Hooray for the Lady RedHawks!

Tonight, Quicken Loans Arena is an NBA venue again, as the Cavaliers are about to tip off against Charlotte. But yesterday, it was the place where dreams came true for the Miami RedHawks women's basketball team, and then the Kent State Golden Flashes men.

First, the Miami women used an 11-0 run in the second half to polish off the Ohio Bobcats, 67-56, behind 19 points each from MAC Tournament MVP Amanda Jackson and teammate Jenna Schone. That 11-0 run started with the game tied at 41, and apart from that period of the game, the two southern Ohio teams played to a tie. The Miami men have made the NCAA tournament a number of times, getting as far as the Sweet Sixteen (1999, behind Wally Szczerbiak). But the Miami women will make their first appearance this year.

Kent State has become the MAC's premier men's program over the last few years, and further affirmed that with its commanding 74-55 win over Akron last night. Conference MVP Al Fisher did some acrobatic flips after the final buzzer, as the Flashes celebrated their fifth MAC Tournament title. It was fun to see, even though I was kind of rooting for Akron because that likely would have gotten two MAC schools into the tourney.

Lady RedHawks and Gentleman Flashes, may you go far. You're six wins away from a national championship.

Can't stop Kent State

There were four games played at The Q yesterday, and three of them came down to fantastic finishes. The Miami Lady RedHawks pulled out a last-minute 70-66 win against Toledo, with Toledo-area native Laura Markwood hitting a big shot with 32.1 seconds left to break a 66-66 tie. They'll play Ohio at 1 p.m. today, after the Lady Bobcats needed double-overtime to beat Bowling Green yesterday, 68-66; Quintana Ward was the last-shot hero in that one. I did not see either of those games, as they were played while I was at work, but the title game is on Fox Sports Net. It should be a hum-dinger. Miami comes in at 22-10, Ohio at 20-12, and these are historic rivals. Being a Miami grad myself, I'm obviously biased, but whoever wins, I hope they go deep into the NCAA Tournament.

Akron easily handled Western Michigan last night, 73-62. The game was not as close as the final score indicates. The Zips will play Kent State in tonight's final, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, after Kent beat Miami 49-47 last night. Now THAT was one HECK of a college basketball game. Both teams played tough, tough defense throughout. It came down to the closing seconds. Kent's Al Fisher hit a running jumper with three seconds left. Miami's Tim Pollitz had a good look at a close shot at the buzzer, but he left it short.

Bless his heart, Pollitz collapsed in disappointment as he saw his shot go off the front of the rim, and the cameras caught him moping off the court afterward. On Sunday, in Miami's last home game of the year, Pollitz, a senior, bent down and kissed the RedHawk in the center of the floor as he was leaving the court for the last time. It was both very touching and a little gross. The 17-15 RedHawks are obviously not going to get into the NCAA Tournament, and have to be considered a longshot even for the NIT, which means Pollitz's brilliant Miami career is probably over. I can understand that he'd feel bad about ending his career on a missed shot that would have sent the game to overtime. But hold your head up, Tim. You've got a lot to be proud of -- not least of which is a fine Miami University education.

So anyway, it's an all-southern Ohio women's final this afternoon, and an all-northeast Ohio men's final tonight. I'm predicting the Miami women and Kent men will get the automatic NCAA bids, but I will not be surprised if either or both is upset.

Incidentally, of the 12 schools in the Mid-American Conference, exactly half are in Ohio. And yet, of the eight teams that reached the semifinals between the two genders, seven were from Ohio -- and the one team that was not from Ohio was the one team that did not manage to hang in. I might point out that Miami is the only school that had both its teams reach the semifinals, but I'll leave that to the reader to figure out.

MAC tourney heats up at Q

I'm a Miami (Ohio) graduate, and I heard some smack talk from some of my Ohio U. grad co-workers yesterday leading up to last night's quarterfinal between the two teams at Quicken Loans Arena. But the smack's going to go in the other direction after the RedHawks' 74-61 win. Michael Bramos was the key, putting in 23 points, and Miami closed the game with an 11-2 run to send the Bobcats back to Athens.

For those of you who don't know, Miami and Ohio consider each other their arch rivals. It's no Ohio State-Michigan, but it is the two oldest schools in Ohio, and we do hate each other, albeit in a fairly good-natured way. It seems like we meet up in the MAC tourney every year somehow, and the games haven't always gone as I'd like. So enjoy this one, Miami fans; it could go the other way next year.

Our opponents tonight at 9:30 on Fox Sports Ohio? Top-seeded Kent State, now 26-6 after easily dispatching Toledo yesterday, 77-57. (Miami's 17-14, if you were wondering.) Kent's got a darned good team, and could make some serious noise in the NCAA tournament. I'm hearing the Flashes might not get in if they don't win the MAC, which seems ridiculous to me, but that almost makes me want to root for them against my own school tonight. But not quite.

In the other bracket, second-seeded Western Michigan, behind 24 points from David Kool (yes, that's his name), took care of Eastern Michigan, 70-61; though it was a tougher game than expected.

The Broncos (20-11) will play the Akron Zips (22-9) in the 7:00 game tonight, after Akron's easy 81-60 win over Central Michigan yesterday. Kent is certainly the class of the MAC this year, but I could certainly envision either of these teams pulling off an upset in the final on Saturday, assuming Kent gets past Miami tonight.