MAC Championship or No Dancing: Toledo's Tournament Hopes Crushed by Northern Illinois

Toledo has been one of the dominant teams in the
MAC this season, but they fell to Northern Illinois
on Wednesday night in DeKalb.
Photo Courtesy: www.toledoblade.com

The Toledo Rockets entered DeKalb, Illinois on Wednesday night with a 23-4 overall record while averaging 81 points per game. Toledo has been near the top of the MAC all season long while Northern Illinois has been near the bottom. However, that didn't stop the Huskies from stunning the Rockets.

Northern Illinois came in as an inconsistent team but put together a stellar performance on both ends of the floor to defeat Toledo, 74-65. The Huskies shot 46% from the field while playing tremendous defense on the other end of the floor as well. Toledo was held sixteen points under their season average in the surprising loss, a loss that ended the Rockets' chances of landing a NCAA automatic-bid. While playing in the MAC, every game is a must-win if you'd like to be playing in the NCAA tournament. However, with Toledo's record now dropping to 11-4 in MAC play, post-season dreams are fading quickly for Tod Kowalcyzk's Rockets. Prior to the loss to the Huskies, Toledo was right on the border between landing a potential at-large bid or being sent packing. Well, with a weak resume as far as big wins are concerned, this loss has sealed the fate for Toledo, they'll need to win the MAC tournament on March 15 in order to receive a NCAA tournament bid.

Toledo is still much in the race to win the MAC tournament in the middle of March but they will no longer have something to fall back on if they lose. Sure, they might land a bid to the NIT, but it will be a conference championship or nothing if Toledo wants to play with the big boys during March Madness. The Rockets will take on Western Michigan this Saturday in a game that has a substantial impact on the MAC West. Western Michigan beat Toledo back in January so the Rockets will look for revenge. The Broncos will enter Savage Arena with a 12-3 conference record while Toledo enters with a conference record of 11-4. However, if the Rockets defeat Western Michigan on Saturday, they will hold the tiebreaker and take over first in the Mid-American Conference once again. The tiebreaker will go off of common-opponents according to Jeremy Guy, the Mid-American Conference communications director, which means Toledo defeated Buffalo while Western Michigan did not. However, that will all be voided if the Rockets cannot defeat Western on Saturday. With the MAC tournament approaching quickly, Saturday's matchup between Toledo and Western Michigan could decide who receives the number one overall seeding in Cleveland.


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