Producing a 20-win season would land a majority of big-conference schools into the NCAA Tournament, but for Bowling Green, postseason guarantees are still a long, uphill battle.
BG won its 20th game for the 12th time in school history Wednesday night after manhandling Miami 65-50 in Oxford. The Falcons will go for 21 against Akron Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. tipoff at Anderson Arena. Still, BG is considered a long shot at this point by a number of media sources for receiving an at-large bid.
“Bowling Green’s at-large bid went down the tubes at Toledo,” stated on ESPN.com’s bubble watch. “Bowling Green has good victories over Mississippi, Michigan and Detroit, but are now 9-5 (currently 10-5) in the league and carry a heavy 70 RPI (currently 63) into the final week and a half of the season.”
Two years ago, the Falcons found themselves in a similar predicament with a high win total that wasn’t enough to impress the selection committee.
Captain Anthony Stacey and Dave Esterkamp led the 1999-00 squad to 22 wins during the regular season and a MAC Championship. At the MAC Tournament though, they were eliminated in the first-round by Miami. Come selection Sunday, the Falcons had their bubble burst by the selection committee and settled for an NIT bid.
The Falcons have no time to sit and ponder what might happen in the next couple of weeks. They are in an all-out battle with Ohio to win the No. 3 seed in the MAC Tournament.
Both schools are 10-5 in the conference with BG currently holding the advantage after beating Ohio earlier in the season. Ohio still has games against conference leader Kent State, Toledo and a final showdown with the Falcons March 2 in Athens. The Falcons face Akron Saturday, Buffalo and then the Ohio game.
Akron is in last place in the East Division, but the Falcons know all too well how big the Zips’ bite can be. Akron pulled off one of the biggest upsets in MAC play this year, defeating the Falcons in overtime 87-86 at Akron. Zips senior forward David Falknor was 7-8 from behind the three-point arc.
Stealin’ McLeod
Keith McLeod moved into fifth place all-time on the BG career steals list with 161 after his two steal against Miami with 161. He needs two more to pass former Falcon Antonio Daniels with 162. Also moving his way up is center Len Matela, who moved into 13th on the all-time scoring list with 1,410 points Wednesday.
