The Mid-American Conference (MAC) Women’s basketball standings are starting to take shape as these teams eye their return to Cleveland and Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (where the league tournament is played) in little under a month.
On Saturday three of the four favorites coming to Cleveland won while a dark horse team upset the fourth team. The unpredictability of who’s actually the best in the league this season should lead to some great competition come March 12th when the quarterfinals of the league tournament start.
The top eight ranked teams are invited to play at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The league has one big 12-team division, so the bottom four teams won’t get an invite.
This past Saturday Ball State, Buffalo, and Toledo all won games while the fourth-best team in the league Kent State lost to a surging Miami of Ohio squad.
No. 1 Seed: Ball State Cardinals
Photo via Ball State
The Ball State Cardinals have been the best of the teams so far and now have a 12-0 record in league play and a 20-5 record overall. The Cardinals went on the road on Saturday and beat Eastern Michigan 74-69 in a game that shouldn’t have been so close. But historically speaking any team in the MAC can beat anybody in the league and that’s what made the league tourney so special over the years.
This is the eighth 20-win season for coach Brady Sallee as he has been very consistent with his teams over his 13-year tenure. The last time a MAC team started 12-0 in league play was during the 2017-18 season when Central Michigan accomplished the mark.
It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals do in the tournament this year. They’ve never won the tournament while Sallee has coached despite the impressive regular seasons.
In last year’s tournament as the No. 2 seed, they were upset by No. 3 seed Kent State in the semi-final game.
No. 2 Seed: Buffalo Bulls
Photo via Buffalo
The Buffalo Bulls got another win on Saturday beating the Ohio Bobcats on the road 79-67. This improves the Bulls record to 20-4, their best start since the 2017-18 season. While they have built up the wins they’ve lost to Ball State, Kent State, and Toledo already this year, the other favorites in the league.
So for the Bulls, the test will come at the tournament where they’ll likely get a top-four seed. The second-year coach Becky Burke has gotten the most out of a team that has been built from the bottom up after long-time head coach Felicia Legette Jack left to go coach at her alma mater Syracuse. Legette took her Buffalo teams to the NCAA tourney four times since 2016 having won the MAC tourney three times in that time span (2016, 2019, 2022).
Entering the tourney, it’ll be interesting to see how the team responds to the other favorites. Last season, the Bulls, then a No. 4 seed upset the No. 1 ranked Toledo Rockets 77-74. They eventually lost to the Kent State Golden Flashes 78-60.
No. 3 Seed: Toledo Rockets
The Toledo Rockets have been consistently good forever it seems. Long-time coach, Tricia Cullop (16 seasons), finally jumped ship to coach the Miami Hurricanes this season. Despite the loss of the veteran coach, new head coach Ginny Boggess has the Rockets playing their best as this season winds down. Boggess coached at Monmouth University for the previous three seasons.
This past Saturday the Rockets rolled by the Akron Rockets 75-54 winning their sixth straight game and improving to 9-3 in league play and an 18-5 season record.
As mentioned previously the Rockets were upset in the semi-final game a year ago against Buffalo. They were the league championship winners back in 2023.
Toledo has already beaten the other favorites in the league this season including a win on the road at Buffalo. While they may enter the tournament as a three-seed, they are probably the most dangerous team moving forward.
No. 4 Seed: Kent State Golden Flashes
Photo via Kent State
The Kent State Flashes have been playing good basketball this season and are the defending league tourney champs having beaten the Buffalo Bulls a year ago. They however got upset by a surging Miami of Ohio team on Saturday as they lost at home 64-62.
The Golden Flashes with the loss fall to 8-4 in league play and 16-9 overall. The up-and-coming Miami team now has a 7-5 league record and a 15-8 record. They’ve played the favorites in the league well all season almost beating Buffalo on the road recently.
Kent State will need to get back to more consistent winning soon or the Red Hawks of Miami may catch them for that No. 4 seed.
The rest of the teams in the MAC are out of the top four seed tourney picture except for Bowling Green, who stands at 6-6 in league play and could still make a run.
Besides, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois look to make a trip to Cleveland to round out the top eight teams. With six games remaining in the regular season alot could change so stay tuned.
On Wednesday, February 19th we’ll get two great battles of the top teams as Kent State travels to Buffalo and Ball State travels to Toledo. Can Buffalo avenge an early loss to the Golden Flashes and can Toledo give the Cardinals their first league loss?
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