Photo: Andrew Weber

East vs. West
The balance of power appears to still reside solidly in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference this season. With MAC squads having completed five of their six divisional crossover games (through February 10, 2008), teams from the East have complied a 21-9 record against their counterparts from the West, winning at a 70% clip.

Here is a breakdown of each team's crossover record through the first five games of the crossover schedule:

Looking Ahead
If the season ended today, MAC East teams would occupy seeds 3-6 in the MAC Tournament. The top two seeds would be the current divisional leaders, Kent State (1) and Western Michigan (2).

Here is the current breakdown of how the teams would matchup in the first two rounds if the MAC Tournament started today (February 12):

Opening Round (Seed):
(8) Eastern Michigan vs. (9) Toledo
(5) Bowling Green vs. (12) Ball State
(7) Central Michigan vs. (10) Buffalo
(6) Miami vs. (11) Northern Illinois

Quarterfinals (Seed):
(1) Kent State vs. Eastern Michigan/Toledo
(2) Western Michigan vs. Central Michigan/Buffalo
(3) Akron vs. Miami/Northern Illinois
(4) Ohio vs. Bowling Green/Buffalo

BracketBuster TV Games Assigned
The O'Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBuster television assignments have been announced for the four MAC squads slated to make televised appearances in this year's event on February 23, 2008. Three games will be televised on ESPN2 and one will be on ESPN Classic. Thankfully the MAC was spared the grief of having any games "televised" on ESPN360.com.

The television schedule for the MAC in this year's BracketBuster:

Since the inception of the event in 2004, the MAC has compiled a 10-12 mark in televised BracketBuster contests.

Akron's Jeremiah Wood Sidelined
Akron was dealt a potentially tough blow in its quest for a MAC East title when leading scorer and rebounder Jeremiah Wood was sidelined and underwent surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee.

Wood underwent surgery on February 9 to repair the torn MCL and has begun the rehabilitation process. It is estimated that Wood will miss approximately four weeks which would place Wood back in the lineup in time for the MAC Tournament March 12-15 if everything goes according to plan.

Wood, a 6-6 fifth-year senior forward, missed the entire 2005-2006 season recovering from a torn right Anterior Cruciate Ligament suffered ten games into his sophomore season in 2004. As a freshman, Wood was named to the MAC All-Freshman team and last season was named to the 2007 MAC All-Tournament squad after averaging 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in the MAC Tournament.

"The surgery went well," said Akron head coach Keith Dambrot in his weekly teleconference when asked about Wood's current status. "He is rehabbing the knee as we speak. We all feel badly for him, with his prior knee surgery that he recovered from and a tough road he has battled."

"I am not down mentally," Wood told the Akron Beacon Journal. " They (the doctors) told me that they would fix me and that's what I wanted. I am happy because they said I would come back better than ever."

Wood was averaging a team-leading 13.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game before his injury.

Peyton Stovall up for CLASS Award
Ball State fifth-year senior guard Peyton Stovall has been named as one of ten finalists nationally for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented annually to the NCAA student-athlete of the year in eight different sports and focuses on performance in the classroom, community involvement, character and competition during games.

Stovall was a finalist for the Coach John Wooden Citizenship Cup in January and is the first player from the Mid-American Conference to be named a finalist for the Lowe's award.

The Lowe's CLASS Award -- the acronym stands for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School" -- has been awarded annually since 2002 and was conceived by sports broadcaster Dick Endberg (a Central Michigan alum) in response to the trend of college players leaving early to turn pro as a way of recognizing players who stayed in school to complete their eligibility or graduated.

The public is invited to cast their votes among the ten finalists for this award via Internet balloting. To cast your vote, visit Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

Fans Optimistic About BracketBuster in Latest Poll
If our readers are correct, the MAC should expect to at least break even in next week's BracketBuster games. We asked how many wins the MAC will win in the 2008 O'Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBuster.

The results:

This week we ask about the MAC's current divisional set up for basketball. Several other conferences that have  divisions in place for football do not use a divisional setup for basketball such as Conference USA, and the Big Twelve. Some argue that doing away with divisions would allow the league to crown a clear-cut regular season champion. What is your opinion?

To vote, click the box labeled "polls" in the top right corner of this page.

Tracking the RPI and SOS
Checking in on the latest numbers...

For games played through February 10, 2008, the MAC has two schools (Kent State and Ohio) currently ranked within the Top 65 in RPI. Miami currently has the MAC's highest rated strength of schedule, at 48th nationally.

Below is the breakdown of each MAC squad's RPI and Strength of Schedule (SOS):

Overall the MAC is currently ranked 13th in RPI and 4th in non-conference SOS out of 31 conferences.

The Latest Polls
Kent State checks in at number nine in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 Coaches Poll, moving up two spots after sweeping its games last week against Ball State and Northern Illinois.

Akron fell three spots to 13th after the Zips split their games last week, losing to Western Michigan and defeating Ball State.

Meanwhile Ohio dropped one spot to 15th after the Bobcats also split their games last week, losing to Eastern Michigan and then rebounding for a home court win over Western Michigan.

Players of the Week
The MAC announced its choices for players of the week for games played from February 5-10, 2008:

MAC East Player of the Week:
Andy Robinson, G, Buffalo
Buffalo junior guard Andy Robinson became the first member of the Bulls to receive MAC East Player of the Week honors after Robinson averaged 21 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3.5 steals this past week. In the Bulls' 89-81 win over Northern Illinois on February 5, Robinson registered a career-high 35 points, shooting 13-18 from the field. Against Eastern Michigan, in the Bulls' 68-64 triumph on February 10, Robinson recorded four steals and two blocked shots.

**Kent State is 14-0 at home, setting a school record for home victories in a season, and is one win away from their tenth straight twenty-win season.

**Miami has won five straight games, their longest winning streak since winning seven in a row in 2005-2006.

**Ohio has won ten straight home games dating back to last season.

**Akron is 12-0 at home this season.

**Western Michigan's Joe Reitz was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first team for the third straight year.

**Northern Illinois freshman guard Darion Anderson has registered double figures in scoring in five straight games, averaging 15.6 points per game.

MAC Individual Statistical Leaders (through February 10, 2008)

This Week's MAC Schedule

Tuesday, February 12
Kent State at Central Michigan, 7:00 pm
Miami at Western Michigan, 7:00 pm
Northern Illinois at Akron, 8:00 pm

Wednesday, February 13
Bowling Green at Eastern Michigan, 7:00 pm
Ball State at Buffalo, 7:00 pm
Ohio at Toledo, 7:00 pm

Saturday, February 16
Akron at Bowling Green, 2:00 pm
Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan, 2:00 pm
Ohio at Kent State, 3:00 pm
Miami at Buffalo, 7:00 pm

Sunday, February 17
Toledo at Ball State, 2:00 pm
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois, 3:00 pm

Note: All times local