CMU Women Picked to Win the MAC
10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Sue Guevara took it as a compliment, took it in stride.
For the Central Michigan women's basketball coach, the news that the Chippewas were picked in a poll of league coaches to win the Mid-American Conference regular-season title, the West Division, and the league tournament is welcome.
And, forgotten.
"We appreciate the support of our MAC coaches, but let's keep it real," said Guevara, whose team returns four starters from a team that finished 22-11 last season, winning the West and finishing as the MAC Tournament runner-up. "We don't pay attention to preseason polls. It's nice for respect, but we're staying with the process.
"We've got a pretty tough nonconference schedule that will help get us ready for a really tough league schedule. I have a lot of respect for all of the coaches in our league, and to me it's anybody's ball game. We just happen to have a lot of good returning players."
The Chippewas were a unanimous pick to win the West in the poll, which was released on Thursday. Each of the league's 12 head coaches voted in the poll. CMU was named on seven ballots to win the league tournament, and on six to win the overall regular-season crown.
Two Chippewas, sophomore Presley Hudson and junior forward Tinara Moore, were named to the preseason All-MAC West team.
Ohio finished second in both the regular-season and tournament balloting. The Bobcats, who were picked to win the East, received five votes as the regular-season champion and four in the tournament champion voting. Defending MAC Tournament-champion Buffalo received one vote in each poll.
The Chippewas were followed in the West predicted order of finish by Ball State and Toledo, which finished tied for second, and Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.
In the East, Buffalo received three first-place votes and finished second behind Ohio. The Bulls were followed by Akron, Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State.
The Chippewas open at Notre Dame on Friday, Nov. 11, in a first-round preseason WNIT game.
"It's about staying injury free, you've got to get a little lucky, you've got to win some games on the road," Guevara said. "It's going to be a fun year in the MAC. There's a lot of good coaches in this league, a lot of talent in this league. Every game you're going to be in is going to be a dogfight."
