The Mid-American Conference doesn’t want to arrive at the Big Dance alone.
MAC men’s basketball teams have eclipsed the 20-win mark eight times in the last two years. Yet, Ball State (1999) and Kent State (2000) were the lone MAC representatives in the NCAA Tournament. Coaches around the MAC have been doing their best Rodney Dangerfield impression, wondering where the respect is. They even swaggered their ties a little more after the Golden Flashes upset Indiana last year in the First-Round.
Yesterday there were two stories featuring the MAC Conference on Espn.com. Why? A big part of the recognition was dealt by Ball State at the Maui Invitational just under two weeks ago.
Two big wins by Ball State over Kansas and UCLA combined with a respectable 83-71 loss to No. 1 Duke brought some national attention to the conference. Stories about the MAC and why they haven’t gotten more respect are surfacing. One of the main reasons is because the MAC has been so equal in the past, conference teams have beaten up on each other. When the NCAA Selection Committee sees BG or Kent State lose a tough road game against a conference opponent like Ball State or Ohio, MAC teams lose some of their guster. Another problem with losing to another mid-major school is that voters will drop schools out of the polls faster than a free falling toilet. Ball State is ranked 20th overall, but unlike larger conferences, one loss could take them right out of the top 25 for good.
“Our league is almost like college football,” BG coach Dan Dakich said. “If you lose, you have to win eight more to build up for one loss. That’s hard.”
Bowling Green is off to a fast 5-1 start and could make a real push for a Tourney bid with wins over Mississippi, Delaware, Michigan and Marist. All teams except Michigan have high RPI’s.
“If you look at our schedule, short of playing everybody in the Big Ten, we set it up to play very good basketball teams,” Dakich said. “We’re going to play teams with pretty good RPI’s across the board. Two years ago we didn’t have the luxury for various reasons. It’s a pretty good challenge.”
Other MAC schools have not been so fortunate playing bigger teams. Kent State did not have the same fortunes upsetting Kentucky as they did with Indiana last year in the Big Dance. The Wildcats ripped Kent in Lexington 82-68. Last year’s MAC Player of the Year David Webber and his Central Michigan teammates fell to Dayton and Oklahoma. Central Michigan still received two votes for the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 poll. The Chippewas join Ball State as the only MAC schools with votes.
