For as much growth as Bowling Green’s men’s basketball team has shown in one year, last week shows that
there is still plenty of room to mature.
The Falcons entered the week as the No. 1 team in the Mid-American Conference. They were the team to be
envied. It was a simple formula – win the games they should and sneak by in a couple they maybe
shouldn’t win.
It resulted in a 9-3 MAC record and Bowling Green was in position for an automatic semifinal appearance
in the MAC tournament.
It all came tumbling down with two losses last week – worse yet, both being at home. The formula went
awry. The Falcons lost a game it should have won, on paper anyway, (against Miami) then lost a toss-up
game (against Buffalo).
Now Bowling Green is looking up again, although it is still in good position. It currently sits as the
No. 4 seed if the MAC tournament started today with four winnable, but difficult games ahead.
"It’s been something none of us have went through here at Bowling Green," senior Richaun Holmes
said of playing as the leader of the conference, rather than being the team chasing everybody.
"It’s an adjustment and so far we haven’t adjusted well."
Coming off four straight wins, the first two by a combined six points and the second two by a combined 30
points, Bowling Green seemingly took the night off last Tuesday in a 67-56 loss to Miami.
The Falcons looked sluggish and slow as if they weren’t expecting a top-notch effort from the RedHawks.

It was more of the same Saturday afternoon – at least in the first half – of a 68-56 loss to Buffalo.
Bowling Green dug itself into a 17-point hole in the first half before fighting back to take a brief
second-half lead. But by that time the Falcons had all but run out of gas struggled to the finish.
"When you’re in the bottom of the standings it’s different," Bowling Green coach Chris Jans
said after Saturday’s loss. "When you’re at the top it’s harder. We’re not used to taking people’s
best shot, we’re not used to people playing better because they’re trying to knock you off.
"We’ve been trying to talk to them about how we’re being hunted," he said. "You’ve got
everybody coming after you. We’re taking everybody’s best shot. That’s how athletics work."
Bowling Green now sits alone in second place in the MAC standings, looking ahead at a three-way tie for
first between Kent State, Central Michigan and Toledo. Kent State leads the East, where the top four
teams are separated by two games. Central Michigan and Toledo hold a three-game lead over Western
Michigan in the West.
The Falcons (17-7) still have a viable shot at 20 wins, something that hasn’t been done since the 2001-02
season, and they can easily capture the East division title.
Bowling Green will wrap the regular season at Ohio tonight, at Miami Saturday, home against Kent State on
March 3, and at Buffalo on March 6. Kent State still has Miami and difficult road trips to Buffalo and
Akron to finish the regular season.
"We’ve worked awfully hard to get this year’s team and the program in general …," Jans said.
"We’ve put ourselves in a good position and we haven’t reacted to it very well. There’s some
growing pains going on from top to bottom. We’ve got to regroup and figure out a way to go down to Ohio
Tuesday and get back on the winning track.
"Unfortunately we’re going to have to learn from these mistakes now," he added. "We were
trying to avoid them and get ahead of the game a little bit. It didn’t work. Now we’re going to have to
learn through the mistakes this year and moving forward hopefully and understand that it’s just a
different feel."