As I have written before, I believe the MAC is loaded in talent this season. There are some names that you will see awfully low on the list, talents that seem to be way too low. In most years, that would be correct. However, this season, there are names like Levi Bradley outside of the top 20. That’s not because Levi Bradley isn’t a great basketball player, it’s because great basketball players abound in the MAC.

Because it is impossible to really distinguish between some of these talents, numbers 11 through 28 will be lumped in with 5 other players. I wont actually assign a number to each player for this part of the rankings, because the reality is they are all really good.

So here are numbers 28 thru 24, in no particular order.

Levi Bradley, Wing, Northern Illinois Huskies

The senior wing player has the stats and the game. He averaged 14.6 points and 5.5 rebounds. Bradley is a complete player that is effective inside and out, on offense and defense. While I might normally have the 17th ranked returning scorer in the MAC ranked higher, I dinged him for his shooting percentage. I think you’ll find throughout these rankings, I might have punished some guys more than I should have because of that stat. In this particular case, at the end of the season it might seem like a glaring mistake. With the loss of two key players to suspension, it might be a good idea to draft Bradley in your fantasy draft.

Josh Davis, Guard, Western Michigan Broncos

The 6’5 guard had a breakout season last year, averaging 10.7 points and 6.3 rebounds. With the loss of Thomas Wilder to graduation, I fully expect Davis to see an even bigger role in Coach Hawkings offense. In his first two seasons, Davis missed a lot of shots, both on the floor and at the line. Last season, he improved drastically. I believe a big reason for that is that he was able to get into a rhythm. With even more minutes this season, he could really excel.

Shawn Roundtree, Guard, Central Michigan Chippewas

The 6 foot guard averaged 14.8 points and 4.2 assists last season, his first in Mount Pleasant. He shooting percentage wasn’t particularly great, but much improved over his two previous college seasons. The same with Davis, I believe that playing time was a big part of that. I expect him to improve even more as he gets more comfortable in the Chippewas system.

Kevin McKay, Guard, Central Michigan Chippewas

The 6’5 McKay shot an impressive 55.4% from the floor last season, while averaging 12.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. He make 37.8% of his threes, and converted 86% from the charity stripe. With a couple of dynamic play makers as back court teammates, don’t be shocked if McKay’s scoring really shoots up this season. Pun kind of intended.

Dontay Caruthers, Guard, Buffalo Bulls

The 6’1 guard missed a good portion of last season, but was MAC Defensive Player of the Year the previous season. In the 22 games he did play, he managed to score 6.7 points per contest, hitting nearly 60% of his shots. An aggressive player that goes at the rim and does a great job on defense.

Any other season, I would expect this level of talent to compete for MAC 2nd and 3rd team, or possibly even be first team talent. And they certainly might this season, there is a lot of great basketball on the horizon.