Under the Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, March 3, 2015: Toledo at Central Michigan

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Toledo at Central Michigan, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3

We have reached the stretch run of the regular season with conference tournament play tipping off tonight and the final regular season games being played this week among all remaining conferences.  Given that every single conference tournament game qualifies as the UTR Game of the Day, as in past seasons, this column will be strictly limited to regular season games.  Tonight, we have a pair of great games in the MAC with first place at stake in both divisions.  In the East, Kent State (10-6, tied for second place) is at Bowling Green (11-5, first place) in a game that could guarantee Bowling Green at least a share of the division title.  The UTR Game of the Day, however, comes from the West Division where Toledo travels to Central Michigan in a battle of the two teams tied for  first place, both at 11-5 in league play.

Toledo enters play today with an overall record of 19-10 and an RPI of 74.  Despite being our preseason pick to win the MAC, the Rockets struggled in non-conference play, losing games to the likes of Oakland and Detroit while failing to score a key win in any of their games against NCAA-tournament at-large caliber teams.  However, the Rockets have been playing much better lately and enter play tonight having won 9 of their last 11 contests.  A win tonight will put them in first place in the West, and if they follow it up with a victory at Eastern Michigan Friday night, they will guarantee themselves one of the two “triple byes” into the conference tournament semifinals.  The Rockets have been led this season by Julius Brown, J.D. Weatherspoon and Justin Drummond.  All three will need to step up their games tonight if they want to score the victory in Mount Pleasant.

The Chippewas of Central Michigan are currently sitting at 21-6 overall with an RPI of 78.  They have been one of the more remarkable turn-around stories in the NCAA this year, after not having posted a winning record since their great 25 win season back in 2002-03 when they advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.  Keno Davis, in his third year at the helm in Mount Pleasant, could arguably be the Coach of the Year in the MAC (though the job that Chris Jans has done in Bowling Green will give him stiff competition for the award).  The Chippewas went 10-1 in non-conference play this year, though against a very weak schedule (non-conference SOS of 279).  However, they served notice on the conference in their very first league game of the season, winning at Toledo on January 6, 65-62.  Further they swept a pair of games from Buffalo this year, and the Bulls hold the highest RPI in the MAC at 31 (though this number appears to be overinflated due to Buffalo having played and lost at Kentucky and at Wisconsin this season).  CMU will be looking for big games from Chris Fowler, Rayshawn Simmons and Braylon Rayson tonight as they look to capture at least a share of the division and overall MAC regular season titles tonight.

 

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One Response to Under the Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, March 3, 2015: Toledo at Central Michigan

  1. Pingback: News, Notes, Championship Week Banter, and Highlighted Games for Tuesday, Mar. 3rd | Hoops HD

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