The Associated Press

Mid-American Conference teams with title aspirations are finding out life in college basketball is never easy on the road.

Friday, January 07, 2000

Mid-American Conference teams with title aspirations are finding out life in college basketball is never easy on the road.

Last Sunday, Marshall put a 10-0 record on the line in its first MAC road game of the season. Bowling Green (10-2 overall, 2-0 conference) went on a 19-0 tear in the first half on its way to an 85-64 victory. Three days later, the Thundering Herd (10-2, 2-2) went on the road again and lost again, this time to Akron, 92-78.

”We played pretty well up until the other night (Sunday),” Marshall coach Greg White said this week. ”I’d like to make an excuse, but they just beat us. When you get to league play, this is a tough place to play.”

Kent (10-1, 2-0) won eight of 13 road games last year – one huge reason why the Golden Flashes won a school-record 23 games – before taking the MAC tournament title on a neutral site in Toledo. This year, Kent is 5-1 on the road, heading into what promises to be a bruising showdown at Marshall on Saturday.

”We play three of our next four games on the road and could get knocked back down to reality,” Kent coach Gary Waters said.

But even he admitted that his team has the chemistry to play well on the road.

”Our kids are very adaptable,” he said. ”That’s the personality they’ve got. Some are more homebodies. … Our kids learned to play without a lot of people coming around (for home games). Now that fans do come out, it doesn’t matter. They can play before crowds rooting for them or not at all.”

All of the games are tough for coach Reggie Witherspoon of Buffalo (2-10, 0-3). After taking over when coach Tim Cohane was fired in December, Witherspoon’s first two games were against North Carolina and Indiana.

”I said we’re going to get the two easy ones out of the way and then get on to the meat of our schedule,” Witherspoon said with a laugh. Buffalo hosts Bowling Green on Saturday.

While Buffalo went 5-24 last year and won just one MAC game, Miami of Ohio was going 24-8 and winning the East Division behind mainstays Wally Szczerbiak and Damon Frierson. Now both have graduated and the RedHawks (5-5, 1-1), who host Ohio (8-6, 1-2) on Saturday, are still trying to build some momentum.

”Our margin of error is not real big this year,” coach Charlie Coles said. ”In fact, it was not very big last year but it’s much smaller this year.”

Ohio’s Bobcats have had their moments, but coach Larry Hunter said they are still a work in progress.

”I think we’re going to be a good, competitive team,” he said. ”But it depends on how we deal with adversity. This team’s not intimidated by anybody. But we have to execute and take care of the ball and shoot better.”

Ball State (10-1, 2-0), which entertains Eastern Michigan (8-3, 2-0), has been a pleasant surprise for coach Ray McCallum. The Cardinals have been led by 6-foot-8 freshman forward Theron Smith, who has wasted little time in becoming one of the MAC’s top all-around performers.

”He’s played extremely well and has been a big key to our success,” McCallum said. ”He’s one of those freshmen who not only scores but also rebounds and plays defense.”

One of Saturday’s top games pits the teams selected in the preseason to win divisional titles. Akron (10-3, 4-0) is at Toledo (7-7, 1-2) in what figures to be an early season measuring stick for a pair of deep and talented programs.

But that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot of room for improvement.

”We haven’t played our best basketball yet, probably due to the way we’re shooting,” Akron coach Dan Hipsher said. ”We play fairly hard defensively, but I still feel we have better play ahead of us. If this is what we are, then we’re going to have a struggle all year because of the strength of the MAC.”

In the other game Saturday, Western Michigan (4-7, 0-2) is at Northern Illinois (7-6, 1-3). Central Michigan (3-9, 0-3) is idle.