Chippewas can earn first-round bye with win in season finale
Head Coach Keno Davis discusses the Central Michigan University men's basketball team's Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 13 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Central Michigan moved into the top four in the Mid-American Conference with its 65-57 road victory against Ball State and with Buffalo’s loss to Miami Tuesday night.
The Chippewas (17-13, 10-7 MAC) are on a three-game winning streak, with wins against Northern Illinois (19-11, 8-9 MAC), Toledo (17-13, 8-9 MAC) and now Ball State (19-11, 10-7 MAC). CMU lost to all three teams earlier in the season.
“I feel like we’re getting hot at the right time,” said junior guard Braylon Rayson. “I feel like all year we’ve been waiting on this moment. Right now, I feel like this is our breakout.”
If the season ended today, CMU would be the second seed in next week's MAC Tournament in Cleveland. Four teams are tied for second at 10-7 in the MAC, including Ohio, Kent State and Ball State.
The Chippewas cannot move above second after Friday’s regular season finale against Western Michigan and can’t drop below sixth place.
CMU needs to top the Broncos (12-18, 6-11 MAC) on Friday to earn a first-round bye. WMU has beaten the Chippewas in the last two meetings, including the 2015 season finale and a 92-85 win over CMU on Feb. 20.
“I’ve tried to play my whole career like it’s senior night,” said senior guard Chris Fowler. “We don’t necessarily want to worry about the seeding. Friday’s our championship game. We’re not going into Friday worried about MAC Tournament seeding.”
The game tips off at 7 p.m. Friday at McGuirk Arena.
The top four teams in the conference earn a first-round bye, while the fifth through eighth seeds host the ninth through 12th seeds in the first round at campus sites.
“If you have to play in, you know that any of those teams that are in the bottom four are winning games right now,” said Head Coach Keno Davis. “They’re winning games on the road, they’re winning games against the top teams in this conference. To be able to stay away from a play-in game would be beneficial.”
In 2015, the Chippewas finished with the top seed and earned a double-bye in the tournament. The change in the MAC Tournament format this season eliminated the double-bye for the top two teams.
Sophomore forward Luke Meyer said the byes last season helped the team rest up.
“It’s almost like a mini-vacation, you get a few days off,” Meyer said. “If we were able to clinch that, it would be huge for being able to get some rest and some time to figure out where we need to go.”
