Everything that came before was a precursor.
The 30 regular-season games and 18 Mid-American Conference games were precursors.
The same goes for the MAC regular-season championship.
At high noon Wednesday from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland the 2017 MAC regular-season champion Central Michigan Chippewas open play in the Mid-American Conference Tournament where they will take on rival Western Michigan in a quarterfinal contest.
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Coming into the game the Chippewas (23-7, 15-3 MAC) are the top-seeded team in the tournament which means they are also the favorites to win it all and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.