UMass and the MAC have scheduled a news conference for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., to make the announcement.

According to the Plain Dealer, UMass will begin conference play in 2012, but will not be eligible to play for the MAC championship or in a bowl game until 2013.

The move will create an even number of teams in each division, a goal the conference has had for a while now. Central Michigan Life first reported over the summer that the league was open to expansion.

The Minutemen, members of the Football Championship Subdivision, have played in the Colonial Athletic Association since 2007. They won a national title in 1998 and reached the title game in 1978 and 2006.

Buffalo will play Bowling Green at 1 p.m. Saturday at Anderson Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio, and the winner will have great importance in CMU’s fate, especially if the Chippewas lose. The Bulls have an 8-7 conference record, while BGSU is a game-behind at 7-8.

“We are where we are,” said CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler, who declined to say who he’d rather play in the first round. “We feel good about the fact that we are at home and we have a chance to control what happens to us here in the first round. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Here are the possible scenarios for CMU heading into the conference tournament:

It’s already been well document: If CMU wins, it locks up the No. 8 seed and hosts a first-round game Tuesday night.

• Should CMU win and Buffalo beats Bowling Green, the Chippewas would host BGSU in the first round.
• If the Falcons, losers of six straight, are able to pull off the win, all three teams would be tied with an 8-8 conference record. MAC tiebreakers indicate that the team with the best combined record against the other two (Bowling Green, 2-1) would get the No. 7 seed, while CMU, 1-1 after a 69-64 win against BGSU on Feb. 12, would host Buffalo (1-2).
• A CMU loss Saturday and things get interesting. A loss and Buffalo win still allows the Chippewas to claim the No. 8 seed, who would still host BGSU in a first round tournament game.
• However, a CMU loss coupled with a Bowling Green win would drop the Chippewas to the ninth seed and force them to go to Buffalo for the first round. They suffered their worst conference loss of the season at Buffalo, losing 72-43 to the Bulls on Feb. 8.

Flenard Whitfield

The Mid-American Conference handed WMU junior forward Flenard Whitfield a one-game suspension Thursday, forcing him to miss Saturday’s game against CMU.

The suspension comes after the 6-foot-7, 230 pounder was involved in an incident with Ball State’s Randy Davis during WMU’s 87-70 win Wednesday at University Arena in Kalamazoo. Early in the second half, the pair fell to the ground and a brawl ensued between both teams, during which Whitfield choked Davis.

Conference officials released the following in a statement: “The MAC determined that Whitfield’s actions in the second half during the Ball State contest violated the conference bylaws and sport operating codes section 8.03 (Any person who strikes or physically abuses an official, opposing coach or player).”

Neither player was ejected.

Whitfield ranks second in scoring for WMU, averaging 13.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He was held to six points and three rebounds in the Broncos’ 63-56 win over the Chippewas on Jan. 9 in Kalamazoo.

A win Saturday would give the Broncos sole possession of the MAC West title.

Tip-off between CMU and WMU is 2 p.m. Saturday at McGuirk Arena.

Freshman kicker Paul Mudgett is one of five players that have decided to leave the Chippewas, program officials confirmed Monday. Others include freshman defensive end Joe Wirth, junior running back Nick St. John, sophomore linebacker Kevin Sweet and freshman offensive lineman Kent King.

Sophomore offensive lineman Matt Kanitz has not been medically cleared to return, while junior linebacker Shane Torzy has elected to graduate and not fulfill his final year of eligibility.

Mudgett started the 2010 season as CMU’s starting place kicker, but he went 1-for-4 in the team’s season opener against Hampton and was pulled the following week at Temple after missing a fifth attempt. He did not make another appearance all season.

Kanitz, a 6-foot-6, 275-pounder from Cadillac, appeared in four games last season and will affect the depth of the offensive line.

With this recent crop of players not returning, roster turnover from last season has reached 16.

Back in January, running back Malek Redd requested his release from the program and offensive lineman Aaron Kaczmarski left CMU. Quarterback Derek Rifenbury and offensive linemen Richard Hayes and Jon Czerwienski were not medically cleared to come back.

As of now, Rifenbury plans to stay on with the team as an undergraduate assistant.

Shortly after the 2010 season ended, defensive backs Dannie Bolden and LaVarus Williams, wide receiver Taylor Bradley and defensive end Will Schwarz left the program. Bolden, Williams and Schwarz were handed suspensions of varying lengths last year. CMU head coach Dan Enos never gave a reason for the suspensions.

Terry Samuel

Central Michigan wide receivers coach Terry Samuel is heading to Michigan State, Yahoo/Rivals writer Tom Dienhart tweeted this afternoon.

Samuel’s departure would mark the third assistant under head coach Dan Enos to leave the program after one season. Enos is still searching for a defensive line coach after Tim Daoust left the staff last month.

Quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson left in early January to become the offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Before coming to CMU, Samuel served as wide receivers coach at North Dakota State in 2008 and 2009. He held several different positions at Nebraska-Omaha and spent one season as wide receivers coach at Southeast Missouri State.

CMU finished the 2010 season with a 3-9 record.

Keep checking cm-life.com for more on this developing story. Follow @AaronMcMann and @CMLifeSports for instant news and updates on CMU athletics.

CMU senior forward Jalin Thomas remains questionable with a Grade-2 ankle sprain. Head coach Ernie Zeigler said Wednesday evening that he is “50-50″ for the game. Thomas took part in non-contact drills in practice Wednesday and the team walk through Wednesday evening.

The Oxford (Ohio) Press reports Miami junior forward Julian Mavunga did not practice this week and will not start after suffering an injury to his left foot last week. Mavunga, the RedHawks leading scorer and rebounder, did not play Sunday in the team’s 78-57 loss at Kent State. MU head coach Charlie Coles does, however, expect him to play in the game. He is averaging 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

Freshman guard Quentin Rollins, who also sat out Miami’s game on Sunday, is expected to return to the starting lineup.

Tipoff is 7 p.m. today at McGuirk Arena.

GAME PREVIEW: CMU pushing along, hosts Miami Thursday by Andrew Stover

The announcement marks the third scheduled appearance for CMU on STO. The Chippewas’ Feb. 8 game at Buffalo and Feb. 16 game against Eastern Michigan were already on the network’s schedule.

CMU made two national television appearances on the ESPN family of networks this season, with two more scheduled during MAC play.

The team plays Ball State at 2 p.m. Saturday. They are 4-11 and 1-1 in MAC play.

Follow @CMLifeSports on Twitter for news and updates on CMU athletics.

Kaihla Szunko

The 6-foot-1 senior forward from Saginaw earned Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week honors Monday, the second consecutive week and third time this season she has received the award. A player from CMU has garnered MAC West Player of the Week six times in the last seven weeks.

Szunko became the 20th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 point mark during Wednesday’s 98-73 win against Wichita State, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. She leads the team in scoring (17.4 points per game) and rebounds (11.9 per game) and has recorded a double-double in nine of the team’s first 11 games.

CMU, at 8-3 and winners of five of its last six, wraps up non-conference play at 1 p.m. Friday against Pittsburgh in Mount Pleasant.

Director of Athletics Dave Heeke confirmed Thursday that the Central Michigan football team will open the 2011 season with a home game against Football Championship Subdivision opponent South Carolina State.

Heeke said the game will be played on Sept. 1 – a Thursday night – at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, not Sept. 3, a date reported Wednesday by the Orangeburg, S.C. Times and Democrat.

The game will be the first-ever meeting between both schools and marks the third consecutive season CMU will play its home opener against an FCS team. The Chippewas beat Hampton 33-0 on Sept. 2 in their first game of the season.

South Carolina State, a historically black school in Orangeburg, S.C., plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs finished the 2010 season 9-3 and 7-1 in the MEAC, clinching an FCS playoff berth for the third consecutive season.

Rest of non-conference schedule

The remainder of CMU’s non-conference schedule is already set.

The Chippewas will play the University of Kentucky on Sept. 10, 2011, in Lexington, Ky. They are 0-5 against the Wildcats, last losing 45-36 at Commonwealth Stadium in 2006.

Two years after one of the biggest wins in program history, the team returns to East Lansing on Sept. 24, 2010, for the first of a 4-game “Celebrate the State” series against Michigan State. CMU will return to Spartan Stadium in 2015 and 2018, while the two teams will play at Kelly/Shorts Stadium in 2012.

Already on the 2011 schedule is a game against North Carolina State on Oct. 8, 2011 in Raleigh, N.C. CMU recently entered into a three-game series with N.C. State, with the Wolfpack scheduled to visit Mount Pleasant in 2014.

Complete 2011 CMU football non-conference schedule
Sept. 1: South Carolina State
Sept. 10: at Kentucky
Sept. 24: at Michigan State
Oct. 8: at North Carolina State

Johnson told members of the media after the game that it was like “watching paint dry.”

“I made a comment earlier in the week that practice during finals is like watching paint dry,” Johnson said. “Obviously I was right because this game was like watching paint dry.”

The first half was a struggle for both teams offensively as LSU shot 38.5 percent and CMU an even poorer 27.3 percent from the field. Each committed 10 turnovers, leading to a 23-21 edge for the Tigers at halftime.

With both teams recovering from lengthy breaks because of exams, the offense picked up in the second half. LSU went 10-of-16 from the field and, more importantly, 14-of-19 from the free throw line. Freshman guard Andre Stringer hit six consecutive foul shots down the stretch, giving the home team their first lead of the half and eventual victory.

The Chippewas shot an improved 42.3 percent in the second half, but could not hold on to an 11-point lead. A pair of turnovers in the final two minutes cost them another opportunity at an upset road win.

CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler said multiple times after the game that his team continues to lack “poise” under pressure. The team let a 12-point halftime lead slip away at DePaul on Dec. 5 and held an eight-point advantage against Temple before losing 65-53 in its home opener on Dec. 1.

“Poise is (what) we’ve been lacking here,” Zeigler said. “We had some missed opportunities in transition and our turnovers down the stretch (hurt).”