As Cedric Jackson has gone, so has Cleveland State. On Friday night, that proved to be a good thing in light of what Jackson did against Wake Forest.

Akron was in control for a lot of the game against Gonzaga, and for good reason. But the Bulldogs got their sense of urgency and came alive, and ended the Zips’ season in Portland.

It was thought to be a rebuilding year at Akron with all the youth the Zips have. But after Saturday night’s win in the MAC championship game behind a well-balanced attack, the Zips are off to the NCAA Tournament.

In a back-and-forth game, Akron had enough to hold off a great second half by Nate Miller and Bowling Green to advance to the MAC title game.

Sometimes what’s predictable happens exactly as predicted. For much of the evening the Buffalo Bulls doubled the Ball State Cardinals on the boards, with the rebounds evenly distributed up and down the roster. The end result would mirror that, as the Bulls move on to the MAC championship.

Trailing by ten early and without a true point guard on the floor, it didn’t look good for Akron. But a couple of unexpected players picked up the slack, got the Zips back to life and sparked a quarterfinal victory.

Buffalo was stronger on the glass than Kent State, but couldn’t shake them for much of the afternoon. It took one last defensive stop for them to hand on for the quarterfinal.

The matchup of Ball State and Central Michigan was one of contrasting styles. In the end, the athletic and guard-oriented Cardinals came out on top in overtime.

It took a couple of extra games and a road trip, as well as a big game from someone who had his struggles, but Cleveland State took home the Horizon League title on Tuesday night.

The young Akron Zips have gone through quite a season, with a lot of youth and a change in personnel plans along the way. It also included a good coaching job to get a 19-win regular season out of this bunch.

As good as George Mason was, they simply weren’t good enough to stop Eric Maynor, ever-improving Larry Sanders and VCU. The Rams took home the CAA title and are off to the NCAA Tournament once again.

Towson was right there with George Mason in attempting to continue its surprise run through the CAA Tournament. But the Patriots finished with a 17-5 run to move on to the title game against VCU.

Old Dominion struggled again from the perimeter and didn’t get a big effort Gerald Lee. That gave Eric Maynor and VCU a chance in the second half, and they took full advantage of it.

Some of us used to call Old Dominion junior center Gerald Lee soft, not finishing as strong as he might at the goal, not dominating down the stretch, not winning the biggest of games. Not anymore, not after the way he led his team into the CAA semifinals.

Towson pulled off one upset at the CAA Tournament, just like last year. This time around, they added a quarterfinal win as well.

Known for defense, Wright State came out of the gates hot on offense. Then they showed their trademark defense to take over the game en route to a win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Tonight’s second Horizon League quarterfinal game between No. 3 Cleveland State and No.7 Illinois-Chicago turned into a shootout between UIC’s all-league senior and conference second leading scorer Josh Mayo, and theViking’s budding star sophomore guard Norris Cole.

The 6-7 game figured to be the best of the four first round games in the Horizon Tournament. It saw the 15-14 UIC Flames in the seventh spot (7-11 in conference), with early wins at Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, visiting the improved 11-18 Youngstown State Penguins in the sixth spot (also 7-11 in conference, but with two head-to-head wins over the Flames serving as the tiebreaker).

The regular season ended with some close contests. Jay looks back at some of them, then looks ahead to the league tournament and also looks at the postseason awards.

Catching you up on happenings in the Horizon League, Jay looks at battles for the coveted double byes in the tournament, as well as a few middling teams hoping to host a home game. A few bottom teams have had their moments of late as well.