The major publications have picked, and the consensus is in. It will come as no surprise to anyone, but Ohio is the unanimous choice in the East, with every publication giving them at least a share of the East. Meanwhile in the West, WMU noses out NIU, with almost everyone in agreement that those are the top 2, only disagreeing on the order.

Here are prior preseason picks::
2001 2d of 7 teams, actual finish 6 (tied with Buffalo)
2002 6/7, actual finish 4
2003 5/7, actual finish 6 (tied with Buffalo)
2004 6/7, actual finish 5 (tied with Buffalo)
2005 5/6, actual finish 4
2006 4/6, actual finish 1
2007 1/7, actual finish 4 (tied with Temple)
2008 6/7, actual finish 4 (tied with Kent and Akron)
2009 2/7, actual finish 1 (tied with Temple)
2010 2/7, actual finish 2
2011 1/7, actual finish 1
2012 1/6

In most of the years the preseason picks were pretty close. I note that 2001 and 2007 the did significantly worse than the consensus, which caused the picks the following year to over-compensate and place them too low. Similarly after they outperformed expectations in 2006, the pickers over-compensated the other direction and picked them too high in 2007. I also note that 2007 was the only Solich team that finished lower than the consensus.

I hope the team isn't reading all their preseason reviews.

Well, it was a three way tie, so it was a tie for 4th, 5th, and 6th. Only Miami was lower, and only Buffalo had a winning record in the East.