Western Michigan Broncos Get Postseason chance in CIT
Dec 20, 2014; Evanston, IL, USA; Western Michigan Broncos guard Austin Richie (22) drives past Northwestern Wildcats guard Bryant McIntosh during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
The Western Michigan Broncos Men’s basketball season didn’t turn out the way they had planned. Their non-conference games went well for the Broncos and it wasn’t until they got into conference play where things got tough for the team. The Mid-American conference was a tough one this season. The Western Michigan Broncos never lost twice to a single MAC team, which was seen throughout the conference. I number one seed in the MAC tournament didn’t end up winning the tournament, the number two seed Buffalo ended up taking it all and making it to the big dance.
Injuries to key players such as Tucker Haymond, Connar Tava and Jared Klein along with the loss of big man Shayne Whittington due to graduation also hurt the team.
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Haymond who has been one of the team’s big scorers and was injured for 2 games, Tava missed three games. While Klein missed far more time only playing in 9 games on the season. While he has never been a starter he has been a productive bench player for the Broncos.
The Broncos also lost big man Shayne Whittington to graduation and throughout the season you could see the team was missing something. They seemed to be missing a big man and a big time leader. Senior David Brown tried to fill throughout the season, while he was a veteran leader, he wasn’t as big as Whittington physically, and he just couldn’t be.
The former Mid-American champions went into this year’s tournament a 6 seed. In the first round they took on the Ohio Bobcats and won 82-74. However the road ended sooner than the Broncos had hoped when they took on Akron in the second round. The team dropped their second round game to Akron in a low scoring affair 58-45.
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So with their season over early the Western Michigan Broncos finished the season 20-13, didn’t make it to the big dance, and then also was not invited to the NIT. So while it seemed like the Broncos might not be playing post-season basketball, they were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, or simply known as the CIT.
The CIT is run a little different from the NCAA and NIT tournaments. For one they don’t have a bracket you can fill out and guess the end winner. There are 32 teams in the field from non-BCS programs, so you won’t see your Big Ten, PAC-12, and SEC schools won’t be here. The tournament runs from March 17th to April 2nd. Also with the ending of each round the teams are shuffled back up and the teams going into a game not really knowing who they are playing. Here is their tournament guide if you want any more information about the CIT.
In their first round of the CIT the Western Michigan Broncos will be taking on the Cleveland State Vikings. The Vikings finished the season 18-14 in the Horizon League and also lost in the second round of their tournament to Valparaiso.
Game information for Western Michigan vs Cleveland State
Time: 7:00pm tonight
Where: University Arena Kalamazoo, Michigan
Next: Take a look at the Michigan MAC regular season round up