Exploring possible seeding situations for Central Michigan men's basketball heading into its season finale
Central Michigan head coach Keno Davis coaches the Men's Basketball Team during a timeout against Trinity Christian Nov. 23 at McGuirk Arena.
As it stands, Central Michigan sits in a fourth-place tie with Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference West Division. If the season ended today, the Chippewas would be the No. 10 seed in the MAC Tournament and travel to face Ohio in the first round.
However, there is still one game left on the schedule. Little has been set in stone within the MAC, with every spot from 1-12 up for grabs in terms of seeding. Just one game separates seventh and 11th place, meaning that each of Friday's games hold importance.
While the Chippewas don't have championship aspirations, they still have a chance to better their seeding. Here are a couple of scenarios that could take place Friday night and how they would impact Central Michigan's tournament seeding as well as the conference as a whole.
Note: Current seedings for each team are in parentheses.
Scenario 1:
Akron (1) over Kent State (6)
Bowling Green (2) over Buffalo (4)
Central Michigan (10) over Western Michigan (11)
Miami (Ohio) (12) over Ohio (8)
Northern Illinois (3) over Ball State (5)
Toledo (7) over Eastern Michigan (9)
What happens: If both Bowling Green and Akron win, the Zips clinch the outright conference title. The top four seeds remain unchanged and Ball State's loss causes it to miss out on capitalizing upon Buffalo's loss. Ball State, Kent State, Toledo and Ohio keep the same seeds and would host first-round games.
The Chippewas would go to Athens, a place where they lost 77-69 on Feb. 18. In doing so, Central Michigan would jump into the No. 9 seed. Eastern Michigan would drop to the No. 12 seed, behind Western Michigan (10) and Miami (Ohio) (11) due to Eastern having the worst record of the round-robin between the three teams.
Here is what the first round would look like in this scenario:
Central Michigan (9) at Ohio (8) (Winner plays Akron)
Western Michigan (10) at Toledo (7) (Winner plays Bowling Green)
Miami (Ohio) (11) at Kent State (6) (Winner plays Northern Illinois)
Eastern Michigan (12) at Ball State (5) (Winner plays Buffalo)
Scenario 2:
Akron over Kent State
Bowling Green over Buffalo
Western Michigan over Central Michigan
Ohio over Miami (Ohio)
Ball State over Northern Illinois
Toledo over Eastern Michigan
What happens: The top two seeds remain unchanged, with Akron and Bowling Green remaining on top of the conference. However, Ball State jumps to the third seed with the win over the Huskies, who dropped to four. Buffalo falls into the fifth seed while Kent State, Toledo and Ohio all keep their same seeds.
Western Michigan takes the nine seed with its win over the Chippewas. With its two losses to Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan drops below the Eagles to the No. 11 seed, ahead of only Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks would drop to 5-13 in the conference with a loss to Ohio.
Here is what the first round would look like in this scenario:
Western Michigan (9) at Ohio (8) (Winner plays Akron)
Eastern Michigan (10) at Toledo (7) (Winner plays Bowling Green)
Central Michigan (11) at Kent State (6) (Winner plays Ball State)
Miami (Ohio) (12) at Buffalo (5) (Winner plays Northern Illinois)
Scenario 3:
Kent State over Akron
Bowling Green over Buffalo
Central Michigan over Western Michigan
Ohio over Miami (Ohio)
Northern Illinois over Ball State
Eastern Michigan over Toledo
What happens: With Akron's loss, Bowling Green takes the top seed in the conference tournament. Northern Illinois would hold the third seed, however, Ball State would jump into the fourth seed, even with the loss. Should this result play out, the Cardinals would finish 10-8 in the conference alongside Buffalo and Kent State. Ball State would take the bye due to having the best record against the other two 10-8 finishers.
Both Ohio and Eastern Michigan would leap Toledo, dropping the Rockets to ninth. The bottom third of the conference would not change, meaning that the Chippewas would finish with the 10 seed ahead of the Broncos and RedHawks.
Here is what the first round would look like in this scenario:
Toledo (9) at Eastern Michigan (8) (Winner plays Bowling Green)
Central Michigan (10) at Ohio (7) (Winner plays Akron)
Western Michigan (11) at Kent State (6) (Winner plays Northern Illinois)
Miami (Ohio) (12) at Buffalo (5) (Winner plays Ball State)
Scenario 4:
Kent State over Akron
Buffalo over Bowling Green
Western Michigan over Central Michigan
Miami (Ohio) over Ohio
Northern Illinois over Ball State
Eastern Michigan over Toledo
What happens: The original top four – Akron, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Buffalo – remain unchanged. Ball State remains in fifth, Kent State stays sixth, Toledo remains seventh and Ohio sits in eighth. Eastern Michigan sits in ninth.
Western Michigan jumps Central Michigan into the No. 10 seed. The Chippewas take the No. 11 seed while Miami (Ohio) remains in 12th.
Here is how the first-round matchups would look in this scenario:
Eastern Michigan (9) at Ohio (8) (Winner plays Akron)
Western Michigan (10) at Toledo (7) (Winner plays Bowling Green)
Central Michigan (11) at Kent State (6) (Winner plays Northern Illinois)
Miami (Ohio) (12) at Ball State (5) (Winner plays Buffalo)
