Rough Start for MAC MBB

The MAC has had a really poor pre-season in MBB.  This is all based on kenpom.  A couple of quirks.  It counts only D1 games....so while CMU has played the 7th toughest schedule in the country in their D1 games, they have also played a MAC-High 4 non-D1 games.  Similarly, Kent was losing to Heidelberg into the last minute the other day, but it would not have impacted these rankings.   There are 364 teams in these rankings.

So, some observations:

• 7 of the 12 teams have a worse kenpom than when the season started. 
• The best non-conference win was George Mason (87) losing to CMU.
• The next best win was Miami over App State (172)
• Nine of the 12 teams in the MAC have their best win over a team in the bottom half of D1.
• Five of the 12 MAC teams have lost to teams over 300.
• These ratings are likely to fall, given the number of games against teams in the lower half of the rankings...right now 8 of the 12 teams are ranked above 200.
• The MAC has fallen from the #20 conference to #22 this year.
• BG has the worst loss overall, to #349 Bellarmine. It is their only D1 win and BG played the game fully healthy.

Team	D1 Record	Strength of Schedule	Starting Kenpom	1/1 Kenpom	Difference	Best Win	Worst Loss
Kent	6-3	202	136	116	+20	@Cleveland State (198)	(n) UC Irvine (70)
Akron	5-4	164	130	136	-6	Lamar (189)	@Milwaukee (136)
OU	5-6	240	157	162	-5	UNC-Asheville (173)	@Marshall (200)
Miami	6-4	287	212	185	+27	@App State (172)	@Vermont (243)
Toledo	5-6	89	177	217	-40	Wright State (191)	Oakland (210) by 33 at home
CMU	2-6	7	271	215	+66	George Mason (87)	Stony Brook (319)
Ball State	3-6	336	243	261	-18	Eastern Kentucky (208)	Detroit (317)
BG	3-7	319	264	283	-19	(n) New Mexico State (199)	@Bellarmine (349, by 12)
WMU	2-9	100	310	277	+33	@Youngstown State (204)	@Coastal Carolina (275)
EMU	5-6	250	293	315	-22	Wright State (190)	Detroit Mercy (319)
UB	3-7	93	348	332	+16	NC A&T (307)	Vermont (243)
NIU	1-8	113	318	350	-32	Monmouth (274)	Eastern Illinois (325)