#7 Central Michigan vs. #10 Eastern Michigan:

 

This is really a tough game to figure out. Eastern is playing their best basketball all season right now winning 4 in a row (half of their win total) going in to this game. Central has been surging for the last month as well including a come from behind win over rival Western Michigan that earned them a share of the MAC West title. Having a share of the MAC West title is kind of like having a share of Citibank right now with the 3 co champions all well below .500 overall, but it still counts for something when your program has been down as long CMU’s.

 

Eastern won two very close games in the regular season this year against the Chips; one in double OT and the other with clutch free throw shooting in the last few seconds. It is difficult to see those two wins giving the Eagles an advantage in this one since the margin was so razor thin. If anything I feel like the emotional edge is with CMU since it is so difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season. I also like Marcus Vann CMU’s big PF a whole lot. This guy plays a very physical style in the post, one that Eagle forward Brandon Bowdry is often reluctant to play preferring to float on the perimeter and look for chances to fire up a three pointer which he rarely makes. Vann should dominate inside putting pressure on EMU’s inferior backcourt to score which should spell the end of Eastern’s season.  The only chance the Eagles have is if on again off again head case Justin Dobbins shows up and has a big game to counter Vann’s aggressiveness. I just don’t see it happening.

 

My Pick: Central Michigan

 

#6 Kent State vs. #11 Northern Illinois:

 

Kent State is another team that has been playing really well this last month of the season. The Golden Flashes are usually among the elite in this conference however thanks to a coaching change and slow start to the season they were passed up by most of their East division rivals early on and not quite able to recover in time falling one game out of a bye, and being forced to play an extra game this week. Kent also benefits from a sizeable home court advantage in this tournament. Most of their fans and alumni are in metropolitan Cleveland so they usually bring a nice contingent of folks to the Q.

 

Northern Illinois is just a plain lousy team. They do nothing particularly well, and have no sign of improvement from midnight madness through today. They are coached by Ricardo Patton a notorious hot head who provides the only drama in many of NIU’s games as anxious fans wonder if he will be ejected for lighting into an official. This game shouldn’t be close.

 

My Pick: Kent State

 

#8 Western Michigan vs. #9 Ohio

 

After chocking away a 14 point lead and the outright MAC West title (along with the #2 seed and bye into the quarterfinals)in the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s game against Central Michigan the Western Michigan Broncos now draw the only team from the East division that they were able to beat this season in cross divisional play and the only team in the conference playing as bad as they are. This is the only reason I would even entertain the notion of predicting a win for the worst rebounding and worst shooting team in the MAC.

 

David Kool has not been enough to carry this team this season despite some very impressive individual performances, and he won’t be able to carry them through this tournament.  Not with the horrific rebounding efforts they have been famous for this year. I don’t care who they are playing. I don’t care that Ohio got torched by BGSU on Sunday like a team that has quit on their season. I don’t care that WMU beat them by double digits at their place this season. I refuse to pick a team that is as poor on the glass as WMU. Rebounding is more about desire than talent. Western doesn’t have the desire, and that is why they lose.

 

My Pick: Ohio

 

#5 Akron vs. #12 Toledo

 

Along with Kent Akron brings the largest amount of fans into the Q every season which makes this a virtual home game for the Zips. They are going to need all the support they can get after a very emotional loss to Kent State that ended their regular season and cost them a share of the East division title and the #1 seed in this tournament.  They’ll square off against a Toledo team that has been overmatched for much of the season, competing with only a handful of scholarship players. Toledo doesn’t win much away from home either going 1–17 away from Savage Hall. Senior gurard Tyrone Kent can’t do everything although a big game from him might keep it close…for a while.

 

My Pick: Akron

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