2011 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament

2011 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament

2011 MAC Tournament logo
Classification Division I
Season 201011
Teams 12
Site Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
Champions Akron Zips (2nd title)
Winning coach Keith Dambrot (2nd title)
MVP Zeke Marshall (Akron)
Television SportsTime Ohio and ESPN2
MAC Men's Basketball Tournaments
«2010  2012»

The 2011 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament is the post-season basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2010–11 season. The winner of the tournament receives the MAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

2010–11 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
East
Kent State 12 4   .750     25 12   .676
Miami 11 5   .688     16 17   .485
Ohio 9 7   .563     19 16   .543
Akron 9 7   .563     23 13   .639
Bowling Green 8 8   .500     14 19   .424
Buffalo 8 8   .500     20 14   .588
West
Western Michigan 10 6   .625     21 13   .618
Ball State 10 6   .625     19 13   .594
Central Michigan 7 9   .438     10 21   .323
Northern Illinois 5 11   .313     9 21   .300
Eastern Michigan 5 11   .313     9 22   .290
Toledo 1 15   .063     4 28   .125
Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Format

Each of the 12 men's basketball teams in the MAC receives a berth in the conference tournament. Teams are seeded by conference record with the following two-team tiebreakers:[1]

For multiple team ties:

Once a three-team tie has been reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaker will go into effect.

The top four seeds receive byes into the quarterfinals. The winners of each division are awarded the #1 and #2 seeds. The team with the best record of the two receives the #1 seed. First round games will be played on campus sites at the higher seed. The remaining rounds will be held at Quicken Loans Arena.[1]

Bracket

  First round
Campus sites
March 8
Quarterfinals
Quicken Loans Arena
March 10
Semifinals
Quicken Loans Arena
March 11
Championship game
Quicken Loans Arena
March 12
                                     
        
  1  Kent State 73  
    8  Buffalo 62  
8  Buffalo 64
9  Central Michigan 50  
  1  Kent State 79  
  4  Ball State 68  
        
        
  4  Ball State 76*
    5  Ohio 73  
5  Ohio 74
12  Toledo 57  
  1  Kent State 65
  6  Akron 66*
        
        
  2  Western Michigan 67
    7  Bowling Green 56  
7  Bowling Green 74
10  Northern Illinois 54  
  2  Western Michigan 68
  6  Akron 79  
        
        
  3  Miami 75
    6  Akron 82**  
6  Akron 67
11  Eastern Michigan 53  

Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.

Tiebreakers

Seed Team Record Tiebreaker #1
1 Kent State 12–4
2 Western Michigan 11–5 Division champ
3 Miami 11–5
4 Ball State 10–6
5 Ohio 9–7 2–0 head-to-head
6 Akron 9–7 0–2 head-to-head
7 Bowling Green 8–8 2–0 head-to-head
8 Buffalo 8–8 0–2 head-to-head
9 Central Michigan 7–9
10 Northern Illinois 5–11 2–0 head-to-head
11 Eastern Michigan 5–11 0–2 head-to-head
12 Toledo 1–15

Championship game

In the championship game, Akron defeated Kent State 66–65. Senior Brett McKnight led Akron with 15 points and scored the final two points of the game, hitting two free throws to put his team up by one. With 12 seconds to go in the overtime period, Kent State had the ball and a chance to win, but Zeke Marshall blocked Kent State's first attempt and the second attempt was deflected. As Akron celebrated after the final buzzer, one of the Kent State players, who had laid down on the court in disappointment, was accidentally stepped on by the jumping mob of Akron players, and a slight skirmish broke out after his teammates came to his defense.[2]

The Akron Zips advanced to their third NCAA Tournament of the Division I era. They would go on to lose to Notre Dame in their first game.

References