The title of this article sounds like something someone might come up with were they tasked with making a headline that would not elicit any clicks. If you have clicked on it, congrats. You must be a MAC basketball fan. Your friends probably don’t understand why you watch teams with no chance at winning a national championship, but you don’t need to justify your interests to them. We understand you here. Anyway, let’s get on with the list. First some criteria.
We have put together three teams. This is the worst of the three. The teams were assembled based on a player’s talent during his peak season. Players who played in the MAC after or during 1994 were eligible for consideration. This is not meant to be an All-Stats team. We reserve the right to put guys on these teams who never won MAC POY’s, but offer some asset that would help our hypothetical team advance deep in the tournament. With these guidelines in place, we present you our team.
PG: David Kool (Western Michigan, Last Season: 2010)
Known to some as, “Pilot Dave,” Kool won Michigan’s Mr. Basketball award before coming to Western and setting the all-time scoring record. He was named MAC Player of the Year and Rivals’ MAC Player of the Decade. It’s ok, Rivals, we forget about Chris Kaman too sometimes. But anyway, we slid Pilot Dave over to the point for this team because we want his offensive prowess on the floor. He also once signed an Animal Crackers box for me.
SG: Keith Mcleod (Bowling Green, Last Season: 2002)
Mcleod played during the era of MAC basketball right before NBA commissioner, David Stern, banned MAC alumni from playing in his league (not really but it seems like it sometimes.) Mcleod played five seasons in the NBA after averaging 23 in his last season at BGSU. The fact that he played for Dan Dakich, who we are mad at for disproving sabermetrics, will not be held against him. At least not consciously.
SF: Anthony Stacey (Bowling Green, Last Season: 2000)
The Dan Dakich rule applies to Stacey just as it does to Mcleod. Stacey was a 6’4″ small forward who was MAC Player of the Year in 2000. He and Mcleod played together on a BGSU team that made it to the NIT in 2000. We’re hoping the two can bring some chemistry, maybe joke around and keep the team loose before their hypothetical games, we hope they are friends and maybe they stay in touch.
PF: Javon McCrea (Buffalo, Last Season: 2014)
We expect this pick to get a little bit of criticism because the MAC has had some really good 4’s, but we are standing by it. McCrae never played for a great team, but he did win last year’s Player of the Year after posting a very well-rounded and impressive stat line. He averaged 18.5 points, 9.9 rebound, 2.2 blocks, 2.2 assists, and a steal and a half a game. All of this while shooting 56% from the field. He was a banger down low who was also nimble enough to step away from the paint and put the ball on the floor. We think he’s gonna help the club.
C: Zeke Marshall (Akron, Last Season: 2013)
With this selection, it is important to remember the part in the criteria where we said that this was not “an all-stats team.” Zeke never averaged over 15 points a game. He topped out at 13 per game his senior year. This might have been a let down for some fans who expected this 4-star recruit to dominate the MAC. We would argue that he kind of did. He graduated with 368 career blocked shots. This is first in MAC history. Rim protection is very important, and we want some of it, so Zeke is on the squad.
We hope you like our list; not necessarily that you agree with that, though that would be cool, but that you like that we made it. As one might suspect, we will be putting out a 1st and 2nd team in coming days. Whether you agree or disagree with our selections, or if we flat out got some fact wrong, we would love to hear about it in the comments.
EDIT: We previously stated that Romeo Travis is second in MAC blocks. He is not. We were looking at the Akron records.
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