What do you think about the MAC?

[Deleted]

Lobdell = Minnesota kid.

I say we use the WAC as the cutoff for majors. WAC and below are 2nd tier.

Geoff Carlson = Minnesota guy.

(R)uffda! = born in Athens.

[vbcat]

If Ohio U. is the pride of the MAC then I don't see them being considered a "top conference". They have won a ton of matches since the new guy took over. But I don't recall them beating anybody of siginifcance - and you can't count low level big ten teams as "significant". Teams like Florida AM should have a legit claim after taking down Nebraska at Neb. But you can't prop their conference just because they had a good showing. MAC volleyball needs to do what MAC football did last year to get any real consideration. They beat good teams from the big conferences on multiple occasions. I would guess Ohio will win the conference and not get seeded in the NCAA's. They just don't have the RPI or quality wins. It seems like the tide is turning back to the big three conferences once again. The WCC won't be getting six teams in the tourney this year!

[Deleted]

Pepperdine was a good win.

That's the Waves only "bad" loss. They may be down, but they are still top 40--and could end up top 20 when everyone is healthy.

I expected OU to drop off this year after whatshername graduated. To their credit, they've been doing alright.

Laura Hageman.

[blob]

I would take a WHOPPER over the MAC. Even a
DOUBLE- DOUBLE W CHEESE is better.

[Dante]

Hi, it's just little ol' me lookin' for some Colonial Athletic Association love...or as us members call it, the CAA.
Hofstra
George Mason
James Madison (JMU)
Delaware
UNC Wilmington
Virginia Commonwealth (VCU)
Towson
William & Mary
Northeastern (joining 2005)
Georgia State (joining 2005)


In terms of the total sports package, we are the top mid-major program in the country...will be adding football in twenty oh six or so. (Our current football playing schools compete in the I-AA Atlantic 10 football league) In volleyball, there is always good competition among the league members, but there hasn't been any recent standouts that could hold their own with one of the big players in VB. We'll see what we can do.

To show your CAA love or to be a voyeur, we have a nice site going at www.CAAZone.com

[Island]

It depends on your point of view. While the big 12 and the big ten have more depth and strength at the top, the Pac-10 is in a down year, the Big West I think will have a good year and the SEC will be better balance wise rather than the stepping stones to Florida's automatic bid. The WCC also still have Santa Clara and St. Mary's looking good. I'd say the power is moving around period, not just moving back to the big three.
I also see teams like Ohio, Wake Forest and EWU as upset pullers.

[Limbo]

To the last poster,

Wake Forest is struggling right now.


About the MAC:

The average rankings for each conference who has ranking averages at least 120 are listed below. This is for the week of October 11th, per RichKern.com:

ACC - 80
Big 12 - 44
Big 10 - 46
Big West - 62
MAC - 112
Mountain West - 107
Pac 10 - 49
SEC - 76
West Coast - 62
WAC - 81

There are 32 total conferences. These are the top 10 overall. All other conferences have an average over the 120 mark. I think the MAC is pretty darn good....definitely above average!

[Limbo]

Marshall's Billingy Named CVU.com National Player Of The Week
Herd freshman recorded career-high 31 kills last weekend against IPFW.

Marshall freshman Kelly-Anne Billingy was named CVU.com National Player of the Week on Tuesday.


Oct. 13, 2004

Release courtesy of Collegiate Volleyball Update
The Collegiate Volleyball Update (CVU.com) is pleased to announce that Marshall freshman outside hitter Kelly-Anne Billingy has been selected as the CVU.com National Player of the Week for Oct. 4 through Oct. 10.

A 6-3 outside hitter from Trincity, Trinidad, Billingy led the Thundering Herd to three victories last week, notching at least 30 kills in two of those wins.

Billingy started the week with a 17-kill, 10-dig performance in four games against West Virginia, but that was just a hint of things to come.

In a Mid-American Conference match Friday at Northern Illinois, Billingy knocked down 30 kills while hitting .297, and added 10 more digs for her second straight double-double.

But she saved the best for last. Saturday at IPFW, Billingy notched a school-record 31 kills on 61 attempts and hit .381 in the four-game match. She had another double-double with 14 digs.

For the week, Billingy had 78 kills while hitting .278, dug out 34 balls, and added nine service aces in 13 games.

[bucky415]

I got to see Northern Illinois-Bowling Green in DeKalb on saturday. It was a decent match, which BG won in four. I was focused more on NIU, so I can't say too much about the Falcons, other than they did have a diverse offense and ran the back slide very effectively against Northern, who really couldn't stop it. The match showed that, no matter what conference you are in, passing is a critical aspect of the game. BG was awful passing in game one and lost 30-21. They then were able to win the next three games, coming from behind in the third game, mainly because their passing improved a lot. NIU couldn't stop BG when they were in system, and that proved to be the key to the match. When the Huskies got down, they couldn't make the runs to come all the way back as a result. I think the MAC is a decent league, although the bad teams are putrid, from what I have seen, mostly 3-4 years ago. The players aren't as big or athletic as the players you see in the Big Ten for the most part, but there are players who could play for "major" conference teams, just maybe not at every position. I think you also tend to see a few more unforced hitting errors. Anyway, I don't think things are looking great for Northern Illinois, a team that made several NCAA appearances under Pete Waite and then one under Todd Kress. They are 7-13 after losing tonight to Oral Roberts. They play in this auxilary gym in the basement of the new Convocation Center. Maybe they won't draw more than 800 fans, which is the listed capacity, but I think they did in 2001 when they were good and played at Evans Field House. At any rate, they can't now. I also don't think it sends a great message to recruits that the program is literally in the basement. They also only have nine players, which doesn't provide much depth. Eight are from northern Illinois, while Tera Lobdell, the only holdover left from the 2001 team, is from Minnesota, as (R)uffda pointed out. Lobdell is really, really good, but she has to carry a lot of the load. She passes in seemingly every rotation and recorded 21 kills on saturday without hitting in a one on one situation that I remember. She has all the shots and has become a really skilled back row attacker. She had 7 errors but could have had a lot more with the amount of difficult attacks she made. She is also a tough position server and a good back row defender. Interestingly, because of her passing and that of the libero, Gina Guide, the Huskies set the middle a ton. Their second leading hitter is a middle, Kate McCullagh. She had a big match on saturday by cutting the ball around the block effectively. I don't recall seeing too many teams that have a middle second on their team in swings. They didn't get much offense from the right or the L2, though. I hope the Huskies can get on a run and put themselves in position to make a run in the MAC tournament. I think BG will be there for sure, but they don't jump out at you, so I don't think they will displace Ohio, a team I have heard is pretty good.

In response to the Billingy post, she is a different kind of player. It takes her some time to get up and off the floor, so her attacks are somewhat predictable, but she is big and hits the ball a ton. She definitely can pose problems for other teams. Wisconsin had the advantage of a lot of tall, athletic players blocking against her and were able to contain, but not stop, her. MAC teams don't have that advantage, so I can certainly see how she could go off on them. I think Marshall is a program on the rise. They beat Cincy in Madison and have won some MAC matches. They also have two other prominent freshmen that I remember. Cahill, an outside, is one of those 5'8" or 5'9" athletic outsides who just look like solid volleyball players. She had a match to forget against the Badgers, but, again, looks like she could be a force in the MAC, especially as she develops her repertoire of hits. Their libero, Arias, is also a freshman. She has this really nasty serve that moves all over the place and was impressive in the back row. I think the Herd might be Thundering in the not too distant future.

[FatsDom69]

I dont think Marshalls win over Cincy is anything that vaults them to higher echelon status. It was an upset win over a struggling team.
The Bearcats showed early their bid to join the Top 25 was premature. The Bearcats were in the middle of a bad slump, TONS of mistakes particularly by the go to players, and they still had Marshall down 2-0 quite easily in Madison. To the Herds credit, they didnt quit but Cincy did. Still,the Bearcats were up 13-9 in 5th game before once again cutting their own throat.
The MAC teams I have seen in the last 2 years (Ohio, W Mich, Ball State, Marshall) are above average teams with some good players, but nothing that vaults them beyond 'mid' IMHO.

[ESTRELLA]

My question after checking the Standings and looking into some history is:

Will Central Michigan, Miami or Buffalo turn the programs around? They seem to be hurting for some time.

Estrella