 CLEVELAND - Four missed connections, lost luggage and 25 hours without sleep, but it was still worth it to be back in Cleveland for the Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament. Oklahoma -- my new home -- is a long way from MAC territory and coming back feels like a family reunion.
It's great to see all of the folks at the MAC office again, chat with the coaches and renew acquaintances with the folks who cover the MAC beat.
Yeah sure, I know everybody has complained about the quality of hoops this season in the MAC but it’s a little like that golf analogy -- even a bad day on the course is better than a good day at work. And folks, it's a good day.
We can all recognize the MAC has struggled this year, but watch these kids pour their hearts and soul into these games and you can overlook some of the shortcomings. This tournament means hoops life and death and while the results may not be pretty to watch, the effort is beyond question.
Paging Rick Chyrst …
Rick Chryst, for my money the best commissioner this conference has ever had, is in the final few weeks of his ten-year run as commish and seems to be keeping a pretty low profile. Hopefully we can get a few words with him before his run as commissioner is over and get his thoughts on matters.
It is very easy for fans to point their fingers at Chryst since he is the most visible person in the MAC but unless this conference's presidents wake-up and do what is necessary to improve athletics overall, and folks there are no more than 2-3 who get it, things are not going to experience a dramatic change. The commissioner's hands are tied without appropriate support from the conference's presidents.
Chryst's tenure has seen the MAC grow across the board in football and hoops. In football the MAC is now a regular participant in postseason bowls, is on TV regularly and the MAC hoops tournament's move to Cleveland continues to be an absolute success.
Q = Success
Have any doubt about the MAC's presence in Cleveland being a positive? Let me share a quick story. Today I was talking to several people around town who were telling me that this is now an annual event that the entire family looks forward to attending. These are people with no direct connection to any of the MAC schools, but have become college hoops fans courtesy of the MAC's annual tournament and as anybody who follows the MAC knows, cultivating a fan base in Big Ten territory has not been an easy accomplishment.
These are exactly the kind of fans the MAC needs to cultivate and we are talking too of families with kids who will likely grow up as MAC fans.
Class acts
Unless you have a vested rooting interest, it is hard to root against any of the four head coaches who have guided their teams into the tournament semifinals. All have arrived here with a story to tell.
Before the arrival of Keith Dambrot, Akron really had no tradition in hoops. Since his arrival the Zips have established themselves as perennial contenders and this year Dambrot may have turned in his finest coaching effort, taking a team that most thought would be in the lower half of the MAC, and is one game away from what would be the Zips' first MAC title. Besides, the basketball gods owe Dambrot one after the Zips lost to Miami in 2007 on Doug Penno's prayer of a bank shot to claim the MAC title.
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| Is this Akron's year? |
Meanwhile, maybe the quietest of the foursome, Billy Taylor, has done a likewise tremendous job in just his second season. Less than two years removed from the Ronny Thompson debacle at Ball State, Taylor has restored integrity in Muncie and has the Cardinals playing competitively, breathing new life into a program that had been submerged in a sea of muck and grime by his predecessor.
Speaking of comeback programs ... How about the job Reggie Witherspoon did this season at Buffalo? Witherspoon, MAC Report Online's Coach of the Year, was considered by most to be the coach mostly likely to be shown the door after last season's cellar finish and coming off two straight losing seasons. Yet, Witherspoon, whose team was nearly universally chosen for last by most preseason prognosticators, led the Bulls to a share of the MAC East title and a 20-win season that included winning the preseason Rainbow Classic tournament. Witherspoon is now in his tenth season and people forget he had to guide this Bulls program out of a pretty nasty NCAA situation when he took over.
Finally, a serious nod to Louis Orr at Bowling Green, the Coach of the Year as chosen by the MAC News Media Association. Orr has the Falcons playing the best hoops of any squad in the MAC and his demeanor and calm, but firm, resolve restored discipline into the BG program that was lacking after the clownish tenure of former head coach Dan Dakich. Watch the Falcons on the court and you will see a reflection of Orr in the players which may be the best compliment that any one could offer.
Whoever prevails, the MAC's representative in the NCAA tournament will have a great story that can be told.
But I will admit that I do miss some of the outlandish remarks we could always count on from Dakich. Maybe one day we will offer a compilation of his "best" moments. Best being a pejorative term of course.
Tip of the hat
Before I forget, on a personal note, I want to thank our fine staff of writers and photographers who have contributed to MAC Report Online this past season.
While serving my personal banishment in Oklahoma (uh, in case my employer is reading this -- I am just kidding, really), they have been able to keep MRO current and topical. Thanks therefore to Jack Carle of the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribue as well as J. Scott Fitzwater, Ray Mernagh, Evan Meyer, Nate Thompson and Mike Smith for all of their efforts and to the freelancers who have contributed as well. Without you guys, we wouldn't be the number one independent source for MAC news. Which is not just a slogan, but a fact.
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