MAC 2018/19 Hoops Hunches

EAST
Buffalo Bulls: C.J. Massinburg, Nick Perkins & Jeremy Harris are back from last year's team that upset Zona  during March MaDNESS.
Kent State Golden Flashes: Jaylin Walker continues to impress.
Akron Zips: Utomi has been scoring well
Ohio Bobcats: Keep your eyes onJason Carter!
Bowling Green Falcons:  Wiggins & Turner show
Miami (OH) RedHawks: Dalonte Brown may be the guy.

WEST
Eastern Michigan returns four starters, including its top three scorers in Minnie, Thompson, and Paul Jackson, from last season's  squad that finished the year 22-13 overall and 11-7(MAC)
Toledo Rockets : Willie Jackson has been solid  in the first month.
Ball State Cardinals Tayler Persons will keep the Cards from the bottom of the West deck.
Central Michigan Chippewas: Larry Austin Jr  19 ppg this season.
Northern Illinois Huskies: Eugene German  23.4 PPG
Western Michigan Broncos: Seth Duga 18.9ppg  10.6 rbg

dec 19, 2018

How about #buffalo beating  regional foe Syracuse (ACC) 71-59. #massingburg led the Bulls with  25points, 8 rebounds  and  five assists. Big win for the #MAC.
dec 22: #marquette outscored #buffalo 64-47 on its way to 102-85  win. First loss for Buffalo who will probably tumble from its # 14 ranking.

jan 5

I checked in on some Friday night MAC action last night and was impressed at how #BallSt pulled away from Toledo early in the second half and never looked back . Teague scored 20 points with and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Cards.
Montell McRae scored a career-high 18 points in Buffalo's win over EMU.

jan 9

#buffalo scored 65 points in the second half on the way to a 110-80 win over #toledo . 

jan 15, 2019

Yes, Buffalo looks dominant, but Bowling Green and NIU are also 3-0 in conference play. BG 's first chance to play Buffalo is Feb 1 and then they 'll meet in  regular season final game (3/8)  in what could be key games to decide the East. NIU (West) faces Buffalo on Jan 22.

Jan 16, 2019

 Shawn Roundtree hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points  for CMU as they gave NIU its first conference loss. Turner and Plowden scored about half of Bowling Green's points in a 79-78 win over Ball St that keeps them in a MAC East tie with Buffalo , who got a battle from WMU but prevailed 88-79.

jan 19, 2019

#emu crept close to Buffalo last night, but the Bulls led by  #cjmassingburg (31 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST) pulled away for 77-65 win. Toldeo blew out Ohio 75-52 

jan 20, 2019

I cursed NIU- they lost again this time to Kent St., but Bowling Green(13-5, 5-0 MAC) won their ninth straight game. Miami O beat Akron and Ball St beat CMU

Jan 23

And just like that NIU (4-2 MAC) recovers and upsets Buffalo (5-1 MAC) 77-75. Meanwhile  Bowling Green (14-5, 6-0 MAC)beat EMU to remain undefeated in MAC play and one game up on Buffalo in the East. NIU is one game up on on Toledo and CMU in the West.

Jan 26

#kentst  (15-5, 4-3), who was hosting its first ranked opponent since 1989, gave #Buffalo

(18-2, 6-1) a scare, but Massinburg and the Bulls got it together, particularly on D, to pull out a 88-79 win. Bowling Green (14-5, 6-0) needs to win at Miami O to stay ahead of Buffalo in the East.

feb 2

#bowlinggreen  recovered from it's  loss to Miami O last week to upset #buffalo 92-88 last night. Frye scored 25 points for BG while Massingburg led Buffalo with 26 points
feb 6: Bowling Green beat WMU, and Kent St  edged Miami O
MAC East:

feb 9 Loren Cristian Jackson had 18 points as #Akron  topped KentState 72-53 . MAC East Bowling Green 8 -1                         Buffalo 7-2           Kent St. 6-4                        Akron    6 -4         . Miami (Ohio)     4 -6         Ohio      3 -6  feb 10 Toledo knocked off Bowling Green while Buffalo beat CMU  . Miami O crushed ohio Bowling Green 8 -2                         Buffalo 8-2           Kent St. 6-4                        Akron    6 -4         . Miami (Ohio)     5 -6         Ohio      3 -7 feb 13 Buffalo and Bowling Green won to remain tied for 1st in the East. Massinburg scored 21 for Buffalo in its win over Akron, and Frye scored 23 for BG in its win over  CMU . WMU  beat NIU for its first MAC win this season , and EMU beat Ohio. feb 16 Perkins 26 PTS, 10 REB, 1 BLK doesn't have the best shot selection but he hit a key trey late as Buffalo(10-2) survived Toledo (8-4 East)  88-82 . Bowling Green plays NIU today. feb 20 Buffalo destroyed ohio 114-62  and Bowling Green survived akron  keeping both teams tied at 11-2 in the East.  #ShawnRoundtree had 20 points as Central Michigan(7-6) beat Kent State 84-74 to move within a game of Toledo(8-5) ,who fell to EMU, in the West. feb 23 Bowling Green(11-3-MAC) played poorly and still took the game to OT at Ohio (4-10)  before losing, while Buffalo(12-2) cruised over Kent St(8-6) to take a one game lead in the East. Nick Perkins put up some nice numbers for Buffalo :27 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST.  feb 27 Buffalo(13-2) got a battle from akron but  won 77-64 to take a two game lead in the East  over  fading Bowling Green (11-4)who lost to Miami O . Marreon Jackson scored 19 points  for  Toledo(10-5) in an 80-72 win over Ball St.  that keeps them one game up in the West on CMU(9-6) , a winner over EMU.  March 2 #bowlinggreen (12-4) found a way to win again with a 77-72 win over Kent St which keeps them two game behind Buffalo(14-2) who beat Miami O. Both teams will get rd1 byes in the MACT in Cleveland . Toledo (10-5) and  CMU (10-6 ) are the  strongest candidates for the other two byes. MAC season has 18 games. March 6 A solid game from Jeremy Harris(20 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST)helped Buffalo(15-2) eke out a win over Ohio while Bowling Green(12-5) got trounced by Akron. Toledo(12-5) beat WMU to lock up the West. The final bye slot is p for grabs between Kent St (10-7) and CMU & WMU each 9-8. march 16 Bowling Green stumbled through February but hung on to beat  NIU 71-67 and move on to face Buffalo, who struggled to to beat CMU last night, in the MACT final. March 19 Buffalo hasn't looked dominant  in MAC play in the last few weeks and I have some doubts they'll get by the winner of the ASU/St john's play in game. BTW, Bobby Hurley, the ASU coach and former Buffalo coach, recruited some of those Buffalo players. March 28 And #Buffalo loses another head coach. Oats accepted the job at Alabama  April 7 #Ohio has some lofty expectations : Saul Phillips is out at Ohio after five seasons. He came to the Bobcats after taking North Dakota State into the Round of 32 in 2014  The Bobcats had back-to-back 20-win seasons in Phillips’ second and third season, reaching the CBI in 2016. His replacement ,Jeff Boals, was the head coach Stony Brook and a former team captain of Ohio's 1994 NCAA tournament squad.