Going for 2-0

In two days, I watched two men's basketball games with a grand total of five overtime sessions. After sitting through the Falcons' double overtime win at Buffalo Saturday night, sitting on a bus through the night and getting back to Bowling Green around 4:30 in the morning, I made sure I got up in time to watch Ohio and Miami play three overtimes in a thriller. Looking around the league this year, it sure looks like MAC fans could be in for a special season.

Is the talent level around the MAC what it was back in the "glory days"? Probably not right now. But the difference in the talent level of teams across the MAC is razor thin. Nobody can take a day off and nobody can just walk into an arena and pick up a win. It's going to be a crazy regular season and it will probably be an even crazier three days in Cleveland at the MAC Tournament.

And there is a LOT of young talent in this league right now. Bowling Green has a number of freshmen and sophomores contributing and playing key roles. We just saw a kid at Buffalo who was very impressive in freshman Javon McCrea. Central Michigan's got Trey Zeigler. Akron's got Zeke Marshall. Ohio's got D.J. Cooper.

Right now is a great time to start following BGSU basketball closely if you aren't. There's a lot of young talent on this team, they move into a new arena next year, and the MAC seems to be a conference that is going to have a lot of individual talent in the next few years.

I'm excited to see how the Falcons play tomorrow night. Going into the M.A.C. Center and getting a win is never easy but Bowling Green did it a year ago and actually has four wins in that arena in the last eight years (I would venture a guess that only Kent State has won more games in the M.A.C. Center during that stretch). The win at Buffalo was big. Four straight wins now. Two road wins in a row. And all of that despite making just one three-pointer in the last two games and going 11-of-24 at the free-throw line last game. If this team improves in those two areas the way it has in other areas over the past month, things will get really interesting.

Follow the Falcons Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on BGSUFalcons.com. Live stats and live audio are both available there. It will be great to see if this team can get off to a 2-0 start in MAC play, something nobody would have imagined a few weeks ago.