It feels strange to write that headline about Kent State and Miami, who play at 1 p.m. Saturday in Oxford.
The Flashes and Redhawks are tied with the MAC’s second-worst record — 3-11 in the conference and 5-21 overall. But both have played as well as anyone in the league over the last few weeks.
Kent has gone 2-2 in its last four games, and the losses were by a total of three points.
Miami is 3-2 over its last five, including a 69-53 victory in Kent Feb. 11. That game was probably the low point of Kent’s season. It had played well against good teams — Central Michigan, Akron and Ohio — before that but did nothing right after about the first six minutes against Miami.
No team is playing particularly in the conference right now. League-leading Ohio lost at home to Eastern Michigan 10 days ago. MAC West leader Ball State also lost at home to Eastern Wednesday, but Eastern lost at home to Toledo last Saturday. Toledo has won three in a row but lost three in a row before that.
All that turmoil leaves the seeding for the MAC tournament very much up in the air. Ohio (13-2) is pretty much guaranteed the first seed, then comes Ball State at 11-4 and Akron at 10-5. Toledo and Western Michigan are fighting for the last bye at 9-6 while Eastern and Buffalo are 8-7 and Northern Illinois and Central Michigan at 7-8.
If the tournament were today, Kent State would play Eastern or Buffalo, depending on tie breakers. Miami would play the other.
I need to add more about Miami’s team later this evening.
Saturday’s game starts at 1 p.m. and is part of a double header. Miami’s streaking men’s team plays MAC East leading Bowling Green at 3:30. Audio of the game is on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. starts at 12:50. You can get live statistics and video through the Miami website. Video will cost $10.95 for a one-month subscription; you’d need to cancel after the game or it renews automatically.
I did a long response earlier in the day to a good comment by Golden Flash101. You can read the comment and the response here. GoldenFlash101 has been doing great comments all season. You can see them if you scroll down on the same link.