Normally, the best teams in basketball, both college and professional, are the teams with some of the most dominant individual players in the game. Teams that win championships are the same teams that often times have one superstar who is showered with all-star selections and MVP trophies.
This is not the case in the Mid-American Conference.
The Toledo Rockets and Kent State Golden Flashes were each selected to finish first in their respective divisions in the MAC News Media Association's pre-season poll. Ironically, neither team has any players who were named to the 2001-2001 Preseason All-MAC Team.
Toledo was picked to win the MAC Tournament, and once again receive an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. The Rockets beat Kent State last year in the MAC championship game to earn their seventh conference title in school history.
If the pollsters are right, it will be up to Toledo to stop a rather dubious streak for the conference. MAC schools are winless in their last eight NCAA Tournament games.
The Golden Flashes were a landslide winner in the MAC East, garnering 41 of a possible 45 first-place votes. Kent State boasts the longest home winning streak in the nation at 43 consecutive victories. They have also won 52-straight home contests against MAC opponents.
Pre-season polls, however, are not always competent fortunetellers; the Rockets, for example, were picked to finish fourth last year. The pollsters were accurate in the MAC East last year, though: Kent State was picked to, and indeed won, the division title.
News/Notes
The 2001-2002 Preseason All-MAC Team is Tamara Bowie (Ball State), Kristin Koetsier (Western Michigan), Kim Lancaster (Miami, Ohio), Francine Miller (Bowling Green) and Stephanie Smiley (Eastern Michigan).
Five MAC schools were announced as members of the Women's College Basketball Coaches Association's Academic Top 25: Akron, Kent State, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green and Buffalo. The Bulls were 23rd on the list with an overall GPA of 3.222.
MAC schools will be facing tough schedules before conference play begins. They will face 19 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year, including Western Michigan's match-up with defending national champion Notre Dame.
