2005 MAAC men's basketball tournament

The 2005 MAAC men's basketball tournament was held March 4–7 at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.

2005 MAAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2004–05
Teams	10
Site	HSBC Arena Buffalo, New York
Champions	Niagara (1st title)
Winning coach	Joe Mihalich (1st title)
MVP	Juan Mendez (Niagara)
MAAC men's basketball tournaments

2004–05 MAAC men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Niagara †	13	–	5		.722			20	–	10		.667
Rider	13	–	5		.722			19	–	11		.633
Fairfield	11	–	7		.611			15	–	15		.500
Saint Peter's	10	–	8		.556			15	–	13		.536
Iona	9	–	9		.500			15	–	16		.484
Manhattan	9	–	9		.500			15	–	14		.517
Canisius	8	–	10		.444			11	–	18		.379
Marist	8	–	10		.444			11	–	17		.393
Loyola (MD)	5	–	13		.278			6	–	22		.214
Siena	4	–	14		.222			6	–	24		.200
† 2005 MAAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded Niagara defeated Rider in the championship game, 81–59, to win their first MAAC men's basketball tournament.

The Purple Eagles received an automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA tournament.

Format

All ten of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records.

As the regular-season champion, top seed Niagara received a bye to the semifinals.

Bracket

First round Friday, March 4

Quarterfinals Saturday, March 5

Semifinals Sunday, March 6

Final Monday, March 7

March 6

(1) Niagara

69

(5) Iona

66

March 5

(4) Saint Peter's

73

March 4

(5) Iona

97

(5) Iona

68

March 7

(10) Siena

51

(1) Niagara

81

(2) Rider

59

March 5

(2) Rider

79

March 4

(7) Canisius

59

(7) Canisius

62

March 6

(8) Marist

60

(2) Rider

76

(3) Fairfield

74

March 5

(3) Fairfield

62

March 4

(6) Manhattan

60

(6) Manhattan

88

(9) Loyola (MD)

67