Yeah...I feel like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin to show up re:  the MAC having a breakout season and returning to the glory of the not-too-distant past. 

The MAC keeps having good recruiting years but it's not showing up in games.  I'm beginning to think the problem might be that the league has some coaches who can recruit but are not very good at game preparation. 

I'm getting sick of this underachieving trend.  Ohio contributed to it by laying an egg vs. Oakland.  Tonight, the Bobcats have a chance to make some noise against a pretty good Valpo program. 

I really feel that the league may be turrning a corner but it's just not happening as quickly as we would like.  Teams in the West like Ball State, Central and Western all could be good this year. Both Western and Central look better than their records would indicate. And after re-reading my original post it came across a lot more negative than I had intended. 

MAC teams appear small to me.  At every position.  6'7 power forwards and 6'0 guards.  Its asking a lot to consistently do damage against the bigger conferences with those types of lineups.  The MAC still has a long way to go.

Sure, there are some teams around the country that have larger players at every position, but I dont think 6'7 PFs and 6'0 guards are that abnormal in college basketball.  UMD is starting Dino Gregory at PF, who is only 6'7.  Clemson has two guys who play PF/C that are only 6'8.  Michigan St went to the Final 4 two years ago with a guy playing significant minutes at the 4 who is only 6'6 and two guards that are right around 6'0-6'1 (And a backup that is 5'11).  WVU regularly plays a number of guys in the front court that are 6'7 or under.

I would say that the bigger difference between the MAC and the top conferences is that speed/quickness that the rosters have from top to bottom. Yes, we have had some players that were quick for their position, but Groce is really starting to infuse the entire roster with players with that type of quickness.  DJ, Kellogg, Johnson, Hall, Baltic are the beginning of this influx, which looks to be continuing next year with the 5 players that will be joining the team (including the 2 transfers currently practicing with the team).  

Yeah, except Bryant beat them also.

The MAC went 4-0 yesterday, including solid wins by Buffalo and Western Mich both on the road.

The MAC is now 22-25 overall.

Here is my take so far. 
Kent State looks tough with Green inside and they hit the glass really well. They are not a great 3pt shooting team(Holt struggling big) and that might make them probe to scoring troubles in MAC when coach game plan around Green.

Akron- They have some size in the frontcourt with Marshall and Cintinovic inside getting points and rebounds. Outside they got proven 3 pt shooters in McClanahan and Mcknees. They got depth too. Can they defend a real good point guard. CSU lit them up and that may be their weakness. 

Miami- They rely on Winbush a lot for his 3 point shooting. They live and die with the three. Mavunga is very up and down.  This team is very inconsistent from game to game.  Not impressive results so far.  They aren't as good as the team top MAC east teams. 

Buffalo- They have a point guard putting up DJ Cooper type numbers.streaky shooting team but the have lots of assists and they are monsters on the glass and lots of blocked shots.  This team is dangerous as they play very hard.  They play a lot of bodies.   So far they have been better than expected

Bowling Green- Terrible team. They got blown out by 36 at home to a mid level A-10 team Duquene. They lost to Howard who lost big to Deleware if you want an example of  how bad they are. The are looking like a huge favorite to be the 11th seed in the MAC

Ball State- Almost beat St Johns in Alaska.  This team is very talented and a legit MAC title contender. They might be the MAC's best team.

Central Michigan- Zieglar is as good as the hype. He can score a lot. They are a threat to challange Ball State in the west. They could get 4 or 5 seed this year. 

Northern Illinois- They got Silas who is a big time score, but they turnover it over a lot and that will doom them to mediocrity

Eastern Michigan- They got Bowdry who could be a contender for MAC player of the years. Pesky team  that could be around .500 in the MAC.

Western Michigan- This team isn't great on paper but they have enough to surpise. 

Toledo- One of the worst teams in country.  25 losses atleast for the Rockets. They would have trouble against the SWAC they are that bad.

Ball State should start looking for a new coach. They have a talented team. They blew the MAC west with a three game lead, then got bounced by Ohio in the first round. Today a loss to Alaska Anchorage.  The MAC RPI has been down the last 10 years and its EMU, Toledo and Ball State who have seen their once decent programs fall off a cliff.  

Billy Taylor is on the right path. He is getting his players in and has had some problems with getting a point guard to stick. Seems like the last few have been shy on grades. He lost a pretty good assistant to MTSU because of it but that did not stem the tide as they lost a couple more since then.

What's up with the fellow up above who is calling for Taylor's job? He is a great find and the perfect guy to pick up Ronnie Thompson's Mess. If we had Zach Hahn, Tommy Freeman and Ben Botts off the list of 33 great shooters we would have been a lot better. RT did not even take a look at any of them.

I always try to avoid colds.