Feb. 24, 2006

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Sunday's Nid-American Conference TV Game of the Week features the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team jockeying for its optimal position in the final standings. Although Wednesday's loss ended Western Michigan University's hopes for a share of the Mid-American Conference West Division title, the Broncos are still interested in building as much momentum as possible for the MAC Postseason Tournament and that means beating Northern Illinois and downing the University of Toledo in the home finale. For NIU's Huskies, two extreme variations are still possible. Should NIU lose to both WMU and in the regular-season finale at Ball State University while Central Michigan finds a way to both beat Toledo and pull an upset at EMU, then the Chippewas knock the Huskies into a MAC tourney first-round road game. Of course, IF Northern Illinois slips past Western Michigan and the Broncos lose their home finale while Ball State also loses at Eastern Michigan, the Huskies could theoretically vault all the way into a tie that could lead to a first-round bye. Of course if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. Simply put, one victory or else one loss by CMU at least locks Northern Illinois into a MAC tourney first-round home game.