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The favorite by the media, favorite by our bloggers, favorite to win the MAC tourney this year by just about everybody that has a voice, the Central Michigan Chippewas are our top team in the MAC to open the season up.
Receiving nine first place votes (out of 14) after the first weekend of college basketball, the Chippewas had 21 total points with No. 2 Akron Zips received 29 points with three first place picks.
Note: Ballots were submitted Sunday afternoon and the preseason ballots were submitted on Tuesday, November 10. Had life not gotten in the way, those would've been released last week.
| Rank | Team | Points | Preseason |
| 1 | Central Michigan (9) | 21 | 1 |
| 2 | Akron (3) | 29 | 2 |
| 3 | Kent State (1) | 53 | 3 |
| 4 | Western Michigan | 75 | 4 |
| 5 | Toledo | 82 | t5 |
| t6 | Buffalo (1) | 84 | t5 |
| t6 | Eastern Michigan | 84 | 7 |
| 8 | Ohio | 89 | 8 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois | 126 | 9 |
| 10 | Miami | 139 | 10 |
| 11 | Bowling Green | 144 | 12 |
| 12 | Ball State | 161 | 11 |
I guess it makes the most sense to have the two teams picked to win the East and West divisions to be atop of these. CMU won a close one over Jacksonville State and the Zips won by 12 over Cleveland State.
Kent State received a first place pick, coming in third, and has 53 total picks. Western Michigan (no first place picks) came in fourth with 75; the top four teams made no budge in the rankings through the first weekend. Kent State pulled away with a 9-point win over Youngstown State, but the Broncos lost by six to DePaul.
Buffalo received a first place vote in both Preseason and Week 1 submissions. The Bulls won the MAC Tournament last year, but some big pieces to that team are now gone (Hurley, Moss, Evans, etc.) They started out tied for fifth in the MAC with the Toledo Rockets, but now Toledo holds the No. 5 spot in the rankings after a 96-65 win over West Virginia Tech. Buffalo is now tied for sixth with the Eastern Michigan Eagles, both teams are 1-0 with wins on Friday.
Northern Illinois was only 2-0 when the ballots were submitted, but the Huskies are off to their first 3-0 start in nearly a decade. Ohio looks very promising after their win over Florida Gulf Coast. Bowling Green took it to New Orleans, winning by 18.
Miami and Ball State both lost in road games against Xavier and Bradley, respectively.