The 2018 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Tournament first-round games were held on campus sites at the higher seed on March 5. The remaining rounds were held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio between March 8–10, 2018. Regular-season champion Buffalo defeated Toledo in the championship game to win the tournament and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. There they defeated Arizona before losing to Kentucky.
Seeds All 12 MAC teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top four teams will receive a bye to quarterfinals.
Seed School Conferencerecord Division Tiebreaker 1 Buffalo 15–3 East 2 Toledo 13–5 West 3 Eastern Michigan 11–7 West 4 Ball State 10–8 West 5Kent State 9–9 East1–0 vs. WMU 6Western Michigan 9–9 West0–1 vs. KSU 7Miami (OH) 8–10 East 8Central Michigan 7–11 West3–0 vs. tied teams (2–0 vs. Ohio, 1–0 vs. BGSU) 9Bowling Green 7–11 East1–2 vs. tied teams (1–1 vs. Ohio, 0–1 vs. CMU) 10Ohio 7–11 East1–3 vs. tied teams (1–1 vs. BGSU, 0–2 vs. CMU) 11Akron 6–12 East1–0 vs. NIU 12Northern Illinois 6–12 West0–1 vs. Akron
Schedule Game Time Matchup Score Television First round – Monday March 5 – Campus sites 1 7:00 pm No. 9 Bowling Green at No. 8 Central Michigan 77–81OT ESPN3 2 7:00 pm No. 12 Northern Illinois at No. 5 Kent State 59–61 ESPN3 3 7:00 pm No. 10 Ohio at No. 7 Miami (OH) 55–68 ESPN3 4 7:45 pm No. 11 Akron at No. 6 Western Michigan 79–78 ESPN3 Quarterfinals – Thursday March 8 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH 5 12:00 pm No. 8 Central Michigan vs. No. 1 Buffalo 74–89 BCSNESPN3 6 2:30 pm No. 5 Kent State vs. No. 4 Ball State 76–73 7 6:30 pm No. 7 Miami (OH) vs. No. 2 Toledo69–71 8 9:00 pm No. 11 Akron vs. No. 3 Eastern Michigan58–67 Semifinals – Friday March 9 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH 9 6:30 pm No. 5 Kent State vs. No. 1 Buffalo61–78 CBSSN 10 9:00 pm No. 3 Eastern Michigan vs. No. 2 Toledo63–64 Championship – Saturday March 10 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH 11 7:00 pm No. 2 Toledo vs. No. 1 Buffalo66–76 ESPN2 Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed
Bracket
* denotes overtime period
All-Tournament Team Tournament MVP – Wes Clark, Buffalo Player TeamMarreon JacksonToledoJaelan SanfordToledoJeremy HarrisBuffaloWes ClarkBuffaloPaul JacksonEastern Michigan
References