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A week and a half of women’s shooty hoops #MACtion is in the books, and the Central Michigan Chippewas are the only team to make it to 3-0.
In the East, it’s already shaping up to be a 2 team race, as Buffalo and Ohio are sitting at 2-1. Kent and Miami each are 1-2, while Bowling Green and Akron are both 0-3. Buffalo suffered their first conference loss, and just their third loss overall, in an overtime thriller against Northern Illinois. Ohio got an overtime win against Akron, so I would still call the division Buffalo’s to lose.
At the beginning of the season, I thought the West would be loaded with quality teams, and nothing I have seen has changed that opinion. Currently Central Michigan is alone in first place at 3-0, but 4 other teams are sitting at 2-1. Toledo is the only team in the West with a losing conference record at 1-2, but they are the defending MAC tournament champions, and more than capable of making a run. Even Eastern Michigan, that I thought would struggle mightily, is sitting at 2-1. While I still don’t see them as a contender for one of the 4 byes in the conference tournament, I do think they have been better than advertised, and could pull off some timely upsets in the race.
The RPI still likes the MAC, though not as much as it did earlier in the season. Central Michigan continues to climb, and if they keep winning, they just might have a shot at an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. There are still a few other teams that would have a shot, like Buffalo and Ball State, but they would need to have a near perfect conference record to do so.