eastern michigan eagles over
ball state cardinals (+1)
akron zips (-6)
* emu and toledo are probably gonna be #1 and #2 in the mac in scoring this year. both teams loaded with firepower, and both like to run. their matchups last year were 85-69 and 84-79. emu back home playing a game less than 72 hours after a game out west in montana -- their defense is already bad and tired legs wont help. toledo offense finally getting in gear after a lame start to the season.
* kent coming in off an absolute collapse in boston college. they blew an 18 point lead and let bc win it at the buzzer in a game bc never led until the final basket. ball state coming in off a game where they couldnt find the hoop, digging themselves a 17-2 hole they could never climb out of. i think bsu is the way to go here. theyve given kent a lot of trouble in this building recently. flashes havent won in muncie since 1998 and ball state plays considerably better at home.
* both akron and ohio have probably played a little better out of the gate than expected, but i think akron's a lot better than ou. zips free throw shooting is piss poor, so thats a definite concern. but i think theyll be able to push this game out to double digits so that it wont come down to crunch time free throws. bobcats have only played away from athens twice this season, and they lost to two terrible teams (american and st.francis, both by 9). only way ohio stays in it is if the young zips allow them to stay in it with turnovers and mistakes. but think akron takes care of business.
ball state cardinals (+1)
akron zips (-6)
* emu and toledo are probably gonna be #1 and #2 in the mac in scoring this year. both teams loaded with firepower, and both like to run. their matchups last year were 85-69 and 84-79. emu back home playing a game less than 72 hours after a game out west in montana -- their defense is already bad and tired legs wont help. toledo offense finally getting in gear after a lame start to the season.
* kent coming in off an absolute collapse in boston college. they blew an 18 point lead and let bc win it at the buzzer in a game bc never led until the final basket. ball state coming in off a game where they couldnt find the hoop, digging themselves a 17-2 hole they could never climb out of. i think bsu is the way to go here. theyve given kent a lot of trouble in this building recently. flashes havent won in muncie since 1998 and ball state plays considerably better at home.
* both akron and ohio have probably played a little better out of the gate than expected, but i think akron's a lot better than ou. zips free throw shooting is piss poor, so thats a definite concern. but i think theyll be able to push this game out to double digits so that it wont come down to crunch time free throws. bobcats have only played away from athens twice this season, and they lost to two terrible teams (american and st.francis, both by 9). only way ohio stays in it is if the young zips allow them to stay in it with turnovers and mistakes. but think akron takes care of business.
