You never know the outcome in March

Throw out the predictability at conference tournament time.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- There are precious few secrets in the Mid-American Conference, where everybody knows everybody's basketball business.
In recent years, the regular season has followed a familiar, humdrum script: home team usually wins; Kent State racks up 20-plus victories; Miami's defense causes coaches insomnia; Ohio catches a late spark.
Surprises, for the most part, are rare.
Affliction
But it's in March, at tournament time, when all the fun starts. MAC madness, a 72-hour affliction, evens things out.
"On Thursday, all eight teams that walk through the door know they have a great chance to win it," said Kent State coach Jim Christian. "That's why it's always tough."
For the first time since their magical run to the Elite Eight in 2002, the Golden Flashes come to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena as the MAC's regular season champion, the No. 1 seed and the team to beat.
Kent State (22-8) opens play in today's third quarterfinal matchup against No. 8 seed Buffalo (19-12), a team that took the Golden Flashes to two overtimes before losing 111-107 last month.
In the first quarterfinal, No. 7 seed Toledo (18-10) plays No. 2 seed Northern Illinois (17-10), followed by No. 6 seed Western Michigan (14-16) against No. 3 seed Akron (21-8). In the last quarterfinal, defending tournament champion, No. 5 seed Ohio (18-10) plays No. 4 seed Miami (18-9).
No time to breath
The semifinals are Friday night with the championship Saturday.
As is usually is the case, there are six teams capable of winning the MAC tournament and the automatic NCAA berth that goes with it. All it takes is three wins in three days.
Last year, Ohio came in as the No. 4 seed, knocked off Kent State and top-seeded Miami to make the final and then beat Buffalo on freshman Leon Williams' tip-in at the buzzer to win the title.
That experience should help the Bobcats, who were expected to do more this season but have struggled and recently lost sophomore guard Jeremy Fears, who left the program for personal reasons.
"It's a plus to go to Cleveland and know you can win three games in three days," Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said.
With four seniors leading the way, Kent State won its fifth MAC East title in six years. Now, Nate Gerwig, the lone link to the school's 2002 squad, and fellow seniors Kevin Warzynski, Jay Youngblood and DeAndre Haynes have a chance to make their own history.
Seniors rule
"The seniors are the reason we play," said Christian, 86-39 in four seasons at Kent. "It's our program, but it's their team. These guys have overcome so much. At one time or another, each one of them hasn't started. But they all handled it. They have stuck through it."
Akron would appear to have the easiest route to the final. The Zips beat Western Michigan by 14 and 22 points, and handled both Toledo and Northern Illinois -- possible semifinal opponents -- by 17 and 13 points, respectively.