Now that Cleveland State’s dream has flamed out like Travis Hafner’s shoulder after five at-bats, we can turn our attention to the most anticipated week of the year for college basketball fans in the Best Location in the Nation.
Starting Thursday, clear your schedule, put the kids to bed early, and stock up on whatever you usually stock up on before doing something awesome.
’Cause as Mark Morrison would say, it’s time for the Return of the MAC.
Renewing a tradition dating back to when Miami University product Travis Prentice was the Browns’ leading rusher and adorable little Eastern Michigan grad Earl Boykins came home to average 5.3 points per game for the Cavs, the Mid-American Conference will converge upon Cleveland this week for a bacchanalia of mid-major, ESPN2-caliber basketball.
The First Energy Mid-American Conference Basketball Championship Tournament begins Wednesday, March 8 with four first-round games at campus sites. The action then moves to Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday, March 9 with four second-round games, the first one tipping off at noon. The two semifinal games will take place Friday at 7 pm and 9 pm with the Championship Game being held Saturday at 6 p.m. All preliminary games at Quicken Loans Arena will be televised on SportsTime Ohio, and the Championship Game on ESPN.
Two minutes and 27 seconds into the game, Ball State's Malik Perry hit a lay-up that gave the Cardinals a 6-4 lead over home-standing Western Michigan. Only 23 seconds later, Nate Hutchison connected on a 3-pointer to give the Broncos their first lead of the game.
Justin Greene is Kent State's best low-post scoring threat. Randal Holt the Golden Flashes' top outside shooter, Rodriguez Sherman the most athletic playmaker and Carlton Guyton the best at scoring points in bunches.
ESPN college basketball columnist Pat Forde recently took a few heavy-handed shots at the Mid-American Conference in his weekly column (I guess you could call it a column. As usual it is a long, incoherent assortment of pointless ramblings concerning NCAA basketball. Forde must be responsible for a certain number of words each week, so he throws a bunch of speculative drivel in, seemingly to add to the column's length).