Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament

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	12
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Quicken Loans Arena
Current location	Cleveland, Ohio
Played	1980–present
Last contest	2015
Current champion	Buffalo Bulls
Most championships	Ball State Cardinals (7)
TV partner(s)	Time Warner Cable Sports Channel, ESPN2
Official website	MAC-Sports.com men's basketball
Sponsors
	FirstEnergy

The Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament is the postseason single-elimination tournament for the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference (MAC). The winner of the tournament receives the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Each of the 12 men's basketball teams in the MAC are eligible for the tournament. Since 2000, the MAC Tournament has been held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The finals are broadcast on ESPN2 and the semi and quarterfinals are broadcast on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.

The tournament was first played in 1980, when it was won by Toledo. Ball State has won the most tournaments with seven.

Format

The MAC announced a new format beginning with the 2012 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament. With the new format, seeding is determined by winning percentage, regardless of conference division. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receive byes straight to the semifinals, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds beginning tournament play in the quarterfinals. Teams seeded 5–12 play an additional two rounds. First round games are played at the home sites of the higher seeds, with the remaining rounds being contested at Quicken Loans Arena.^[1] With the new format, a team seeded fifth or lower has to win four games in six days, while playing five games in eight days, to win the conference tournament. The division winners are guaranteed to receive a seed not lower than four. Previously the division winners were guaranteed a least a No. 2 seed.^[2]

Historical formats

From 2002 through 2011, each of the 12 (13 from 2002-2005) men's basketball teams in the MAC received a berth in the conference tournament. The top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. The winners of each division were awarded the #1 and #2 seeds. The team with the best record of the two received the No. 1 seed. First round games 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. In 2000, the tournament was expanded to four rounds and included all 13 teams in the league. The top three teams received byes into the quarterfinals. In 2002, the tournament field was reduced to 12 teams and the current format was adopted.^[3]

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	Crisler Arena (first round on-campus)	Ann Arbor, Michigan
1982	Northern Illinois	79–75 (OT)	Ball State	Allen Rayhorn, Northern Illinois	Crisler Arena (first round on-campus)	Ann Arbor, Michigan
1983	Ohio	59–56	Bowling Green	John Devereux, 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	Centennial Hall (first round on-campus)	Toledo, Ohio
1989	Ball State	67–65	Kent State	Billy Butts, Ball State	Centennial Hall	Toledo, Ohio
1990	Ball State	78–56	Central Michigan	Billy Butts, Ball State	Cobo Arena	Detroit, Michigan
1991	Eastern Michigan	67–66	Toledo	Marcus Kennedy, Eastern Michigan	Cobo Arena	Detroit, Michigan
1992	Miami	58–57	Ball State	Bill Gillis, Ball State	Cobo Arena	Detroit, Michigan
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)	Columbus, Ohio
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)	Toledo, Ohio
1997	Miami	96–76	Eastern Michigan	Devin Davis, Miami	SeaGate Convention Centre (first round on-campus)	Toledo, Ohio
1998	Eastern Michigan	92–77	Miami	Earl Boykins, Eastern Michigan	SeaGate Convention Centre (first round on-campus)	Toledo, Ohio
1999	Kent State	49–43	Miami	John Whorton, Kent State	SeaGate Convention Centre (first round on-campus)	Toledo, Ohio
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	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2002	Kent State	70–59	Bowling Green	Trevor Huffman, Kent State	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2003	Central Michigan	77–72	Kent State	Chris Kaman, Central Michigan	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2004	Western Michigan	77–66	Kent State	Mike Williams, Western Michigan	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2005	Ohio	80–79 (OT)	Buffalo	Leon Williams, Ohio	Gund Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2006	Kent State	71–66	Toledo	Kevin Warzynski, Kent State	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2007	Miami	53–52	Akron	Tim Pollitz, Miami	Quicken Loans Arena	Cleveland, Ohio
2008	Kent State	74–55	Akron	Haminn Quaintance, Kent State	Quicken Loans Arena	Cleveland, Ohio
2009	Akron	65–53	Buffalo	Nate Linhart, Akron	Quicken Loans Arena	Cleveland, Ohio
2010	Ohio	81–75 (OT)	Akron	Armon Bassett, Ohio	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2011	Akron	66–65 (OT)	Kent State	Zeke Marshall, Akron	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2012	Ohio	64–63	Akron	D. J. Cooper, Ohio	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2013	Akron	65–46	Ohio	Demetrius Treadwell, Akron	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2014	Western Michigan	98–77	Toledo	David Brown, Western Michigan	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio
2015	Buffalo	89–84	Central Michigan	Xavier Ford, Buffalo	Quicken Loans Arena (first round on-campus)	Cleveland, Ohio

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	6	1983, 1985, 1994, 2005, 2010, 2012	33	38	26	.594
Kent State	5	1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008	32	34	27	.557
Miami	4	1984, 1992, 1997, 2007	33	38	28	.576
Eastern Michigan	4	1988, 1991, 1996, 1998	33	25	28	.472
Akron	3	2009, 2011, 2013	17	20	13	.606
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	20	10	18	.357
Buffalo	1	2015	15	11	14	.440
Bowling Green	0	–	32	19	31	.380
Marshall *	0	–	8	5	8	.385

* No longer member of MAC

References

^ http://www.mac-sports.com/News/tabid/969/Article/136246/MAC-Announces-New-Basketball-Tournament-Format.aspx
^ Graham, Couch. "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 24 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
^ http://mac-sports.com/downloads1/360193.pdf^{[dead link]}

External links

[1] ttp://www.mac-sports.com/News/tabid/969/Article/136246/MAC-Announces-New-Basketball-Tournament-Format.aspx

[2] Graham, Couch. "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 24 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[3] ttp://mac-sports.com/downloads1/360193.pdf^{[dead link]}

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v t e Mid-American Conference men's basketball
Teams	Akron Zips Ball State Cardinals Bowling Green Falcons Buffalo Bulls Central Michigan Chippewas Eastern Michigan Eagles Kent State Golden Flashes Miami RedHawks Northern Illinois Huskies Ohio Bobcats Toledo Rockets Western Michigan Broncos
Future teams	UMass Minutemen (joining in 2025)
Championships & awards	MAC tournament Regular season champions Player of the Year
Seasons	1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25