With just three games to go, it's probably time to set aside the "golf" standings and look race for seedings in next month's MAC Tournament.
The No. 1 seed is decided. Central clinched its fourth straight regular-season championship Wednesday with a 78-60 win overall Western Michigan at home. The Chippewas are 15-0 in the league.
Everything else is contested closely.
Ball State is alone is second place with an 11-4 record. The Cardinals play Central in Muncie on Saturday. Ball State is 8-0 at home; this game may be Central's biggest challenge of the conference season. The Chippewas did rout BSU 66-39 in Mount Pleasant early in the season. Ball State beat Toledo 66-60 Wednesday.
Ohio dropped to third at 10-6 when it lost at last-place Bowling Green 82-68 Wednesday. BG is better than its 2-13 record; the Falcons have lost seven conference games by seven points or fewer, including three in overtime. They host fourth-place Kent State Saturday.
Kent's 68-50 win over Akron moved it into fourth place by itself with a 9-6 record. Suddenly the Flashes are just a game out of third and play Ohio at home next week. If Ball State loses to Central and Kent State wins at BG, the Flashes are just a game out of second. Of course they are also just a game out of sixth.
Eastern and Western Michigan are 8-7 and tied for fifth, a game behind Kent State. The teams play each other next week at Eastern, and Eastern ends the season with a game at Central. Western finishes with Ball State at home. Eastern lost at NIU 65-59 Wednesday.
Toledo, Akron and Buffalo are all two game further back at 6-9. If any of them were to win out, it would have a good chance to tie for fifth, even fourth if KSU lost all of its games. But one of the three is almost certain to finish ninth and have to play on the road in the first round of the tournament. Buffalo beat Miami 88-72 at home Wednesday.
Northern Illinois is 5-10, Miami 4-11 and BG 2-13. All seem destined for road games in the tournament.
The top four teams get a bye into the quarterfinals of the tournament in Cleveland, which are Wednesday, March 11, at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. (That's the new name for Quicken Loans Arena. Both are part of the same company.)
The next four teams host first-round games on Monday, March 9. The fifth-place team plays the 12-place team, six plays 11, etc.
Here's the remain schedule for the league (stolen from a next chart the MAC posts on Twitter). Teams are listed in order they stand now, including tie-breakers.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (15-0, 22-4): At Ball State, at Toledo, Eastern Michigan.
BALL STATE (11-4, 19-8): Central, at Northern Illinois, at Western Michigan.
OHIO (10-5, 17-9): Buffalo, at Kent State, Miami.
KENT STATE (9-6, 16-10): at Bowling Green, Ohio, at Buffalo.
EASTERN MICHIGAN (8-7, 13-13): Toledo, Western, at Central.
WESTERN MICHIGAN (8-7, 15-11): Northern Illinois, at Eastern, Ball State.
TOLEDO (6-9, 11-15): At Eastern, CMU, NIU.
AKRON (6-9, 13-13): at Miami, Buffalo, BG.
BUFFALO (6-9, 15-11): at Ohio, at Akron, Kent State.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (5-10, 9-17)): At Western, Ball State, at Toledo.
MIAMI (4-11, 11-16): Akron, BG, at Ohio.
BOWLING GREEN (2-13, 9-18): Kent State, at Miami, at Akron.
Detailed MAC standings are at
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-baske...onference.
MAC statistics are at
https://getsomemaction.com/stats.aspx?pa...&year=2019