Most may think tonight's men's basketball game between Mid-American Conference West leader, Ball State, and MAC East leader, Bowling Green, will be one of the bigger matchups of the Mid-American Conference season.
Bowling Green head coach Dan Dakich sees the game a bit differently.
"I don't know that we have played a game that we don't consider big," Dakich said. "When you are in our position, and I'm sure Tim (Buckley) feels the same way, you are fighting for a league championship and fighting to make the tournament. Every game is big.
"It's a long season," Dakich said. "Whether this game is big or not now will be forgotten come Saturday when we play our next game."
Ball State head coach Tim Buckley sees the game in a similar light: each game is as important as the next.
Buckley, however, has a couple areas of concentration when it comes to Wednesday's matchup.
One in particular, and most worrisome for Buckley, is Bowling Green's Keith McLeod. McLeod is the leading scorer in the MAC, averaging 23 points a game.
"The thing that concerns me the most is that he averages 28 points on the road," Buckley said. "He doesn't have any problem coming in somebody else's arena and play really aggressively. He understands their offense very well."
Dakich said coaching the MAC's leading scorer has been a pleasure thus far.
"He has been as good as anybody could hope for so far" he said. "He has done everything we have asked. He hits the big shots."
According to Dakich, Mcleod's ability to score well on the road is "what has made him have a good year."
"A lot of kids can play well at home, but he has had as good of a year as any guard in the country," Dakich said. "He is a tough guy and things just don't really bother him. He's not from Indiana but it's like he is. He loves basketball."
Dakich isn't without worries however having to face Ball State. The player most on Dakich's mind is Ball State's Theron Smith. Smith is the leader in his own category in the MAC statistics: rebounding.
"He is a very good all-around player," Dakich said. "He is doing it within the scope of his offense and team concept, much like McLeod.
"Hell, Ray Charles can see you have to play (Smith) hard and you have to play him tough."
Smith is the leading rebounder in the MAC averaging 11.3 boards a game.
Smith and McLeod come into the contest with more on their resume than just being statistical leaders. Both were named MAC Players of the Week for their respective divisions.
Dakich showed concern for more than Smith - rebounding in general.
"We aren't the greatest rebounding team and we will have to do a job on (Smith) and Jones on the board," Dakich said.
The final and perhaps most intriguing story intertwined in Wednesday's game lies under the basket.
Ball State center, Lonnie Jones, and Bowling Green center, Len Matela, will go to battle one final time.
Jones and Matela will playing each other for approximately the eighth year in a row. Jones and Matela both hail from the Region (northwest Indiana). Matela attended Andrean High School while Jones attended Lew Wallace, both in Gary.
"I've played against Lonnie for about the last eight years," Matela said. "He is a quality person and I always look forward to competing against him."
Dakich shared his own theory on the Jones-Matela matchup - with a decent laugh at the end.
"Jones and Matela have a private agreement that they just let each other score and they deal with it afterwards," Dakich said. "I think there is some kind of Northwest Indiana agreement. You have to sign in blood from the Gary area that you just let each other score. "
Buckley, on the other hand, took the matchup with a bit more seriousness, saying,"(Matela) is an outstanding low post presence that has really improved over the last four years. He is a big key to their basketball team."
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