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The road to a championship
It may seem unlikely, but with Ball State losing to Toledo, Central Michigan in reality controls its own destiny to winning the MAC West Division.
The Chippewas will host Eastern Michigan and Toledo, and both are games that CMU should win. After watching their win over NIU, I expect that same effort at home. The key is the two road games at Ball State and Western Michigan.
Wednesday's game is key as I feel CMU has a better chance to win in Muncie than in Kalamazoo. CMU hasn't competed at Western as of late, so it is hard to expect a win on the road there. But, going 3-1 in their final stretch will put them at 8-8 in MAC play, which certainly could win the West. Wednesday's game is the first big step, and I feel the Chippewas are playing with a lot more confidence to pull this off.
It is hard to believe at 8-16 that Ernie Zeigler may be having his best season as a coach, but I feel this is the case. Had he and his staff not made the adjustment mid-season, Zeigler could be on the hot seat if CMU would have continued to struggle. Instead what we have seen is a team that has competed to the end in every game aside from Akron (which was an impossible scenario to play 36 hours after beating Ohio). Zeigler has made the most out of bad situation and deserves to be applauded for this season.
A lot of people have mentioned "Too bad we don't have Chris and Marko" which I can understand, but had those two not gotten hurt, we may not have seen Marcus emerge this season and we wouldn't have seen the development of guys like Jacolby Hardiman and Jordan Bitzer. Hindsight is always 20/20, but this season to me will really pay off next year when you have a wealth of experience to work with.
CMU still has a lot of work ahead, but if I were on the team, I would feel good about my chances to win the West.
The Chippewas will host Eastern Michigan and Toledo, and both are games that CMU should win. After watching their win over NIU, I expect that same effort at home. The key is the two road games at Ball State and Western Michigan.
Wednesday's game is key as I feel CMU has a better chance to win in Muncie than in Kalamazoo. CMU hasn't competed at Western as of late, so it is hard to expect a win on the road there. But, going 3-1 in their final stretch will put them at 8-8 in MAC play, which certainly could win the West. Wednesday's game is the first big step, and I feel the Chippewas are playing with a lot more confidence to pull this off.
It is hard to believe at 8-16 that Ernie Zeigler may be having his best season as a coach, but I feel this is the case. Had he and his staff not made the adjustment mid-season, Zeigler could be on the hot seat if CMU would have continued to struggle. Instead what we have seen is a team that has competed to the end in every game aside from Akron (which was an impossible scenario to play 36 hours after beating Ohio). Zeigler has made the most out of bad situation and deserves to be applauded for this season.
A lot of people have mentioned "Too bad we don't have Chris and Marko" which I can understand, but had those two not gotten hurt, we may not have seen Marcus emerge this season and we wouldn't have seen the development of guys like Jacolby Hardiman and Jordan Bitzer. Hindsight is always 20/20, but this season to me will really pay off next year when you have a wealth of experience to work with.
CMU still has a lot of work ahead, but if I were on the team, I would feel good about my chances to win the West.
Labels: CMU men's basketball, Ernie Zeigler
posted by Nate Schneider at
1:35 PM
3 Comments:
Just a couple comments Drew...#1 Love the blog...#2 I think we are better with Adrian Hunter than William Eddie at PG...#3 I would rather see Marko and Kellermann with more wins than worry about other players development...#4 Any word on what led to McMahon's departure?
Bob,
1. Thanks for reading. 2. Hunter is a better overall player, but I feel Eddie is the better ball handler to play the point. Adrian is more of a shooter than a ball handler. 3. I can understand your point on Marko and Chris, but my point is we can't live thinking what if, because we can't assume Van would be playing this well if Marko was on the team. 4. I don't know all the facts with Joe's departure, but I know it had nothing to do with how he played. I am sure it was more in the classroom or perhaps trouble outside of school.
Thanks for the quick feedback Drew, again great job!
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