The regular season comes to an end for the Kent State and the rest of the MAC Saturday.
About all that will be decided is minor variations in seeding for the league tournament, which starts Monday at campus sites.
Kent State will definitely play on the road, likely as a 10th seed. If the Flashes win and Eastern Michigan loses, the two will tie and KSU will move up to the ninth seed because it beat Eastern twice in conference play.
If the Flashes sneak into the ninth seed, they’ll play at Northern Illinois, a team that beat them twice. If they finish 10th, they’ll play at Western Michigan or Toledo, with a long shot of playing at Ohio. KSU lost twice to Ohio in the regular season, once to Western and beat Toledo at Toledo in probably its best conference game.
Miami is guaranteed the fourth seed, ending a remarkable season for a team that was picked last in the MAC East. Much as KSU’s Todd Starkey did last season, first-year Miami coach Megan Duffy took pretty much the same lineup from the previous year and turned things around. The Redhawks are 11-6 in the conference and 19-9 overall. Last season they were 5-13 and 11-21.
Kent State has gone the opposite direction. Surprise winners of the East last season with a 13-5 record (19-13 overall), the Flashes are 5-12 and 12-17.
To follow the game
Action starts at 1 p.m. (an hour earlier than most Saturday games).
Video is on ESPN3. You can follow it online if your subscribe to ESPN on cable or on satellite.
Audio starts at about 12:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio and WHLO 640.
Live statistics will be available through the Miami website.
Kent State website, including links to statistics, roster, schedule/results, record book and more.
Preview from the Miami website, including links.
Conference-game only MAC statistics, including standings.