CLICK HERE For All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Buffalo
- Ohio U
- Toledo
- Kent State
- Akron
- Bowling Green
- Miami OH
- Ball State
- Western Michigan
- Central Michigan
- Eastern Michigan
- Northern Illinois
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 1ST TEAM:
-Daeqwon Plowden – SR, G/F – Bowling Green
-Josh Mballa – SR, F – Buffalo
-Jeenathan Williams – SR, F – Buffalo
-Ben Vander Plas – SR, F – Ohio
-Ryan Rollins – SO, G – Toledo
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM:
-K.J. Walton – SR, G – Akron
-Sincere Carry – JR, G – Kent State
-Dae Dae Grant – JR, G – Miami OH
-Jason Carter – SR, F – Ohio U
-B. Artis White – SO, G – Western Michigan
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Buffalo’s team once again looks to be the best in the MAC, and once again looks like it might be good enough to land inside the bubble and make the NCAA Tournament even if they fail to win the conference tournament. Four starters are back, all of them can score, and they also got guys that can come off the bench. What is perhaps most impressive about them is how many weapons they have and how many different styles of play they can employ.
-Ohio U is another team that has a ton of experience back and who is capable of making a ton of noise this season. They weren’t always consistent last year, but they were very strong down the stretch and had some other moments of greatness as well, particularly the near-upset of Illinois earlier in the year. Given how they are more experienced and how well they played down the stretch, I think they will play at a high level more consistently this year.
-Toledo was the first place team a year ago, and while they don’t return everything they do return quite a bit. Three starters are back and all were double digit scorers. In addition to them they will add a couple of key transfers. They’ve got a lot of weapons and will once again be a tough team to beat in this league.
-Kent State lost two of their top scorers, but four starters are back and they once again look to be dangerous. The reason they aren’t picked closer to the top has more to do with how good Buffalo and Ohio U are than it does with any weaknesses within this program.
-Akron has three starters back, but they had some depth last year so they shouldn’t have too much trouble having guys step into new rolls. Coach John Groce has done a tremendous job in his tenure at Akron so you don’t want to underestimate what this team can do. Having said that, I don’t see them as being quite good enough to keep pace with the top three in this league.
-Bowling Green has the ingredients for a big year. Four starters are back so the experience should help them, and they had a stretch late in the season where they really seemed to be playing well. I do think we will see them take another step forward and think they are good enough to have some big moments this year. I just don’t think they are quite good enough to consistently keep pace with the top three teams in this conference.
-Miami OH returns all five starters from a team that posted a winning record in conference play a year ago. With that in mind, I think we’ll see them in the top half of the standings again this year and once again see them take a nice big step forward.
-Ball State is looking to replace some key pieces from last year. They had a so-so season a year ago where they finished just under .500 in league play, and I think that’s about where they’ll end up again this year.
-Western Michigan, Central Michigan, and Eastern Michigan are all lumped together toward the bottom of the league (at least that’s how the experts are forecasting it). All have their work cut out for them. Central Michigan lost all five starters and Eastern Michigan has just one starter back. Western Michigan returns a little more in the way of experience, but after winning a total of just five games a year ago they’ll need to have those guys step up in a much bigger way if they want to be competitive this year.
-I keep waiting for Northern Illinois to improve as a program, and it looked like for a while they were going to. They had back-to-back winning seasons and finished with 18 wins in 2020 before the COVID shutdown. Last year they won just three games so they need to go back to the drawing board.