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Today marks the start of the 2014 MAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament Semifinals, in Cleveland.
We've played worked our way through 16 games already (eight per gender) and so far, the upsets have been rare. The men just had their first upset of the Tournament Thursday night when No. 6 EMU knocked off No. 3 Buffalo. For the women we've had a pair already, No. 9 NIU beating No. 8 EMU in the opening round, and then No. 5 Ball State beating No. 4 Buffalo in the quarterfinals.
The semifinals are where the real challenges begin. With the MAC tournament giving the top 2 seeds direct byes until the semis, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams (well rested) take the floor for the first time today. On the women's side that means two dominant teams that both ran through the MAC regular season at full speed, plowing over everyone in their way are getting to face two teams they're favored over.
Top-seeded Bowling Green and Ball State started things off today, and we're actually already underway in this one. Then it's the No. 2 seed CMU Chippewas vs. No. 3 Akron. The Chips are without Crystal Bradford, making them ripe for the plucking, and Ball State has been red hot since the tournament started, blowing out all three of its opponents to this point, so BG isn't safe either.
On the men's side it's No. 4 Akron vs. No. 1 WMU tonight at 6:30 p.m. and No. 6 EMU, fresh off it's upset of the Bulls, vs No. 2 Toledo in a giant clash of style. For Akron and WMU it's the first time this season these two teams will meet, but EMU and Toledo have meet twice already, splitting the series.
We'll be live chatting the action throughout, as we'll have multiple people on press row today for all the MACtion. So join us as we get ready for the upsets.