Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3
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Conference regular season play gets underway tonight in the Mid-American Conference with a full slate of six games, highlighted by a potential early battle between the top two contenders in the West Division, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan. The Eastern Michigan Eagles entered the season as our pick to win the MAC West, but have only put together an 8-5 record, with four of those wins coming outside of Division I. They are coming off of a home win last week over Long Beach State, in a game where five players scored in double figures. If the Eagles can continue to spread the scoring out, they certainly have the ability to finish at the top of their division and secure a high seed in the MAC tournament in March.
Central Michigan has put together the best overall record amongst MAC West teams, entering conference play at 10-3, though admittedly all ten of their wins have come against teams ranked outside the top 150 at KenPom. Marcus Keene has been close to amazing for the Chippewas so far this year, as he enters the game leading the nation in scoring average at 30.7 points per game. In fact, his average is more than 5 points per game better than the #2 player in the nation (Alec Peters of Valparaiso at 25.0 ppg). If Eastern Michigan is unable to at least slow Keene down tonight, do not be surprised if the Chippewas are able to pull of the road upset and take the early lead in the West Division.