Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament

Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championship
Sport	Basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Number of teams	8
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Current location	Cleveland, Ohio
Played	1980–present
Last contest	2024
Current champion	Akron Zips (5th)
Most championships	Ball State Cardinals, Kent State Golden Flashes, Ohio Bobcats (7)
TV partner(s)	CBS Sports Network, ESPN2
Official website	getsomemaction.com – Men's basketball
Sponsors
VisitMyrtleBeach.com (2016–2019) FirstEnergy (2009–2015) Kraft Foods (2001–2008)
Host stadiums
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (2000–present) SeaGate Centre (1996–1999) Savage Arena (1985, 1987–1989, 1995) Battelle Hall (1993–1994) Cobo Arena (1990–1992) Rockford MetroCentre (1984, 1986) Crisler Arena (1980–1982)
Host locations
Cleveland, Ohio (2000–present) Toledo, Ohio (1985, 1987–1989, 1995–1999) Columbus, Ohio (1993–1994) Detroit, Michigan (1990–1992) Rockford, Illinois (1984, 1986) On-campus sites (1983) Ann Arbor, Michigan (1980–1982)

The Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament is an NCAA Division I postseason single-elimination tournament. The winner of the tournament receives the Mid-American Conference (MAC) automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. As of 2021, the top eight teams in conference play qualify for the tournament. ^[1] Since 2000, the MAC Tournament has been held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland and is planned to be held there through at least 2030. ^[2] The finals are broadcast on ESPN2 while the semifinals on CBS Sports Network & the quarterfinals are on ESPN+ for streaming.

The tournament was first played in 1980 and expanded to include all conference members in 2000. The tournament continued to involve all conference members (barring postseason bans due to NCAA sanctions) through the 2020 edition, which was canceled in progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, as part of a broader suite of changes to MAC postseason tournaments triggered by the pandemic, the MAC announced it would reduce its men's and women's basketball tournaments to 8 teams, with all qualifying teams playing in Cleveland. Additionally, the MAC eliminated its basketball divisions and increased its conference schedule from 18 to 20 games. These changes will remain in place through at least the 2023–24 season. ^[1] Ball State, Kent State, and Ohio have the most tournament championships with seven.

Format

Seeding for the tournament is determined by winning percentage in conference play; during the era of MAC divisional play, divisional alignment did not figure into tournament seeding. The following tiebreakers are used:

1. Between two teams: A. Head-to-head competition; B. Division Record (only used if the two teams in question are tied for the Division lead); C. Winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division, vs. common opponents regardless of the number of times played); D. Coin flip

2. For multiple (3 or more) team ties: A. Total won-lost record/winning percentage of games played among the tied teams; B. Two (2)-team tie-breaker procedure goes into effect

Historical formats

From 2016 through the abbreviated 2020 edition, all 12 conference members participated in the tournament. The top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals; seeds 5-12 played first-round games at the campus of the higher seed. Winners of the first-round games advanced to face the top four seeds in the quarterfinal round in Cleveland.

From 2012 through 2015, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds received byes straight to the semifinals, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds beginning tournament play in the quarterfinals. Teams seeded 5–12 played an additional two rounds. First round games were played at the home sites of the higher seeds, with the remaining rounds being contested at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, then known as Quicken Loans Arena. ^[3] Under this format, a team seeded fifth or lower had to win four games in six days, while playing five games in eight days, to win the conference tournament. The division winners were guaranteed to receive a seed not lower than four. ^[4]

From 2002 through 2011, the format for the conference tournament was similar to the 2016 through 2020 format. Each conference member received a berth in the tournament, with the top four seeds receiving byes into the quarterfinals. Unlike the current format, division winners were guaranteed at least the No. 2 seed. First round games for seeds 5–12 were played at the home sites of the higher seeds, with the remaining rounds being contested at Quicken Loans Arena.

From 1980 through 1988, seven teams qualified for the three-round tournament. The No. 1 seed received a bye into the semifinals. In 1989, an eighth team was added and each of the teams participated in all three rounds. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to four rounds and included all 13 conference teams. The top three teams received byes into the quarterfinals. ^[5]

Tournament champions

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Tournament MVP	Venue	City
1980	Toledo	85–70	Bowling Green	Jim Swaney, Toledo	Crisler Arena (first round on-campus)	Ann Arbor, Michigan
1981	Ball State	79–66	Northern Illinois	Ray McCallum, Ball State
1982	Northern Illinois	79–75 (OT)	Ball State	Allen Rayhorn, Northern Illinois
1983	Ohio	59–56	Bowling Green	John Devereaux, Ohio	On-campus (championship at Anderson Arena)	Bowling Green, Ohio
1984	Miami	42–40	Kent State	Chuck Stahl, Miami	MetroCentre	Rockford, Illinois
1985	Ohio	74–64	Miami	Ron Harper, Miami	Centennial Hall	Toledo, Ohio
1986	Ball State	87–79	Miami	Dan Palombizio, Ball State	MetroCentre	Rockford, Illinois
1987	Central Michigan	64–63	Kent State	Dan Majerle, Central Michigan	Centennial Hall	Toledo, Ohio
1988	Eastern Michigan	94–80	Ohio	Grant Long, Eastern Michigan
1989	Ball State	67–65	Kent State	Billy Butts, Ball State
1990	Ball State	78–56	Central Michigan		Cobo Arena	Detroit, Michigan
1991	Eastern Michigan	67–66	Toledo	Marcus Kennedy, Eastern Michigan
1992	Miami	58–57	Ball State	Bill Gillis, Ball State
1993	Ball State	79–64	Western Michigan	Steve Payne, Ball State	Battelle Hall	Columbus, Ohio
1994	Ohio	89–66	Miami	Gary Trent, Ohio	Battelle Hall (first round on-campus)
1995	Ball State	77–70	Eastern Michigan	Steve Payne, Ball State	Savage Hall (first round on-campus)	Toledo, Ohio
1996	Eastern Michigan	77–63	Toledo	Brian Tolbert, Eastern Michigan	SeaGate Convention Centre (first round on-campus)
1997	Miami	96–76	Eastern Michigan	Devin Davis, Miami
1998	Eastern Michigan	92–77	Miami	Earl Boykins, Eastern Michigan
1999	Kent State	49–43	Miami	John Whorton, Kent State
2000	Ball State	61–58	Miami	Duane Clemens, Ball State	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2001	Kent State	67–61	Miami	Trevor Huffman, Kent State
2002	Kent State	70–59	Bowling Green
2003	Central Michigan	77–72	Kent State	Chris Kaman, Central Michigan
2004	Western Michigan	77–66	Kent State	Mike Williams, Western Michigan
2005	Ohio	80–79 (OT)	Buffalo	Leon Williams, Ohio
2006	Kent State	71–66	Toledo	Kevin Warzynski, Kent State	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)
2007	Miami	53–52	Akron	Tim Pollitz, Miami	Quicken Loans Arena
2008	Kent State	74–55	Akron	Haminn Quaintance, Kent State
2009	Akron	65–53	Buffalo	Nate Linhart, Akron
2010	Ohio	81–75 (OT)	Akron	Armon Bassett, Ohio	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)
2011	Akron	66–65 (OT)	Kent State	Zeke Marshall, Akron
2012	Ohio	64–63	Akron	D. J. Cooper, Ohio
2013	Akron	65–46	Ohio	Demetrius Treadwell, Akron
2014	Western Michigan	98–77	Toledo	David Brown, Western Michigan
2015	Buffalo	89–84	Central Michigan	Xavier Ford, Buffalo
2016	Buffalo	64–61	Akron	Willie Conner, Buffalo
2017	Kent State	70–65	Akron	Jaylin Walker, Kent State
2018	Buffalo	76–66	Toledo	Wes Clark, Buffalo
2019	Buffalo	87–73	Bowling Green	Jeremy Harris, Buffalo [6]
2020	Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic [7]				Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
2021	Ohio	84–69	Buffalo	Jason Preston, Ohio [8]
2022	Akron	75–55	Kent State	Enrique Freeman, Akron [9]
2023	Kent State	93–78	Toledo	Sincere Carry, Kent State
2024	Akron	62–61	Kent State	Enrique Freeman, Akron
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030

Performance by school

School	Championships	Winning years	Appearances	W	L	Pct
Ball State	7	1981, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2000	33	37	27	.578
Ohio	7	1983, 1985, 1994, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2021	33	38	26	.594
Kent State	7	1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2023	32	34	27	.557
Akron	5	2009, 2011, 2013, 2022, 2024	17	20	13	.606
Miami	4	1984, 1992, 1997, 2007	33	38	28	.576
Eastern Michigan	4	1988, 1991, 1996, 1998	33	25	28	.472
Buffalo	4	2015, 2016, 2018, 2019	15	11	14	.440
Central Michigan	2	1987, 2003	22	14	20	.412
Western Michigan	2	2004, 2014	29	20	29	.408
Toledo	1	1980	30	26	28	.481
Northern Illinois	1	1982	21	11	18	.379
Bowling Green	0	–	32	19	31	.380
Marshall *	0	–	8	5	8	.385

* No longer member of MAC

Broadcasters

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
2024	ESPN2	Eric Rothman	Mark Adams
2023		Robert Lee	David Padgett
2022			Mark Wise
2021		Jason Benetti	Jon Crispin
2020		Roy Philpott	David Padgett
2019		Robert Lee	Julianne Viani
2018		Clay Matvick	Rob Kennedy
2017		Mike Morgan	Chris Spatola
2016
2015		Bob Wischusen	LaPhonso Ellis
2014
2013			Stephen Bardo
2012 [10]
2011 [11]
2010 [12]		Ron Franklin	Mark Adams
2009 [13]		Bob Wischusen
2008 [14]		Jon Sciambi
2007 [15]		Michael Reghi

See also

• Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament

References

1. Strack, Jordan (May 12, 2020). "Major changes coming to Mid-American Conference". Toledo, OH: WTOL . Retrieved May 12, 2020.
2. "MAC Tournament staying in downtown Cleveland through 2030". Cleveland 19 News. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
3. "MAC Announces New Basketball Tournament Format". Mid-American Conference. August 18, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
4. Graham, Couch (August 18, 2011). "MAC changes its basketball tournament format, adds emphasis to regular season and protects teams with NCAA tournament at-large chances". Kalamazoo Gazette. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
5. "Mid-American Conference Record Book" (PDF). Mid American Conference. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
6. "Late Run Sends Top-Seeded Buffalo Past BGSU in Championship Game". BGSU Athletics. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
7. Wright, Branson (March 12, 2020). "Mid-American Conference cancels basketball tournament in Cleveland because of coronavirus concerns". The Plain Dealer . Retrieved March 12, 2020.
8. "Bobcats Win First MAC Championship Since 2012". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
9. "Akron Takes Home MAC Tournament Title". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
10. Humes, Michael (2012-02-27). "Championship Week: Coverage of a Record 137 Men's Games Begins March 1". ESPN MediaZone. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
11. Humes, Michael (2011-02-28). "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule". ESPN MediaZone. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
12. "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4". ESPN MediaZone. 2010-03-02. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
13. "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 5". ESPN MediaZone. 2009-02-26. Archived from the original on 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
14. http://www.espnmediazone.com/press_releases/2008_03_mar/20080303_ChampionshipWeek.htm%5B%5D
15. "What to Watch: College Basketball Lovers Rejoice". MySanAntonio. 2007-03-02. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-03-01.