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A few of the national preseason magazines are out. Buffalo, Ohio and Toledo were picked 1, 2 and 3 by both publications. Those three schools were the consensus top-3 picks and it's essentially the entire MAC East and Toledo being viewed as the upper tier of the conference now without the divisions. Here's their predictions:

LINDY'S:
1. Buffalo
2. Ohio
3. Toledo
4. Bowling Green
5. Kent State
6. Akron
7. Miami
8. Ball State
9. Western Michigan
10. Central Michigan
11. Eastern Michigan
12. Northern Illinois

ATHLON:
1. Buffalo
2. Ohio
3. Toledo
4. Kent State
5. Akron
6. Bowling Green
7. Miami
8. Central Michigan
9. Ball State
10. Northern Illinois
11. Western Michigan
12. Eastern Michigan

Plowden was picked 1st Team by Athlon and 2nd Team by Lindy's. He was BG's only player gaining any preseason team honors. Both mags picked a Buffalo player as the MAC Player of the Year. Athlon picked Jeenathan Williams as MAC POY while Lindy's picked Josh Mballa as MAC POY, and both guys made 1st Team All-MAC by both publications. Ohio and Toledo was the only other schools to have multiple players on the All-MAC teams. Athlon and Lindy's have two Ohio players on both of the All-MAC teams, with Athlon naming Ohio's Ben Vander Plas 1st Team and Ohio's Jason Carter (Xavier transfer who is transferring back to Ohio) 2nd Team, while Lindy's picked Ohio's Ben Vander Plas 1st Team and Ohio's Dwight Wilson 2nd Team. Lindy's had Toledo's Ryan Collins 1st Team and Toledo's Setric Millner 2nd Team.

Lindy's other specialty honors were:

MAC's Newcomer of the Year: Kent State's Sincere Carry (Duquesne transfer)
MAC's Best Shooter: Akron's Bryon Trimble (St John's transfer who played for the Zips last year)
MAC's Best Rebounder: Buffalo's Mballa (Texas Tech transfer who has been at UB for a few years now)
MAC's Best Defender: Buffalo's Mballa (Texas Tech transfer who has been at UB for a few years now)
MAC's Best Playmaker: Kent State's Carry (yes, another transfer)
MAC's Most Versatile Player: Ohio's Ben Vander Plas
MAC's Best NBA Prospect: Toledo's Ryan Collins

A common theme in the MAC right now is transfers are all over the league right now. A ton of them. A number of teams are loaded with them and it's as heavy with them across the board as I can ever remember in the 25+ years I've been following MAC hoops.

We are better as a team than last year. Significantly better.

Apparently the media have gotten wise to what we will actually do with our talent.

Looks like the media see that Justin Turner is gone and assume the worst. I think the MAC is going to be a really deep conference this year and I think BG will have a run at the top.

BillyLP wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:38 pm Looks like the media see that Justin Turner is gone and assume the worst. I think the MAC is going to be a really deep conference this year and I think BG will have a run at the top.

Bingo. JT was unreal man, but the lack of a big man was killer

JT had an off year last year. he scored a lot bc the offense went thru him. We are very loaded at his position this year. I don't think we'll miss him at all.

BleedOrange wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:33 am JT had an off year last year. he scored a lot bc the offense went thru him. We are very loaded at his position this year. I don't think we'll miss him at all.

Neither do I. On the contrary, I think the offense will be less stagnant and predictable and BETTER.

Defensively, he was just this guy, you know? So I don't see that being an issue, either. And with our new bigs, specifically the transfers, that should be better, too. If we can actually keep a big who can rebound on the floor, rebounding should also improve.