MAC Sports

The UNOFFICIAL 2006 MAC Basketball Tournament Preview

Cleveland, Ohio * March 9th - 11th, 2006

March 6th, 2006

By: CRS Staff

Even though it has been a bit of a disappointing year in the Mid-American Conference for basketball (the MAC lost a little bit of its stud mid-major luster this season to the Missouri Valley Conference), March means it's time for the league's best eight to compete in Cleveland for the only NCAA Tournament bid the conference will see this year. Whose fans will leave The Q next Saturday night primed and ready for the NCAA's? Which local bars will MAC fans head to for the pre-game festivities? Which famous alums might make an appearance in town? Before you go see the teams compete at The Q, don't miss our first annual unofficial guide with answers to many of these burning, important questions. Enjoy.

#1 KENT STATE GOLDEN FLASHES

Record: MAC 15-3, Overall 22-8

Why They Will Win: At times, Kent has been dominant this season. A senior-laden team, The Golden Flashes have been the MAC’s show pony ever since their Elite Eight run back in 2002. They sport a balanced scoring team, and they have the experience to be playing for awhile.

Why They Will Lose: A regular season-ending loss to MAC-rival Akron can’t exactly instill an air of invincibility around campus headed into postseason (OK, so that's pretty weak, but that's about it on the negatives for this team). Plus, they will be a marked group from the time they set foot in Cleveland, as everyone knows they are the team to beat.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Shotz Bar & Grille. Why? ‘Can’t Read, Can’t Write’ Kent State fans won’t have any issues with the grammatical incorrectness of the bar’s title.

Alumni Karma: Drew Carey (’79). When your most famous alum is a fat, balding comic who is rumored to be spending much of his sitcom retirement smoking weed and nailing strippers, that can’t be a good thing. Then again, minus the strippers, were things likely much different for Drew as a Kent State student in the 70’s?

Prediction: MAC Champion. Simply too much talent and experience on this roster (plus, it’d be funny seeing junior guard Armon Gates have to repeatedly tell national sportswriters he is not related to former Golden Flash, and current Chargers TE Antonio Gates).

#2 NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY HUSKIES

Record: MAC 12-6, Overall 17-10

Why They Will Win: Senior tandem of Anthony Maestranzi & Todd Peterson combined for 44 points in West-division clinching victory over Western Michigan, and you know what hot shooting can do for you in March.

Why They Will Lose: Lost Sophomore G Ben Rand to a knee injury near the end of the season. Plus, hailing from a school located over 400 miles from The Q, it will be hard to string together three victories in front of practically zero fans.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Impulse Lounge, Holiday Inn Rockside. Why? Because NIU fans, unfamiliar with Cleveland having never been here before will have no idea where else to party but the bar inside their hotel.

Famous Alumni Karma: OK, for a university located in relative close proximity to a major city (Chicago, about 65 miles away), repeated Google searches for famous alumni turned up only Forwood C. Wiser (’42), the former President of Trans World Airlines (I’m not kidding). If Forwood is really all you got, you better just stay in De Kalb and forget about an NCAA tourney bid.

Prediction: Upset loss in quarterfinal round.

#3 UNIVERSITY OF AKRON ZIPS

Record: MAC 14-4, Overall 21-8

Why They Will Win: Former Lebronnaires Dru Joyce III & Romeo Travis form a lethal inside/outside connection to lead a relatively young team (only 3 seniors on roster). If that sounds familiar, that's because last year's tournament champion Ohio University (a #4 seed then) used the same formula to pull an upset.

Why They Will Lose: Seemingly perpetual bridesmaids are good at playing Jan to Kent's Marsha. Plus, a win over inconsistent Western Michigan would give them a possible semifinal matchup with either MAC West champ Northern Illinois, or pre-season co-favorite Toledo. If they win those two games, it could be a tragic championship matchup with Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Brubaker's Pub, Downtown Akron Why? Mostly commuter Akron fans will prefer to socialize on their own turf rather than do it in Cleveland. Besides, what if they run into Marsha with her new boyfriend?

Famous Alumni Karma: According to a few searches on Answers.com, Akron lists only three recent football players - Dwight Smith, Jason Taylor, and some guy named Charlie Frye (?) as 'famous alumni'. Which means apparently no one of any note attended the school until about 9 years ago, and no one famous outside of the football team altogether. Nice. While that's pretty lame we'll give them some props for Charlie, but still.

Prediction: Upset loss in semis.

#4 MIAMI UNIVERSITY REDHAWKS

Record: MAC 14-4, Overall 18-9

Why They Will Win: The RedHawks come into the conference tournament red-hot, having won 9 of their last 10 regular-season contests. Plus, MAC regulars know you can never underestimate a Charlie Coles team come crunch time (the RedHawks web site describes Coles as the 'Bill Cosby of college basketball'; we're not sure what it means, but we're guessing it must be good). The 64-year old Coles is the Herman Edwards of the MAC - competitive as hell, and never without a quip for the media.

Why They Will Lose: Because Wally Szczerbiak graduated in 1999 and no longer plays for this team.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: D'Vine Wine Bar, Warehouse District. Why? Because fans of the RedHawks appreciate a fine French Burgundy with a malolactic nose brimming of ripe cherries and cranberries, a light body with overtones of oak and earth, and a delectable finish that leaves one pining for the next sip (err, something like that).

Famous Alumni Karma: Gotta hand it to Miami in this category, as they boast famous alums ranging from politicos (including our nation's 23rd President Benjamin Harrison, 1852, and George W. Bush's grandfather Marvin Pierce, '16), journalists (P.J. O'Rourke, '69), and many others. Of course, we'll ultimately give Miami the nod in the good karma category for Ben Roethlisberger ('04), who won last month's Super Bowl despite sporting a quarterback rating that rivals Vince Young's Wonderlic test score.

Prediction: Upset loss in quarterfinal round.

#5 OHIO UNIVERSITY BOBCATS

Record: MAC 11-8, Overall 18-10

Why They Will Win: The defending conference champion Bobcats return nearly everyone from last season's Cinderella team except for former freshman sensation Jeremy Fears, who abruptly quit the team last month. With a lot of talent they don't rely on one person to get it done, and they have several shooters like Mychal Green and Sonny Troutman who can potentially carry this team for three games.

Why They Will Lose: OU has displayed more wasted potential than a Browns #1 draft pick this season, having been a disappointment from the day they were named ESPN.com's 'It' team in the preseason (whatever 'That' meant in the first place). Fears' sudden departure also took away the league's most exciting player, and the guy who practically won the conference tourney for them last year.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: The Boneyard, Gateway District. Why? No one can sniff a better alcoholic bargain than OU students, famous for such creations as Quad Night and Aquariums (if you or someone you know went to school in Athens, you're smiling right now). With over 40 beers on tap and a great happy hour, Bobcat fans will realize the potential to get drunk for less at The Boneyard and take full advantage. Also, close proximity to The Q allows for less drinking down-time between the bar and the first beer stand inside the arena, a big plus for the MAC's resident alcoholics.

Famous Alumni Karma: Alums include a random collection of people including former Ohio Governor George Voinovich ('58), MLB hall-of-famer Mike Schmidt, Matt Lauer ('97), and Richard Dean Anderson (better known as MacGyver, and who's probably kicking himself for not thinking of the Chuck Norris facts phenomenon first).

Prediction: Loss in semifinals.

#6 WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS

Record: MAC 11-8, Overall 14-16

Why They Will Win: I don't really know much about WMU's team, so I'm going to go with the fact that the streaky Broncos rattled off 5 straight wins in late January, proving they are capable of going on a tournament run. Plus they feature an alliteration-ific duo of Kristof Kendrick & Derek Drews (which sound like they were made-up names from a European basketball video game), and a guy named Stane's Bufford (yes, you read that right...there's an apostrophe in there). Frankly, that's good enough for me.

Why They Will Lose: Opened the season losing 11 of their first 15 games, with two of those victories coming against juggernauts Northwood (Mich.) and IUPUI (pronounced 'ooey pooey'). Ouch.

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Great Lakes Brewery, Ohio City Why? WMU is located in Kalamazoo, home of famous microbrewer Bell's Brewery, so Bronco fans will feel right at home drinking other microbeers made with 18.9% alcohol.

Famous Alumni Karma: Tool Man Tim Allen is a former WMU 'undergrad' (translation: did not graduate), although former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and R&B legend Luther Vandross apparently did receive diplomas. When the most famous alum (err, I'm sorry...'undergrad') spent his college years at your school selling crack, then.....(see 'Kent State Alumni Karma' above).

Prediction: Loss in quarters.

#7 UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO ROCKETS

Record: MAC 11-8, Overall 18-10

Why They Will Win: Toledo is one of those teams that always seem to hang around the MAC Tournament longer than they're supposed to, and don't forget this squad was supposed to win the MAC West division. Plus, they stroll into The Q red hot, having won 5 in a row, and 8 of their last 9.

Why They Will Lose: Very young team, with only one senior on the roster (I know, I know, I'm playing both sides of the youth thing. But you know what? It's my column, so deal with it).

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Actually, instead of a bar I picture all 6 Rocket fans who make the trip to be sitting in some guy's basement before the games, huddled around a 13-inch TV watching SportsCenter, gulping down Natty Lights out of small plastic cups. Why? I have no idea, but I'm sorry if that was really mean.

Famous Alumni Karma: After several fruitless Google searches, I found no one (unless you count Baltimore Ravens RB Chester Taylor). If I were a student at Toledo, my 24/7 goal would be to get on a TV reality show, just to become the undisputed 'most famous alum'. It's apparently that easy and wide open right now. Sans any famous alumni, I did find out that Elvis Presley performed on campus at Savage Hall in April of 1977, just four months before his death. So there you go.

Prediction: MAC Cinderella team, getting all the way to the MAC Final before losing.

#8 UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO BULLS

Record: MAC 9-10, Overall 19-12

Why They Will Win: Last year's hard luck bunch is this year's sentimental favorite. Having brought nearly 71% of the city's population to The Q for last year's tourney, the only question is how enthusiastic their fans will be this time around as a lower seed. As with several teams above them, UB sports a nice inside/outside combo of Calvin Cage & all-name team member Yassin Idbihi, which will make them dangerous if they can catch Kent on an off night.

Why They Will Lose: Graduation was not kind to the Bulls (lost last season's MAC MVP Turner Battle and sixth man Mark Bortz), who went cold late in the season after opening up the year winning 11 of 12 (including 9 in a row).

Bar You're Most Likely To Find Teams' Fans During Tournament: Why, Buffalo Wild Wings (any location between here and Buffalo, NY), of course. Why? Duh.

Famous Alumni Karma: Famous alums include CNN anchorman Wolf Blitzer, Miramax Founder Harvey Weinstein, West Wing actor Ron Silver, as well as a host of notable corporate types and even some inventors (including the guy who invented the cardiac pacemaker). All in all, not bad for a university located in a city where the only fun thing to do is go to Canada. Color us impressed.

Prediction: Loss in quarters.

Disagree with any of our picks? Let us know if you think we've slighted your college or alma mater: feedback@crookedriversports.com. We'll publish the best responses and smack-talk in a post-tourney column.