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The MAC: the missing in action conference: there's a reason the MAC hasn't received multiple NCAA bids in years. And somewhere, you'll also find the lost ark, the Holy Grail and the excuse for Paris Hilton's fame.(College Basketball)
This is the league of Ron Harper, Dan Majerle and Antonio Daniels. It is the league of Theron Smith, Bonzi Wells and Wally Szczerbiak. It is the league of Eastern Michigan 1991, Miami 1999 and, once a mere 40 minutes away from the Final Four, Kent State 2002.
This is the MAC--now the Missing in Action Conference.
Only one team, automatic qualifier Ohio University, entered the 2005 NCAA Tournament from the Mid-American Conference. That's the sixth year in a row this has been a one-bid league. During that period, the Missouri Valley Conference has gotten multiple bids every season and the West Coast Conference has had more than one bid four times. Do they play better basketball than the MAC? Or is the MAC too good for its own good?
"If that is the message," says commissioner Rick Chryst, "that is a heck of a message."
The MAC figured this would be the year its one-bid streak was broken. But when the regular-season champion Miami RedHawks fell at last-place Marshall on March 5, that possibility began fading. The RedHawks (No. 39) wound up as the highest-ranked RPI team left out of the NCAA field. After losing the league tournament championship to Ohio in overtime, Buffalo (No. 46) was the third highest.
"We're very disappointed," Chryst says. "I believe our coaches and our teams and our fans deserve better."
There is no escaping that the MAC is a mid-major conference. Its teams do not have the wealth to buy a ton of home games. They do not play frequently on national television. They do not recruit at the McDonald's All-American level. But it is a strong league with a history of success--recent success--in the NCAAs. From 2000 to 2004, the MAC placed half as many teams in the tournament as the MVC--but won more games. In head-to-head games against the MVC since 2000, the MAC has a 35-26 record.
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