If a 96-team NCAA tournament was in place right now, the Buffalo Bulls would be one of three Mid-American Conference teams with the requisite RPI rating to be on the bubble for an at-large bid.

But bracket expansion is merely conversation fodder at this point. UB its brethren can’t get into the big dance through the back door any more. Winning the MAC tournament is the only point of entry to the NCAAs.

It’s been over a decade since a school failed to do that and was still asked into the field of 65. The coach of that Miami team, Charlie Coles, years ago realized that multiple MAC bids was a bygone of a different era, that as good as his 1999 team was, it would be relegated to the NIT in 2010.

To Coles, the MAC tournament has become a banquet with 12 hungry guests all eying the same piece of a chicken.

Reggie Witherspoon and his Bulls still don’t know what that Cleveland-style chicken tastes like.

UB began its 11th MAC championship quest Sunday with an opening-round win over No. 12 seed Toledo at Alumni Arena. The fifth-seeded Bulls now meet Coles’ fourth-seeded RedHawks in the quarterfinals at 9:30 tonight at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

It’s a rematch of last Thursday’s final regular season game in Miami, in which UB shot 36 percent, lost 73-62, and missed out on a first round bye.

“We weren’t very good offensively,” Witherspoon said after the game. “We took some rushed shots and that got us completely out of sorts.”

“We’ve got our hands full here and our work cut out for us,” Witherspoon said this week. “They’re a very good team, they’re very balanced, they play extremely hard and we are going to have to raise our level of play to have some success here.”

Coles called the Bulls a “well-coached, high-energy team with a guy who is definitely a candidate for MAC Player of the Year in Rodney Pierce.” He also said that every year, Witherspoon has his team playing better in March than it was earlier in the season.

Two years ago, the Bulls were the bottom seed in the MAC draw, but lost by only one point in a first round game against Miami.

Last year, UB made it all the way to the title game before losing to Akron.

If the Bulls can get by Miami, it’s likely that they’ll face the MAC’s top team, Kent State, in Friday’s semifinal, and after that, a possible rematch with Akron.

Miami, Kent State and Akron are the past three MAC champions. To get the the NCAA tournament, the Bulls may have to best all three.

Coles has one bit of advice.

“The best thing to do, and it’s going to sound a little silly and corny, you have to be rested and you’ve got to be having fun,” he said. “When we’ve done well in the MAC tournament, that’s what has happened.”

Contact at reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.



GAME NIGHT

No. 5 UB (17-11) vs. No. 4 Miami (13-17)

• WHAT: MAC tournament quarterfinal

• WHEN: 9:30 p.m.

• WHERE: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland

• RADIO: WECK 1230

• TV: Time Warner Cable Sportsnet