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| Toledo | 20-3 (8-2) | ||
| (W) Bowling Green, 83-76 (W) at Ball State, 80-73 |
Who knows which victory was sweeter: the one against Bowling Green, or a nailbiting, back-and-forth game on the road against a weaker Ball State team, which notched their first 20-win season in eight years? This was a joke, of course. It's obviously the BG win. | ||
| Akron | 16-7 (8-2) | ||
| (W) Eastern Michigan, 52-48 (W) at Bowling Green, 65-63 |
By no means is Akron in a funk, but they pulled out two close wins against teams they probably should have beaten by about 10. It only makes that Kent State loss all the more puzzling, but let's just say "rivalry?" and move on. | ||
| Ohio | 17-6 (7-3) | ||
| (L) at Western Michigan, 90-74 (W) Miami, 82-75 |
Losses are losses, and everybody loses, but the Bobcats hadn't lost by that much in a conference regular season game since 2009. They followed that up with a decent rebound victory, featuring Nick Kellogg throwing up a bunch of points, less than half of them by way of 3-pointers, which is very strange. Almost as strange as a 16-point loss at Western Michigan. | ||
| Buffalo | 13-7 (7-3) | ||
| (W) Ball State, 69-48 (W) at Central Michigan, 79-70 |
If either of these were losses, we'd have to reevaluate our lives. But that didn't happen — and they torched Ball State. Bobby Hurley wants to call Javon McCrea the "best kept secret" in basketball. But if they win the games they're supposed to, like this, then it's not so much a secret, now is it? | ||
| Western Michigan | 14-8 (7-3) | ||
| (W) Ohio, 90-74 (W) at Northern Illinois, 74-71 |
Bagging that big win at Ohio, followed by not totally blowing a win at NIU (like many others are doing) may have given Western the best week for anybody in the MAC. They're hanging on in the MAC West race, but two of their next three games are (1) Akron, and (2) a return trip to Ohio. | ||
| Miami | 9-12 (5-5) | ||
| (L) at Northern Illinois, 53-41 (L) at Ohio, 82-75 |
If you were waiting for the other shoe to drop, there's your sneaker in the trash compactor. The NIU loss shouldn't have been that bad, and Ohio was a pissed off Ohio. They're following this up with volatile Buffalo and WMU teams, which could be two more losses. But don't worry, RedHawks faithful. They play Kent State soon, which should be an easy wi— what am I talking about? | ||
| Eastern Michigan | 13-10 (5-5) | ||
| (L) at Akron, 52-48 (W) Kent State, 70-53 |
For the first time in six games, EMU hit the 70-point mark. And of course it was against Kent State. Honestly. WE'RE NOT BAGGING ON THEM ON PURPOSE. An Akron victory would have been sweet, but they couldn't hold onto it. In fact, among their last five games, three of them were losses of four points or fewer. Gotta sew up the close games, otherwise you're gonna wallow around .500 like so. | ||
| Bowling Green | 10-13 (4-6) | ||
| (L) at Toledo, 83-76 (L) Akron, 65-63 |
Heartbreaking rivalry loss, followed by heartbreaking last-second loss. That spans the gamut of depression in Bowling Green. Time to just put this on a loop for the rest of the season. | ||
| Northern Illinois | 10-12 (4-6) | ||
| (W) Miami, 53-41 (L) Western Michigan, 74-71 |
Those Miami wins are the types of matchups that prove they can stay out of the cellar. Consider this: if they win three more MAC games, they'll have their best conference record (by win percentage) since 2005-06. Where are you now, Rob Judson? Are you seeing this? | ||
| Kent State | 12-11 (3-7) | ||
| (L) at Central Michigan, 78-73 (L) at Eastern Michigan, 70-53 |
I don't know if Rob Senderoff ever wants to return to Michigan. While waiting for this team to take off and become a contender, instead they have derailed and handed CMU their first MAC victory, and now must battle to even host a first round MAC Tournament game. | ||
| Ball State | 4-17 (1-9) | ||
| (L) at Buffalo, 69-48 (L) Toledo, 80-73 |
The one win aside, pushing UT to the brink might've been a good story of resilience. Consider: this is a team clearly better than them, and there were several times they could have rolled over and lost by 30. But they kept fighting back. It's the sign of a young team that's in a good place. As for the Buffalo game: ick. | ||
| Central Michigan | 8-14 (1-9) | ||
| (W) Kent State, 78-73 (L) Buffalo, 79-70 |
WOOHOO! Nobody's going winless this time around. Then again CMU's handicap went up this year now that they moved from a 16- to 18-game MAC schedule. That it was Kent State was a bit surprising. That they followed it up with a Buffalo loss isn't. | ||
| Massachusetts (Atlantic 10) | 19-4 (6-3) | ||
| (W) La Salle, 79-67 (W) at Rhode Island, 73-68 |
Only way to get back in the hunt is to keep winning, I guess. That or find something else to hunt, such as pheasant. They don't fight back much! But the Minutemen did go on the road to hunt some Rams, then also hunted Explorers, which also makes them murderers! This changes everything I read about them in history class. | ||
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TOP MAC PERFORMANCES Javon McCrea (Buffalo): 25 points, 20 rebounds, 2 blocks vs. CMU Anthony Henderson (BGSU): 23 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists vs. Toledo Richaun Holmes (BGSU): 14 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 blocks vs. Akron Austin Richie (WMU): 22 points, 3 assists vs. Ohio Javon McCrea: 19 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Ball State Nick Kellogg (Ohio): 27 points, 4 assists vs. Miami Jehvon Clarke (BGSU): 23 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds vs. Toledo Travis Wilkins (Ohio): 23 points, 5 rebounds vs. Miami |
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