MY MAC PREVIEW
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 11:58 pm
Hoops has always been my passion so I put more time and effort into posting about basketball. With Thanksgiving Break here, I have a little more time to think about basketball, and a little less on school, so here we go...my MAC preview.
I will start in the MAC East:
1. Kent State- They don't rebuild, they reload. They don't have the most talent but they know how to win and they are well coached. Jim Christian is one of the best. Deandre Haynes is the best point guard in the league. Jay Youngblood, a Juco transfer could play a big role this year. The only question I have about the team is that they only have one senior, Edwin. Also, the big man Gerwig is injury prone. If everything goes well, you can guarantee they will be towards the top.
2. Miami- They are off to a great start beating two solid teams in Xavier and Purdue. Coles is a good coach and they seem to be reaching their potential early. Can they go further or will they peak early? Horace and Mason are stud seniors. I look for Monty St. Clair to have a big year. Nate Vanderslus goes 6-11 and 300 pounds and has never been much of a player, but they are looking at him more this year. His play will be key.
3. Buffalo-It's hard for me to see them at the top of the league like many are. I don't know if they have the winning mentality like the Kent Sts. and Miamis of the conference. They do have a load of talent though. Turner Battle is a player and one of the elite guards in the conference. They may have the most size in the conference as well. Bortz 6'10 has always been a little bit of a stiff but he is having a nice early season. They also have the foreign kid who goes 6-10. Buffalo is still fairly young too. Loaded with great junior and sophomore classes, they may still be one season away.
4. Akron- Could be an upstart, surprise team. They have a chance at a fresh start with Coach Hipsher out. They also got rid of headcases Tarver and Hollingsworth. Akron will definately be a better 'team' this year. They may need a year to grow under Coach Dambrodt. They have decent size with Wood, Meyers, and SVSM star Romeo Travis. Also, decent size out of the guards/wings. Rick McFadden, former OSU quarterback goes 6-7 and can stroke the 3, as well as Peterson who has decent size for his position.
5-Marshall- Not an excessive amount of talent. A.W. Hamilton is probably their best player. I believe he was a transfer from Wake Forest, and another transfer Anderson has good size. Anderson was recruited by Oklahoma State. Both of those teams are top 5 teams, so they obviously had/have talent. Other than that, nothing much impresses me much. They do have a lot of seniors and could make a run, but I doubt it.
6-Ohio- Return 4 starters but lost their two leading scorers from last year in Harris and Stephens. O'Shea is in the hot seat and he has never impressed me (or anyone) as a coach. He didn't win when he had talent, why will he win now!!?!?!!
MAC WEST:
1-Toledo-As much as this hurts, they are the obvious paper favorite. Joplin will really have to mess things up for them not to be in the drivers seat. Keith Tripplet is probably the leading candidate for MAC POY. Villegas is also a solid player and has potential to be a POY. The big men aren't outstanding, but solid and deep. They are probably the deepest team in the league, in my opinion. They are not overly big or strong, but they have to be the quickest team in the league. Ingram, the point guard, as well as Tripplet and Villegas love to run. Pinson is 6-10 but has great speed and athletism for his size. He doesn't look like a player but he can burn you.
2-Ball State- Ball State is deep in guards but their downfall may be their lack of big men. Chucky Bass joins them from Ohio State and if you follow OSU at all, you know how horrible he is. McCollum, Trammell and Chapman are a solid core of seniors, and you win championships with seniors. I could see Ball State winning the West or as low as 5th!
3-Bowling Green- It looks like BG basketball may be back. Senior leadership will play a huge role this year. Josh Almonson could play his way into some postseason awards. He will get steady help from his sharpshooting senior teammate John Reimold. Big question mark for BG is the pointguard situation. Steve Wright is moving to his more natural position on the wing, so John Floyd and Moon Robinson need to be solid at the point guard position. With a healthy Fitch, and guys like Reimold, Floyd, and Eyink, and a coach like DD, I see this being a grind-it-out, blue collar team with a lot of hustle.
4-Eastern Michigan- Eastern is still a bunch of thugs, even though Jaquan Hart has left early for the NBA. (HAHAHA) Eastern really didn't lost much besides role players from last year. Eastern doesn't appear to be deep, but they have one of the best starting 5's from top to bottom. Michael Ross is a solid point guard who is quick and has a great assist/to ratio. Boo Jackson is a great scorer, as is Austin. Bowler makes a solid post player. This team must have these players stay healthly if they want to contend.
5-Western Michigan- I know many people will be shocked to see Western finish this low, but I think they could. 2-5 in the West are very close and could be interchangable or a few games apart in the standings. They have HUGE losses in Mike Williams and Anthony Kann. WMU was deep last year, so they will replace these guys, but not to complete talent level. Ben Reed is back, but I think he fed off of those two big men I mentioned above last year. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he can be this year. They have struggled a bit early on but still have good size and experience.
6-Central Michigan- Central Michigan is still rebuilding after losing pretty much everyone from the great 2002-2003 championship team. They are young and therefore not very deep or very good. They are busy using 2 scholarships on 'projects'. A 6-10 freshman who averaged 8 points 5 rebounds in high school and a 7-1 kid from Port Clinton who wasn't a whole lot better. If you are 6-10 and averaged 8 points 5 bounds in high school, you are definately a project. But it paid off for them with Kaman, so you never know. But as you can see, CMU will not be a threat this year.
7-Northern Illinois-NIU lost their anchor from last year, Marcus Smallwood. They weren't very good with him, so I can't see them being any better without him. They do have one of the best freshman coming into the league this year, so that brings some interest to this team. However, definately not their year. They only played about 7 or 8 guys serious minutes in their first game, so they are definately thin and in the rebuilding process as well.
I really think that like usual the league is fairly wide open. I honestly would only be surprised to see Marshall, Ohio, NIU or CMU win it all. Everyone else, has a decent shot in my opinion.
MAC 1st team
DeAndre Haynes-Kent State
Turner Battle-Buffalo
Keith Triplett-Toledo
John Reimold Bowling Green
Danny Hoarce-Miami
Potential Darkhorses: Akron, Eatern Michigan
MAC CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER:
Kent State Golden Flashes
I will start in the MAC East:
1. Kent State- They don't rebuild, they reload. They don't have the most talent but they know how to win and they are well coached. Jim Christian is one of the best. Deandre Haynes is the best point guard in the league. Jay Youngblood, a Juco transfer could play a big role this year. The only question I have about the team is that they only have one senior, Edwin. Also, the big man Gerwig is injury prone. If everything goes well, you can guarantee they will be towards the top.
2. Miami- They are off to a great start beating two solid teams in Xavier and Purdue. Coles is a good coach and they seem to be reaching their potential early. Can they go further or will they peak early? Horace and Mason are stud seniors. I look for Monty St. Clair to have a big year. Nate Vanderslus goes 6-11 and 300 pounds and has never been much of a player, but they are looking at him more this year. His play will be key.
3. Buffalo-It's hard for me to see them at the top of the league like many are. I don't know if they have the winning mentality like the Kent Sts. and Miamis of the conference. They do have a load of talent though. Turner Battle is a player and one of the elite guards in the conference. They may have the most size in the conference as well. Bortz 6'10 has always been a little bit of a stiff but he is having a nice early season. They also have the foreign kid who goes 6-10. Buffalo is still fairly young too. Loaded with great junior and sophomore classes, they may still be one season away.
4. Akron- Could be an upstart, surprise team. They have a chance at a fresh start with Coach Hipsher out. They also got rid of headcases Tarver and Hollingsworth. Akron will definately be a better 'team' this year. They may need a year to grow under Coach Dambrodt. They have decent size with Wood, Meyers, and SVSM star Romeo Travis. Also, decent size out of the guards/wings. Rick McFadden, former OSU quarterback goes 6-7 and can stroke the 3, as well as Peterson who has decent size for his position.
5-Marshall- Not an excessive amount of talent. A.W. Hamilton is probably their best player. I believe he was a transfer from Wake Forest, and another transfer Anderson has good size. Anderson was recruited by Oklahoma State. Both of those teams are top 5 teams, so they obviously had/have talent. Other than that, nothing much impresses me much. They do have a lot of seniors and could make a run, but I doubt it.
6-Ohio- Return 4 starters but lost their two leading scorers from last year in Harris and Stephens. O'Shea is in the hot seat and he has never impressed me (or anyone) as a coach. He didn't win when he had talent, why will he win now!!?!?!!
MAC WEST:
1-Toledo-As much as this hurts, they are the obvious paper favorite. Joplin will really have to mess things up for them not to be in the drivers seat. Keith Tripplet is probably the leading candidate for MAC POY. Villegas is also a solid player and has potential to be a POY. The big men aren't outstanding, but solid and deep. They are probably the deepest team in the league, in my opinion. They are not overly big or strong, but they have to be the quickest team in the league. Ingram, the point guard, as well as Tripplet and Villegas love to run. Pinson is 6-10 but has great speed and athletism for his size. He doesn't look like a player but he can burn you.
2-Ball State- Ball State is deep in guards but their downfall may be their lack of big men. Chucky Bass joins them from Ohio State and if you follow OSU at all, you know how horrible he is. McCollum, Trammell and Chapman are a solid core of seniors, and you win championships with seniors. I could see Ball State winning the West or as low as 5th!
3-Bowling Green- It looks like BG basketball may be back. Senior leadership will play a huge role this year. Josh Almonson could play his way into some postseason awards. He will get steady help from his sharpshooting senior teammate John Reimold. Big question mark for BG is the pointguard situation. Steve Wright is moving to his more natural position on the wing, so John Floyd and Moon Robinson need to be solid at the point guard position. With a healthy Fitch, and guys like Reimold, Floyd, and Eyink, and a coach like DD, I see this being a grind-it-out, blue collar team with a lot of hustle.
4-Eastern Michigan- Eastern is still a bunch of thugs, even though Jaquan Hart has left early for the NBA. (HAHAHA) Eastern really didn't lost much besides role players from last year. Eastern doesn't appear to be deep, but they have one of the best starting 5's from top to bottom. Michael Ross is a solid point guard who is quick and has a great assist/to ratio. Boo Jackson is a great scorer, as is Austin. Bowler makes a solid post player. This team must have these players stay healthly if they want to contend.
5-Western Michigan- I know many people will be shocked to see Western finish this low, but I think they could. 2-5 in the West are very close and could be interchangable or a few games apart in the standings. They have HUGE losses in Mike Williams and Anthony Kann. WMU was deep last year, so they will replace these guys, but not to complete talent level. Ben Reed is back, but I think he fed off of those two big men I mentioned above last year. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he can be this year. They have struggled a bit early on but still have good size and experience.
6-Central Michigan- Central Michigan is still rebuilding after losing pretty much everyone from the great 2002-2003 championship team. They are young and therefore not very deep or very good. They are busy using 2 scholarships on 'projects'. A 6-10 freshman who averaged 8 points 5 rebounds in high school and a 7-1 kid from Port Clinton who wasn't a whole lot better. If you are 6-10 and averaged 8 points 5 bounds in high school, you are definately a project. But it paid off for them with Kaman, so you never know. But as you can see, CMU will not be a threat this year.
7-Northern Illinois-NIU lost their anchor from last year, Marcus Smallwood. They weren't very good with him, so I can't see them being any better without him. They do have one of the best freshman coming into the league this year, so that brings some interest to this team. However, definately not their year. They only played about 7 or 8 guys serious minutes in their first game, so they are definately thin and in the rebuilding process as well.
I really think that like usual the league is fairly wide open. I honestly would only be surprised to see Marshall, Ohio, NIU or CMU win it all. Everyone else, has a decent shot in my opinion.
MAC 1st team
DeAndre Haynes-Kent State
Turner Battle-Buffalo
Keith Triplett-Toledo
John Reimold Bowling Green
Danny Hoarce-Miami
Potential Darkhorses: Akron, Eatern Michigan
MAC CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER:
Kent State Golden Flashes
