Mid-American Conference Basketball

Bowling Green had a slim chance of finishing above .500 this season, ending its season on a three game slide. The only hope was a serious run in the MAC Tournament, and unfortunately, the Falcons just didn’t have it in them this season.

Bowling Green held a 39-38 advantage going into the half, but fell to Western Michigan 75-73 in the opening round of the tournament. This loss brought Bowling Green to 14-16 on the season and 6-10 in conference play. It also ended their season.

Starting the season, there was renewed optimism with senior leadership coming from Otis Polk, Marc Larson, Erik Marschall and Matt Karaffa. It also saw the addition of Dennis Hopson to the coaching staff.

Polk, Larson, and Marschall shared minutes for a large part of the season. Scott Thomas, the team's leading scorer, was the only player to play more than 26 minutes in every game this season.

Marschall and Larson underachieved for most of the season. Larson finished the season  averaging 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds. Marschall never could reach the totals of his sophomore year and averaged 7.9 points and 5.1 rebounds this season.

Joe Jakubowski was a bright spot for Bowling Green in his third season, averaging 8.3 points and 3.7 assists a game.  He’ll be a key member of the team next season as the team's point guard.

Scott Thomas averaged a team high 13.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season. Thomas, along with Jakubowski and scoring guard Dee Brown, will be the key members of the Falcons next season. Brown averaged 10.6 points per game and was the only other returning Falcon besides Thomas to do so this season.

Luke Kraus, Danny McElroy, and DaVon Haynes are all underclassmen that should see considerable action next season with the loss of the seniors. The Falcons should be more competitive next season as this young team matures.

The Mid-American Conference doesn’t have much to offer the NCAA tournament this season. This winner of the conference championship game will be the only team dancing this season.

Kent State (22-8) and Akron (22-8) have distanced themselves from the rest of the conference, currently holding a three game lead over the next closest team. Buffalo (17-10) is the next closest team, and has split the season series with both of the conference leaders.

Currently, experts see Kent State winning the MAC and getting a No. 13 seed in the East bracket. This will send the Golden Flashes to face a very talented BYU team. BYU (26-4) has been tested with wins over San Diego State twice, UNLV, and UTEP.

Kent State will face Akron in the last game of the season. The Golden Flashes have an RPI of 49, which is higher than several of the other bubble teams from larger conferences. If Kent State wins against the Zips, but loses in the MAC tournament it still may get an at large bid. This scenario is highly unlikely but not completely out of reach.

Akron doesn’t have the luxury of a decent RPI. The Zips will need to win the conference championship game in order to get an NCAA bid. They can start toward that goal with a win over Kent State on Friday.

Buffalo has shown it can compete with the conference powers this season. The Bulls have also shown that consistency can be a problem during losses to Canisuis (14-16), Miami (13-17), and Central Michigan (14-14). Even if the Bulls start off strong in the conference tournament, their consistency issues and lack of focus will derail them before they get close to an NCAA bid.

The MAC tournament will begin March 6 and continue till the championship game on March 13 at 6 p.m. It looks like that game will face the Zips against the Golden Flashes for the third time this season.

The Zips currently hold a 1-0 season series lead this season going into tomorrow’s game. The winner will become the MAC Champion for the regular season and receive the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

Late into the college basketball season has us taking a look into the Mid-American Conference’s standings. Just like the other conferences, the winner gets an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Kent State holds a half a game lead over rival Akron for the top spot in the conference. At this time, I really can't see more than one team getting into the tournament this year. With that being said, these teams match up one more time before the MAC Tournament begins, and that game will have a direct effect on the seeding process. The possible contenders for the MAC Championship this year are slim, once Akron and Kent State are mentioned.

Kent State (18-8) has had a very good second half of the season since losing to Bowling Green a month ago. The Golden Flashes have fired off eight straight wins and post a 9-2-conference record. They’ve shown earlier in the season, however, that they were not quite ready to face good talent as they fell to both Pittsburgh and Xavier. Kent State also suffered two close home losses to Green Bay Wisconsin and Northeastern. Neither of those losses is going to impress the selection committed next month.

Key Losses: Bowling Green (12-11), Miami Ohio (11-13)

Best Win: Akron (18-7)

Akron (18-7) trails Kent State a game after the 17-point beating they took earlier in the season. The Zips have played fairly inconsistently since January, and it’s shown on their record. Since January, they are 8-4, but have gotten to a soft spot in the schedule before finishing up with Kent State. They don’t have a marquee win over a good opponent right now, and losses to good teams won't get them in. The losses to Austin Peay and Eastern Michigan especially will keep them from getting an at-large tournament bid. Non-conference losses to Rhode Island, NC State, and Texas A&M show the committee that this team doesn’t stack up come tournament time.

Key Losses: Austin Peay (14-11), Eastern Michigan (12-12), Buffalo (14-9),

Best Win: Ohio (14-11)

Miami (11-13) was dreadful before conference play started, but now boasts an 8-3 conference record. This improved play has them challenging for a MAC Tournament trophy for the sole reason that they’ve shown that they can play with their conference foes. The Redhawks have losses to Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier, Kentucky, and Temple this season.

The preseason schedule has to be taken into consideration especially the 72-70 loss in Rupp Arena to Kentucky. As stated before, though, losses against good teams do a team no good. In the Redhawks case, they have numerous losses and will be a dark horse candidate in the MAC Tournament, at best.

Key Losses: Towson (6-18), Colorado (11-12), Milwaukee (13-12), Ball State (12-11)

Best Win: Kent State (18-8)

Buffalo (14-9) has yet to gain much consistency this season, especially since the new year. The Bulls are 6-5 in 2010 and are limping into tournament play. Rodney Pierce has been a bright spot this season, averaging 19 points a game. Buffalo’s wins over Akron and Kent State get them mentioned here, considering this could very well be the teams they have to get over in the MAC Tournament to claim a NCAA Tournament bid.

Key Losses: Jacksonville (14-10), Canisius (12-14), Central Michigan (11-12), Western Michigan (13-11)

Best Wins: Kent State (18-8), Akron (18-7)

Miami is the canary in the coal mine for the MAC this year. The selection committee can easily see a team that has struggled out of conference against tournament caliber teams, but was successful in conference.

This shows how weak the conference is this year,  further supporting the fact that only one team gets a bid this year. Kent State and Akron are both good teams, but without the MAC Tournament Championship on the resume, it won't be enough to get in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one MAC team in the NIT, possible two, if Buffalo goes deep into the conference tournament.

The Falcons took one on the chin tonight as they faced off with Akron (11-4). The Zips pummeled Bowling Green 71-45 in the conference opener.

Bowling Green kept it close going into the half being down 32-28, but fell apart scoring only 17 second half points. Akron poured on 39 points after half time and pulled away for good just minutes into the second half.

The Falcons shot a horrendous 27 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point range, along with adding 20 turnovers to their troubles.

Joe Jakubowski had a game-high 17 points, but didn’t get any help from his supporting cast. Otis Polk was the next closest scorer with eight points and seven rebounds for the struggling Falcons.

The Zips caught fire in the second half as they shot 43 percent from both the field and from behind the arc. They capitalized on the Falcons ice cold shooting and abundant turnovers to blow the game wide open in the second half.

Steve McNees had 11 point and Jimmy Conyers led the team with 16 points. Chris McKnight and Anthony Hitchens both added 10 points as they other Zips in double figures.

The Falcons needs someone to step up their scoring production to aid Jakubowski, who’s done what he could to carry a struggling team this far into the season. Otis Polk should be able to generate points off his knack for grabbing offensive rebounds, but even that has been slowed of late.

Dee Brown and Scott Thomas are other candidates who have struggled mightily when things start to go south for the Falcons. Even role players like Marc Larson and Erik Marshal are doing much to light up the stat sheet lately.

Bowling Green (7-6) desperately needs to fix its shooting woes before they square off with Buffalo (8-4) on Thursday. They face both Kent State (10-5) and Ohio (9-6) after the showdown with Buffalo. Poor shooting will guarantee that the Falcons will go 0-4 to that point in conference play.

Bowling Green found itself on the losing end of a 63-39 battle with Temple, dropping the Falcons to 5-5 on the season.  

Conference play is still a few games away, but shooting 27 percent from the field won’t help their chances for having much success, even when it starts.

The Falcons went 15-54 against Temple and 3-15 from three-point range. Both shooting percentages are lows on the season.

Bowling Green suffered through two huge runs by Temple; a 13-0 run in the first half and a 10-0 run in the second. The scoring streaks doomed any chance that Bowling Green had of making a comeback.

The offense was rushed tonight as the Falcons forced quick shots, mostly threes, trying hastily to overcome the Owls scoring runs. Dee Brown was the leading scoring for the Falcons with 10 points on a 5-11 shooting night.

Otis Polk had only four points to go with his team high 10 rebounds.

The Falcons defense in the paint was embarrassing as Temple scored in the paint almost at will the entire game.

Ryan Brooks had 19 points and lead the Owls in scoring, and was assisted by Juan Fernandez’s 11 points and Ramone Moore’s 17 points. Lavoy Allen chipped in five points but, more importantly, had the game high 13 rebounds for the Owls.

Temple shot 47 percent from the field and 43 percent from behind the arc as they cruised to their tenth win on the season. The Owls are currently ranked 21st in the AP poll, but undoubtedly will climb the ranks if they continue to play as strongly as they did tonight.

The Falcons will go back to the drawing board once again before they take on Towson (3-6) on December 30th . They will have one more non-conference game against a tough St. Louis (7-4) team January 2nd before starting MAC play with a road trip to Akron (9-3).

Dee Brown had a season high 20 points as Bowling Green (2-3) got a much-needed win over Florida International (2-7) 67-62. Scott Thomas added 10 points for the Falcons.

Bowling Green had a 39-26 lead going into the half, but got outscored 36-28 by the Golden Panthers in the second half. The lack of shooting consistency mired the Falcons and let the Golden Panthers back in the game.

Bowling Green shot 48 percent from the field, but continued its three-point shooting woes going 25 percent from behind the arc. The 14 turnovers came mostly in the second half as Bowling Green turned in another sloppy second half performance.

When the time came to step up Otis Polk answered the call with his 11 rebounds and seven points. His defensive leadership helped the Falcons jump out to a 38-24 advantage on the boards, and a 7-4 advantage with blocks.

The defense has been impressive to date for a team that is still rebuilding, but the offense has struggled in consistently finding a scorer. Each game a new player steps up as the leading scorer, but then struggles to maintain that level of play. Otis Polk and Scott Thomas have been solid up to this point, but still have disappeared in games when they were needed to score.

The guard play is the main reason for this considering the lineup changes and lack of consistent scoring from both Dee Brown and Joe Jakubowski. Dee Brown’s performance here hopefully is something he will build on and develop into that perimeter shooter the Falcons are looking for.

The Falcons will face Savannah State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. This stretch of games will be a good opportunity for Bowling Green to get its season back on track, considering the next three games could be easy wins for the struggling team.

The Falcons were out manned and over matched against the Xavier Musketeers loosing 101-57. The faced a team that has immense talent and usually is ranked in the Top 25. The talent gap between the two schools was blatantly evident as Bowling Green struggled to get half the points Xavier did.

The Falcon big men held their own against one of the best teams they will see all season. All three starters had double figures with Scott Thomas leading the way with 13 points and six rebounds. Otis Polk had 11 points, and Marc Larson added 10 points and three rebounds.

Dee Brown was the only Falcon guard to have any success, but managed just nine points on a 3-8 shooting performance. The Falcons need more help from their bench as well, which only scored a combined 10 points.

Bowling Green shot 36 percent from the field and was 38 percent from three-point range. This below average shooting performance was doomed once combined with the abysmal performance from the charity stripe. The Falcons shot 30 percent, going 4-13 from the line. This has to be the biggest disappointment and something that needs to improve drastically.

Xavier held a shooting clinic going 64 percent from the field and 63 percent from behind the arc. They out rebounded the Falcons 43-21, 10 of which were offensive rebounds.

Jordan Crawford had the game high with 24 points and seven rebounds. He got help from Jason Love who had 12 points and 12 rebounds in his first double double of the season. Terrell Holloway added 12 points and five rebounds and was instrumental in creating havoc from behind the arc.

The Musketeer bench chipped in with 42 points, 12 coming from Brad Redford and another 10 coming from Mark Lyons. All twelve players got action for Xavier, which helped to wear down and already distraught Bowling Green club.

Bowling Green has some work to do and very little time to get it done before their next game. The Falcons go on the road once again this time to play Iowa (0-1) on Friday, November 20.

Northern Illinois vs. Kent State

March 10, 2009, 2:00PM—Courtesy of Ted Sevransky

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Kent State played 15 games away from home this year. They lost 10 of those games outright. Three times they earned narrow victories, winning in overtime at Saint Louis, in overtime at the same Northern Illinois team they’ll face today, and by seven at Ball State.

Only twice in those 15 non-home games did the Golden Flashes beat anyone by this type of margin, with only one of those victories coming in MAC play. Six of their last seven victories overall came by seven points or less.

Even for the superior team, this point spread looks awfully high.

Northern Illinois has gotten better as the season has progressed, and they enter MAC tournament play having won three of their last five and four out of seven.

There was nothing fraudulent about the Huskies taking the Golden Flashes to overtime in the lone previous meeting between these two teams this year.

Northern Illinois shot only 37 percent from the floor in that game, and they missed a whopping 18 free throws, yet they were still able to hang around for 45 full minutes. Kent State didn’t own the paint, they didn’t get good offensive looks all evening long, and the Huskies defensive pressure forced 23 Golden Flashes turnovers.

Expect this game to be more competitive than the betting marketplace expects.

(#575) 2* Take Northern Illinois.

College Basketball Picks: Akron +8.5 (-110)—Wed., Dec. 17, 2008 7:30p

Not so much separates the Akron Zips and the Virginia Commonwealth Rams statistically that either of these teams deserved to be this big of a favorite over the other, so Akron offers nice value at this number.

Akron is 6-3 straight up overall, and they are a nice 2-1 on the road, upsetting Niagara outright and beating Fairleigh Dickinson by 44. In their other road game, they actually covered the number at Pittsburgh.

The Zips have been solid defensively, allowing only 59.2 points per game on 40.3 percent shooting, and that will make any team desirable as a decided underdog like this. If you take out that Pittsburgh game, Akron allowed an average of just 50.0 points in their other two road contests.

Now VCU has an identical 6-3 SU record, but they are allowing 68.2 points per game defensively. Given that they do not figure to match their scoring average of 76.1 points vs. the Akron defense, that defense makes them vulnerable here, and even if the Rams do manage to get a decent lead, the backdoor will always be open.

We do not expect that to happen, however, as we see the Zips keeping this contest close from start to finish. With a little luck, an outright upset would not be impossible.

College Basketball Free Pick: Akron +8.5 (-110)—Courtesy of LT Profits

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