“Uh oh.”

For six seasons, Merchant and Clipfell competed against Miller and his staff when they coached at Eastern Michigan. Now, they have the chance to renew the friendly rivalry when the No. 5-seed Spartans meet the No. 12-seed Falcons at 12:11 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s a really positive relationship,” Merchant said. “We were the premier (team) in the (MAC) West, they were in the (MAC) East. We had a lot of really, really good battles. We won some, they won some, but I always really appreciated his success and his work ethic and what he’s given to the game.”

Clipfell’s text message following Bowling Green’s tournament win was about more than the win. It was to congratulate Miller for the success he’s had with the Falcons — a current streak of six straight MAC regular season championships and four MAC Tournament titles in Miller’s nine seasons.

It’s one thing to win a title one year and then again five years later, Clipfell said. It’s another thing entirely to string championships together.

“It’s really amazing what they’ve been able to maintain over the years,” Clipfell said. “It’s lonely at the top. When you’re at the top, everybody’s going to give you that best effort every single night. That’s why it’s so hard to continue to win championships like they’ve done.”

Miller called the battles between himself and Merchant over the years chess matches, saying they are fun.

“The great news is we know a lot about each other,” Miller said. “The bad news is we know a lot about each other. We talked as a coaching staff that we were so genuinely excited when we got to the NCAA Tournament (because) we were going to play someone who doesn’t know every single thing about our ball-screen. But lo and behold, you draw Michigan State and Suzy knows everything we do with the ball screens, so we lost that potential advantage.”

Merchant and Miller chatted Friday morning following an administrative meeting and Merchant said they text back-and-forth throughout the season.

With all the upsets in the men’s tournament Thursday, Miller said he tried to get Merchant to look ahead to a possible Monday matchup with Kentucky. Merchant didn’t take the bait.

“I tried to goad Suzy into, “Hey, how’s Kentucky look? They’re looking great, aren’t they,’ and in true Suzy form, she says, ‘I haven’t watched a second of Kentucky, you know I’ve only watched you and spent all my time preparing for you,’” Miller said. “We’re not going to get Suzy to overlook us.

“Now she’s got a rallying cry to say, ‘Look what happened yesterday in the men’s tournament.’ But we weren’t going to get that from Suzy anyway. I’m trying to get her attention on Kentucky but she won’t bite.”

Miller said when both were in the MAC, the relationship could get a bit “awkward” at times. Usually, the MAC only sends one team to the NCAA Tournament, so it sometimes was a bitter fight to get that bid.

“All the years that we played against each other, all the battles,” Miller said. “Obviously when she was in the MAC, we were two of the best teams in the MAC, so we were fighting for championships, so there was that competitive rivalry. We really wanted to beat each other, but it was a fun rivalry and a really respectful rivalry.”

Now, this only will be the the second time the two have met on the court since Merchant became head coach at MSU following the 2006-07 season. The two are 6-6 against each other all time.

“Obviously when you’re not playing the same person night-in and night-out it changes the relationship a little bit,” Merchant said.

In tournament action, Merchant’s Eastern Michigan squad beat Miller’s Falcons in the 2004 MAC Tournament championship game and in the 2003 first round. Miller returned the favor, knocking the Eagles out of the MAC Tournament in the semifinals in 2004-05 and again in 2006-07. Merchant got the best of Miller in her only game against Bowling Green while at MSU, a 74-66 win in the 2008 WNIT.

Still, that familiarity didn’t have Merchant and Clipfell scouring through boxes of old scouting reports from their Eastern Michigan days.

“Curt’s a great coach,” Merchant said. “He does similar things, but he tweaks every year what they do a little bit to accommodate some of their strengths of their team offensively and defensively. It isn’t about years past. They do a lot of ball-screen action like they’ve always done. That’s their M.O. You’ve got defend the arc and the lane line.”

Although Merchant’s career path has taken her away from the MAC and into the Big Ten, it could’ve been the other way around. Miller was a candidate for the MSU job after Joanne P. McCallie bolted for Duke following the 2006-07 season. That postseason, Miller led Bowling Green to two NCAA Tournament wins in East Lansing, including a victory against No. 2-seed Vanderbilt that got the Falcons into the Sweet 16.

“When the job opened and Suzy got it, they treated me really well during that opening and I’ll never forget the opportunity and how they treated me during that search,” Miller said. “I really, really appreciated it.”

MSU senior associate athletics director/senior women’s administrator Shelley Appelbaum, who oversees the women’s basketball program and also is an alumnae of Bowling Green and a former senior women’s administrator there, said Miller has put his mark on the Falcons program.

“Any time you watch quality people in the profession, you help each other whenever you can,” Appelbaum said.

“We want to continue to wish him well whether it’s at Bowling Green or elsewhere.”

Merchant said the two didn’t talk much about the job opening.

“I feel fortunate to be the coach at Michigan State and am very appreciate about the opportunity,” Merchant said.

Although the two teams will compete for their seasons Saturday, Miller said he really believes MSU is the sleeper team for the Final Four, a sign of respect for what Merchant has accomplished in her three seasons at MSU.

Even with the mutual respect shown for each other by both coaching staffs and the relationships that have developed, when the ball tips Saturday, it’ll be just like another MAC Championship at Gund Arena in Cleveland.

“It’s certainly been a long and healthy rivalry,” Clipfell said.