MAC undefeated in 8 games so far. Only 3 of them D1 wins though

So far the best first impression has been Ball St who looks improved in every facet. The new SEC transfers (Hazen and Walton) are great role players who make them bigger and more athletic but don't need a lot of shots to contribute. Persons looks the lovechild of every great P90X makeover. Newly cut and quicker. Teague is a quirky but very good big. They are deep. They won't dominate, but they could win a lot of close games.

I didn't see any of Buffalo's win over St Francis PA by 14, but that was about what you'd expect at home over a good low major team. Buffalo has a huge test this weekend on national tv at West Virginia. Gonna watch that one.

EMU struggled before winning by 10 against a good lower division team. Minnie- imo their best player- was hurt-ankle, didn't play. Their new big in a legit 7 feet athletic and grown. he will lead the MAC in dunks on a team w JT4. However, they played 2 big interior guys while missing their floor spacing shooter. and barely ran offense. defense was surprisingly soft. instead of funneling the offense into their 2 big shot blockers, JT4 was chasing around after shooters-poorly. if they figure out how to tweak that zone to the 2 big guys and Minnie is healthy they will be pretty good. if that offense finds a rhythm (won't bet on it) then lookout.

WMU beat a weak rebuilding Detroit team easily. Dugan had a career game. Shaq in his prime kind numbers. But I think it was just his night and his teammates weren't greedy. They found him often and he was great on the offensive boards against an undersized Detroit front. Last year's WMU team didn't have chemistry. This one is more balanced. Squeeky Wilkins is why you buy a ticket. good versatile clever player. my first impression of them was they had potential as a team to be good. individual talent is mediocre overall. but they have some good pieces in the right places to compete - a legit big, and a couple good players Davis/Wilkins who know their strengths and limitations. WMU might get exposed by decent or good teams with size and athleticism... like Ole Miss this weekend, which I think is on the SEC cable channel.

lower division opponent wins, all big margins, by OU, CMU, BG, NIU, Akron

did i miss anything?

Ball State has a chance to be a special team this year, deep and athletic. Indiana State is a decent team, fights hard, but no Purdue. The Cards play at Purdue Saturday night 8 p.m. (BTN) and Virginia Tech 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2) Thursday morning in the Charleston tournament. Those games will tell us a lot more.

Toledo takes a one point road win over Oakland, 87-86.

UB was trailing West Virginia by 13 with 7:21 left. They cut it to a 2-point lead and had the ball with 2:40 left but stepped out of bounds.

Now they're down 83-79 with 1:15 left. WVU ball.

UB has the ball down 84-81 with 31.8 seconds left

Massinburg with a three to tie it at 84 with 14.2 seconds left!

Edit: Going to overtime

UB up 95-86 with 1:10 left in OT!

Massinburg with 41

Congratz Bulls!!!!! Best ooc win in the MAC in years!

Buffalo beats #13 West Virginia 99-94!

Massinburg finished with 43 points.

West Virginia's first opening home loss since 1989.

(11-09-2018 11:40 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  Congratz Bulls!!!!! Best ooc win in the MAC in years!

Thanks broski

Congrats to the Bulls.

Woohoo! That was awesome. Go UB. Huggy Bear was not pleased

Massive congrats to Buffalo. Time to put a ranking on them. Excited to see what Ball St can do tomorrow in Mackey.

(11-09-2018 11:42 PM)SUisBigEast4ever Wrote:  Buffalo beats #13 West Virginia 99-94!

Massinburg finished with 43 points.

West Virginia's first opening home loss since 1989.

I was going to say that Kent State beat WVU in 2011 on the ESPN college tip off game but as it turns out despite being the tip off game it was not WVUs home opener so whoops I guess that Kent win was not a home opener.

BG had a big second-half lead at St. John’s but couldn’t hang on, losing 84-80. Only NIU’s loss marred an otherwise solid Friday.

BG had the ball down 2 but threw it away with 5 seconds left. otherwise, they looked like a confident mature team. st johns has some players and mulling did a good job of changing defenses to slow down BG. that was nearly a big mac road win.

(11-10-2018 06:32 AM)pono Wrote:  BG had the ball down 2 but threw it away with 5 seconds left. otherwise, they looked like a confident mature team. st johns has some players and mulling did a good job of changing defenses to slow down BG. that was nearly a big mac road win.

For what it’s worth I think SJU will probably have a better season than WVU this year. Ponds and Heron are great and I could see that squad making a run in the tournament. Too bad BGSU couldn’t pull off the upset but they’ll be a lot to deal with in MAC play.

It’s early of course, but this is the dream scenario for multiple (aka 2) bids for the MAC. Buffalo coming off a big tournament win last year so they’re already on the radar, gets an early big win and runs through the conference with minimal losses while the league as a whole wins some good games and a Ball State or someone has a very strong record going into Cleveland.

NIU played competitively and had chances to win against Eastern Kentucky despite last season's MAC leading scorer still being suspended.

Yep, I smell a 2-bid MAC this season. I feel it.