teams would boost MAC's average rpi. 

 

I remember the talk about kicking out EMU in the early 80's. It's always been there for obvious reasons. We played  some games at their old field house in the late 70's where the teams and their staff outnumbered the fans. I'm not even kidding. Then, in about 82 or 83 I attended a football game there when Ohio visited. I was shocked to see a high school type stadium and less than 1000 people in attendance. The MAC threatened them with expulsion if they didn't upgrade their facilities. They did upgrade them and drew decently for awhile, but they are in the shadow of Michigan and can't get out. Picture our campus being less than 5 miles from OSU and you can figure it out.

To beat a dead horse again, you need a smaller MAC not a bigger one. Too many struggling franchises and too many franchises in the dying/stagnating state of Ohio. BG and EMU are easy cuts. Take your pick between Akron and Kent State. Then you have the 4 quadrants of Ohio covered with Ohio, Miami, Toledo and Akron/Kent State. Then, maybe axe CMU to get down to 8 schools.

In a 1-bid conference, more fans can be hopeful for an NCAA bid. Plus, you split all revenues 8 ways instead of 12 and you don't have to host a money-losing MAC Championship game in football. A 7-game league football schedule could would also give teams the chance to schedule another money game. You could add Temple and UMASS (and Maybe Army and Navy to get back to 12) for football, I'm indifferent on that. You can try to force UMASS and Temple's hand on hoops but you won't win.

The MAC was ranked 16th in the Sagarin as of the end of play yesterday with a central mean of 70.92. Removing EMU (worst Sagarin in the MAC) and BG (4th-worst Sagarin in the MAC) would improve that to 72.57. That's good enough for 14th and within hailing distance of Horizon (11th at 74.87), Missouri Valley (12th at 74.13) and West Coast (13th at 73.73).

If you eliminated EMU, BG, Akron and CMU, the MAC central mean would be 72.85.

Exactly. When you have a clogged toilet, you don't add more turds and hope for the best. You gotta dislodge some to get things working again.

Whether it be collegiate sports or fast food, a Big MAC leads to clogged toilets...

McLean this conference.

Huh? The A-10 has no interest in FBS football. They would like to get rid of Fordham and St. Bonaventure or Duquesne. That would only happen if DePaul and Marquette ever leave/get pushed out of the Big East. It's a Philly league so LaSalle is safe. 

WMU would likely have earned an at-large in 2004, and CMU an extra bid in 2003 as well, had either tripped up late in the MAC tournament.

I agree that the MAC is too large, and that EMU contributes little, but beyond that one could make the case that we are among the dead weight schools.  We've won only 1 MAC regular season basketball title in 25 years (and just 2 in the last 36 years), with zero football titles in the last 42 years.  That is pretty weak, even if we have won the MAC tournament two more times during that stretch.

Going off long term results of the 2 major sports programs, there is no question Ohio would be in the discussion of which programs to get rid of.  However, going off fan support, there is no question we are at the TOP of the list of programs to keep.  And to think that is the case even despite our less than stellar results.  Because of this, there is no way Ohio would be on the chopping block.  The opposite is true for Miami (great results, terrible support).

For me, I would look at fan support and facilities or overall investment before I looked at results.