:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45881432/usa-today-8299270.0.jpg)
Fatigue's a real thing. That's going to be the story line as long as both Akron Zips and Eastern Michigan Eagles are still in this thing, but that's to be expected. No matte who Toledo Rockets and Kent State Golden Flashes were going to play today, they'd both be facing teams that are riding at least a pair of wins since Monday.
Must Reads
Juice Brown and the Rockets, 4-seed, will take on Ray Lee and the Eagles, 8-seed, in a game where anything is possible. As a moderately snobby sports writer, I absolutely hate saying that stupid cliche, but it's true. Those two both met in the regular season where, in both contests, the home team would win by 20+ points. But now they get to play on a neutral site and this Eastern Michigan squad is playing better than they have all season long with a 4-0 record this month.
Noah Robotham, third leading scorer for 7-seed Akron, hasn't played since he suffered a torn ACL against Miami in late February, but the Zips are still fighting. Keith Dambrot is keeping his Zips fighting without two of his top-5 players on the roster at the start of the season, and having to face rival Kent State in a win-or-go-home situation after already splitting the regular season series (Kent State won the season finale over Akron by 2 at home), we should all have goosebumps.