2011 MAC men's basketball tournament explained

Year:2011
Conference:MAC
Division:I
Gender:Men's
Teams:12
Arena:Quicken Loans Arena
City:Cleveland, Ohio
Champions:Akron Zips
Titlecount:2nd
Coach:Keith Dambrot
Coachcount:2nd
Mvp:Zeke Marshall
Mvpteam:Akron
Television:SportsTime Ohio and ESPN2

The 2011 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2010–11 season. Sixth-seeded Akron defeated Kent State in the MAC tournament final in overtime and represented the MAC in the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Notre Dame.[1]

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:[2]

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.[2]

Bracket

Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.

Tiebreakers

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

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.[3]

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.

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Zeke Marshall, Akron[4]

PlayerTeam
Jarrod JonesBall State
Michael PorriniKent State
Justin GreeneKent State
Brett McKnightAkron
Zeke MarshallAkron

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Notre Dame holds off Akron, advances to round of 32. https://web.archive.org/web/20160306130545/http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310770087. dead. March 6, 2016. ESPN.com. June 24, 2014.
  2. Web site: Men's and Women's Tiebreaker Procedures - MAC-Sports.com Official Web Site of the Mid-American Conference . 2011-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110714011822/http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9400&ATCLID=3651224 . 2011-07-14 . dead .
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20110319021140/http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap/_/id/310712309/akron-zips-vs-kent-state-golden-flashes Game recap
  4. Web site: AKRON STUNS KENT STATE, RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT. Mid-American Conference. June 5, 2022.