MAC Tournament

[NarlCavs]

CongoKid, Great points. I still don't understand why the MAC is devoting so many of their resources to football. They will never be a big time football conference. The best chance at major success for the conference is in basketball.
Your points may help explain why MAC basketball has slipped in recent seasons. They used to get multiple bids at times but right now there's zero chance for that to happen.

Scheduling will always be an issue. It is frustrating how if you want to play schools from more major conferences you have to go play at their place. Teams just cannot play a ton of road games while the big conference schools continue to get to play most of their schedule at home. I get tired of some analysts talk of improving scheduling but failing to leave out this unfair scheduling disparity between home and road games.

I went to Bowling Green and know that Michigan St. is coming to play at BG in a couple of seasons but BG has to play there twice to get that to happen. Also believe this is only the 2nd time in 20 years or more a major conference school has played at BG.
Love to see to help balance things out at least a little if each school from a major conference was forced to play one non conference road game each season at a mid major or smaller conference school. That wouldn't be asking too much but there's no way it will ever happen.

As far as Geno Ford, it's all about the money. Right now and in recent history Kent St. is a better job than Bradley.

 

[DDJ7777]

You're asking a Kent State guy to be smart? That's not in their DNA.

 

[Backstage]

You're asking a Kent State guy to be smart? That's not in their DNA.

Man, they can't even spell DNA.

 

[jerzy234]

I went to Bowling Green and know that Michigan St. is coming to play at BG in a couple of seasons but BG has to play there twice to get that to happen. Also believe this is only the 2nd time in 20 years or more a major conference school has played at BG.

Love to see to help balance things out at least a little if each school from a major conference was forced to play one non conference road game each season at a mid major or smaller conference school. That wouldn't be asking too much but there's no way it will ever happen.

As far as Geno Ford, it's all about the money. Right now and in recent history Kent St. is a better job than Bradley.

Well, hopefully stuff will change since we are getting the Stroh Center. BG played (at home) vs. Michigan in 2001, Northwestern in 2003, and hosted Michigan State in 1990. I should note that BG won against Michigan and MSU when those games were played at Anderson Arena. Temple and a couple of Atlanta-10 schools have played at Bowling Green, more now than the past. I do disagree with Kent St. being a better job than Bradley.

Source for schedules: http://www.fanbase.com/Bowling-Green-State-Falcons-Mens-Basketball-2005-06/schedule

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

CongoKid, Great points. I still don't understand why the MAC is devoting so many of their resources to football. They will never be a big time football conference. The best chance at major success for the conference is in basketball.
Your points may help explain why MAC basketball has slipped in recent seasons. They used to get multiple bids at times but right now there's zero chance for that to happen.

Scheduling will always be an issue. It is frustrating how if you want to play schools from more major conferences you have to go play at their place. Teams just cannot play a ton of road games while the big conference schools continue to get to play most of their schedule at home. I get tired of some analysts talk of improving scheduling but failing to leave out this unfair scheduling disparity between home and road games.

I went to Bowling Green and know that Michigan St. is coming to play at BG in a couple of seasons but BG has to play there twice to get that to happen. Also believe this is only the 2nd time in 20 years or more a major conference school has played at BG.
Love to see to help balance things out at least a little if each school from a major conference was forced to play one non conference road game each season at a mid major or smaller conference school. That wouldn't be asking too much but there's no way it will ever happen.

As far as Geno Ford, it's all about the money. Right now and in recent history Kent St. is a better job than Bradley.

I know that BG recently received a $10 million endowment directed solely at the men's basketball program. The money will be used for continued improvements on facilities, increasing coaches salaries (to both keep coaches and bring in better ones), and to help being in better non conference opponents (not sure if MSU is part of this) among other things. That money combined with the new arena should certainly help to boost the profile of BG's program quite a bit. Also, Ohio received a $10 million donation near the end of last year geared towards a multi-purpose indoor practice facility (which is believed to include practice basketball courts) and a portion is marked for renovations to the Convocation Center.

For whatever reason, the MAC decided to push for schools to increase their football budget over the last 8 years or so. If the basketball budgets increased at the same rate, I really think the MAC would be putting two teams in the tourney on a consistent basis like they were through the 90's. Just look at what the MVC and CAA have been able to accomplish over the last 10 years with scheduling mandates and budget increases. As a whole, the MAC isn't really that far away. If it was only an 8 team league with the likes of Ohio, Akron, Kent, Miami, Buffalo, WMU, Ball St, and BGSU it would be an infinitely stronger conference.

It's pretty clear the effect that basketball budgets have had on the players coming into the MAC. I believe the MAC made it a point to increase football spending starting in 2003. Ironically enough, that was the last year the MAC had a big time player in the conference (Chris Kaman) which I think was also the last time the conference had two teams in the tourney. The conference just isn't getting the types of players that they used to get. It's been a while since the days of Gary Trent, Nate Thurmond, Wally, Bonzi Wells, Antonio Daniels, Ron Harper, Earl Boykins, Ira Newble, Brandon Hunter, and so on. There haven't been any of those types of guys come through the league in eight years. I don't know if that's a result of not increasing spending (most likely), but the conference as a whole has dropped. At one point through the 80's and 90's, the MAC was a premier mid-major conference. No offense to Akron, but this years MAC tournament champion would likely get trashed by pretty much any of the tournament champs from the 90's as well as the runner-ups. The league was just legitimately that much better back then.

That being said, I think we are starting to see some really good young players come into the MAC. I think the 2012-13 season could be a big year for the MAC, and if some things fall into place, it could be the year that they finally get two teams into the dance again. However, it's going to be next to impossible to sustain anything long term unless spending increases across the board.