2009 MAC men's basketball tournament

The 2009 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2008–2009 season. The winner of the tournament receives the MAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament. Fifth-seeded Akron defeated Buffalo in the final. In the NCAA tournament they lost in the first round to Gonzaga.[1][2]

2009 MAC men's basketball tournament
Logo for the 2009 Mid-American Conference tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2008–09
Teams12
SiteQuicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
ChampionsAkron Zips (1st title)
Winning coachKeith Dambrot (1st title)
MVPNate Linhart (Akron)
TelevisionESPN2, Fox Sports Net
MAC men's basketball tournaments
← 2008
2010 →

Format

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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 tie-breakers:

  • Head-to-head competition
  • Winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division, vs. common opponents regardless of the number of times played)
  • Coin flip

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.

Bracket

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2008–09 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
East
Bowling Green 11 5   .688 19 14   .576
Buffalo 11 5   .688 21 12   .636
Miami 10 6   .625 17 13   .567
Akron 10 6   .625 23 13   .639
Kent State 10 6   .625 19 15   .559
Ohio 7 9   .438 15 17   .469
West
Ball State 7 9   .438 14 17   .452
Central Michigan 7 9   .438 12 19   .387
Western Michigan 7 9   .438 10 21   .323
Eastern Michigan 6 10   .375 8 24   .250
Northern Illinois 5 11   .313 10 20   .333
Toledo 5 11   .313 7 25   .219
Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll
First round
Tuesday, March 10
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 12
Semifinals
Friday, March 13
Final
Saturday, March 14
            
1 Bowling Green 74
9 Ohio 61
8 Western Michigan 55
9 Ohio 62
1 Bowling Green 55
5 Akron 63
4 Miami (OH) 63
5 Akron 73
5 Akron 93*
12 Toledo 92
5 Akron 65
3 Buffalo 53
2 Ball State 64*
7 Central Michigan 61
7 Central Michigan 62
10 Eastern Michigan 49
2 Ball State 52
3 Buffalo 64
3 Buffalo 65
6 Kent State 62
6 Kent State 64
11 Northern Illinois 61

* Overtime

Tiebreakers

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Seeds

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

West Division

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Team Record Tiebreaker #1 Tiebreaker #2 Tiebreaker #3
Ball State 7–9 2–2 head-to-head 0–1 vs. #1 BGSU 1–0 vs. #2 Buffalo
Central Michigan 7–9 2–2 head-to-head 0–1 vs. #1 BGSU 0–1 vs. #2 Buffalo
Western Michigan 7–9 2–2 head-to-head 0–1 vs. #1 BGSU 0–1 vs. #2 Buffalo

All-Tournament Team

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Tournament MVPNate Linhart, Akron[3]

Player Team
Nate Linhart Akron
Brett McKnight Akron
Steve McNees Akron
Max Boudreau Buffalo
Nate Miller Bowling Green

References

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  1. ^ "Freshman guard Hitchens sparks Akron to its first NCAA tourney berth since 1986". ESPN. Retrieved May 24, 2022.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Akron challenges, but Zags establish dominance with rally in second". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  3. ^ "ZIPS CLAIM FIRST MAC CHAMPIONSHIP". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved June 5, 2022.