2016-17 MAC Men’s Basketball Live Thread: January 3

The opening night of the MAC season in shooty hoops is tonight, and we’ve got a pretty strong slate of games starting off with Buffalo making its way to Toledo at 6 p.m. The Bulls have been up-and-down all season long while the Rockets have shown spurts of brilliance but also lacked consistency. The contest should show us a lot about both squads.

Next, we have five games in the 7 p.m. time slot starting with Northern Illinois heading east to square off with Miami in a battle of two inconsistent clubs so far this season. Akron hosts Bowling Green also, which is a really rough opener for the Falcons as they look to establish an identity in 2016-17.

Ohio invites Western Michigan to the Convo in what should be a competitive game as the Bobcats have shown some weaknesses and the Broncos have shown to be a tough out this year despite their record. Highlighting the evening are the games between Ball State and Kent State as well as Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan. BSU and KSU should be a close, defensive battle while the nation’s leading scorer Marcus Keene plays his first MAC game of the season against a hard-nosed Eagles team.

With this great slate of games tonight, it’s time to hop down in the comments below and talk about our favorite teams as well as rejoice at the return of #MACsketball.