MAC hoops update: Chippewa men fighting for first round home game
CMU Basketball head coach Keno Davis looks on in the closing seconds of their game against Toledo on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in McGuirk Arena.
College basketball's regular season is in its final week.
With conference tournaments looming throughout the country, the Mid-American Conference race on both the men's and women's side is all but decided.
While the regular-season conference champion on the women's side, Central Michigan, has already been determined, the men's standings are all but finalized with just two games remaining.
Here is a breakdown of Central Michigan's basketball teams and the conference races in the MAC standings.
Note: All records shown are conference records.
Men's basketball
After a 67-63 loss at Eastern Michigan on Saturday, the Chippewas stretched their losing streak to eight games dating back to Feb. 4.
With the loss to the Eagles, CMU fell to 10th in the MAC standings with just two games remaining in the regular season.
As it stands, the Chippewas would travel to Kent State for a first-round game in the MAC Tournament and play for the right to advance to the quarterfinal at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
CMU's final two games are Tuesday at Ball State and Friday at home against Western Michigan.
The chances of the Chippewas earning a first-round bye is out. Buffalo, the team sitting in the No. 4 seed, is 9-7 MAC and CMU is 6-10.
While it's not impossible for the Chippewas to earn a home game in the first round of the MAC Tournament, they would need help to do so.
First, beating the Cardinals (9-7) and WMU (5-11) is imperative.
Next, CMU needs either Kent State, Toledo or Ohio to lose both of their final games. The Golden Flashes might be the team to do so as they face the teams tied at the top of the standings in Akron and Bowling Green – both the Zips and Falcons are 12-4.
As for the rest of the conference, the top three teams, NIU the third, all have a shot to win at least a share of the regular-season title as the Huskies are 10-6 and face Toledo and Ball State in the final week.
Ball State and Buffalo are tied at 9-7 and the Bulls own a tiebreaker and sit in the coveted No. 4 seed and have the bye to advance to the quarterfinals.
The sixth through tenth seeds are within two games of each other and could be chaotic in the last two games of the season.
Each men's basketball game throughout the conference will be played on Tuesday and Friday.
Women's basketball
Central Michigan (15-1) was dealt its first loss of the conference season on Saturday at Ball State after winning 15-straight games.
The Chippewas have already clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament as the MAC regular season champion. CMU finishes the season at Toledo on Wednesday and home against Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
After the top spot, the Cardinals (12-4) look to clinch the No. 2 seed but face a pair of road games at NIU and Western Michigan.
Ohio and Kent State both sit at 10-6 and occupy the third and fourth seeds. Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan are 9-7 and look to battle to a first-round bye. The Eagles and Broncos face off on Wednesday in Ypsilanti and the winner will have a shot at a bye.
Akron and Buffalo, both of which are 7-9, are slated to host first-round games but play each other on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Toledo (6-10) sits in the No. 9 seed and has a chance to earn a home game in the first round.
Northern Illinois (5-11), Miami (Ohio) (4-12) and Bowling Green (2-14) occupy the Nos. 10, 11 and 12 seeds and will have to travel in the first-round game on the opponent's campus.
The women's games are slated for Wednesday and Saturday.
On both the men's and women's sides, the first-round games are set for Monday.
