Hey ya'll, MAC Football season is almost here and... what is this? MAC basketball news? The MAC suits up basketball squads? I know, it was news to me too.

Anyways, the big news is that the #1 and #2 seeds in the tournament will advance to the SEMI-FINALS of the MAC tournament. That means they will have to win 2 games to win the glorious MAC Championship of basketball. #3 and #4 seeds will advance to the QUARTERFINALS.

That means if you're a #5 ranked NIU team, the Huskies will have to win a first round game against the lowest seed AT HOME, then travel to Cleveland for the second round against some other hack team. THEN they finally get to face yet another lower-seeded team until they FINALLY get to play a #3 or #4 seed. THEN they get to play a #1 or #2 seed that has just been chilling in Cleveland this whole team to get to the Championship. Sorry, but what? That's insane.

The positives

The actual top-2 teams will actually be the top-2 teams in the division, instead of the almost ludicrous MAC East #1 and MAC West #2. Everybody knows that the East balls circles around whatever lowly teams just so happen to hang out in that OTHER division.

The MAC regular season will matter more. Whoopty doo. Since the MAC West and East don't matter in seeding anymore, then why are there still divisions? It just seems silly to me plus if any MAC West team is halfway decent (unlikely) they'll have a really good shot at making the championship game with a terrible SOS.

The tourney team will most definitely have earned their spot at the table. Who knows how Kent State would have done in the tourney the past two years? We don't know because really low seeded-teams like Akron and Ohio beat them out to win the bid to the tourney. No way with this new format that either the Zips or the Bobcats would have made it. Not even that OU team that beat Georgetown in the first round.

Final Thoughts

Props to THE DOC Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher on making this happen. This will make me hate following the MAC regular season a lot less than I do right now. Hopefully NIU can make a run earlier than later in this soft MAC West basketball division.

The change is crazy, but it just might work in the end. Not a bad idea for a conference that has basically fallen off the face of the earth. Could two bids be in our future? Well let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

Oh and NIU hasn't won a single MAC tourney game since 2003.

It's been quite the offseason for Mark Montgomery's Northern Illinois Huskies in terms of excitement coming to the court in the very near future.

It was in question for a little bit whether the star of NIU's 2011 recruiting class Abel Nader was going to be able to qualify for the Huskies for this upcoming season, but the Niles North grad is 100% joining the team this fall.

Grades are what kept a lot of schools away from Nader, but Montgomery kept his recruitment going of the Top-10 player in Illinois. (Fellow recruit Dre Henley is 18th on the list). Nader is 6'7" 195 lbs and averaged 23.8 points/8.6 rebounds over his senior year.

Here are a few choice quotes from the article:

"(Nader) is a talented offensive playmaker, who has the ability to play multiple positions and has unlimited shooting range," Montgomery said. "Abdel is an exceptionally versatile player who had the ability to score in a variety of ways. He can score off the dribble, catch-and-shoot and can score both inside an outside."

"(The rise of mid-majors) definitely appeals to me," Nader said. "Also, my main goal is to play in the NBA someday and my mentality is that if I’m good enough, they’ll sign me. They don’t care what college you go to."

After the jump we'll talk about yet another big man for the future.

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The Huskies basketball program is starting to finalize its roster and coaching staff for next year.  This past week, new Head Coach Mark Montgomery received commitments from 3 high school players and hired his last assistant coach.

From Brooks Prep in Chicago, Montgomery was able to get commitments from twin brothers Keith and Kevin Gray.  Montgomery was also able to get a commitment from Saginaw High School guard Marquavis Ford, and his former head coach Lou Dawkins, who will be joining the staff as an assistant coach.

After the jump, I will take a closer look at the new Huskies.

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The college basketball season is over, so it is time for football to take over the headlines.  Meanwhile, I will try to keep Huskie fans updated on important basketball news throughout the summer.

Here is what has been going on in the world of NIU basketball for the past few weeks (after the jump).

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The rosters for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) were released on Friday, but Northern Illinois' Xavier Silas name was nowhere to be found. 

Red and Black Attack has learned through the website DraftExpress.com that Silas will not be participating in this year's PIT due to injury.  The injury at this time is unknown, but I suspect it is the same ankle sprain that shut down his senior season.

Silas has been projected by some draft experts as a possible secound-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft.  Silas has the prototypical height (6'5") and shooting skills that NBA scouts look for.  He is currently training in Las Vegas.

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Meet Mark Montgomery, Northern Illinois new men's basketball coach.  The former Michigan State Spartan point guard and assistant coach will try to clean up the mess left by Hurricane Patton over the last 4 years. 

Montgomery has the daunting task of resuscitating a program that has been deteriorating over the last decade and half.  During that time, NIU has lacked in almost everything there is to lack: wins, talent, fans, pride, basketball fundamentals, excitement, defense and consistency.  Although, we did lead the conference in excuses and players getting kicked out of the program.  

So is Montgomery the right man to clean up this holy mess?

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