2026 MAC men's basketball tournament
| 2026 MAC men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2025–26 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Site | Rocket Arena Cleveland, Ohio |
| Television | ESPN2, CBSSN, ESPN+ |
MAC men's basketball tournaments | |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 22 Miami (OH) | 14 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 27 | – | 0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Akron | 13 | – | 1 | .929 | 22 | – | 5 | .815 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kent State | 11 | – | 3 | .786 | 20 | – | 7 | .741 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohio | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toledo | 7 | – | 6 | .538 | 13 | – | 13 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling Green | 7 | – | 8 | .467 | 16 | – | 12 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 15 | – | 12 | .556 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buffalo | 5 | – | 8 | .385 | 15 | – | 11 | .577 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Illinois | 4 | – | 9 | .308 | 9 | – | 16 | .360 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central Michigan | 4 | – | 9 | .308 | 8 | – | 18 | .308 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Michigan | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 3 | – | 10 | .231 | 9 | – | 17 | .346 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ball State | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 8 | – | 19 | .296 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2026 MAC tournament winner As of February 20, 2026 Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2026 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament will be the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) held March 12–14, 2026.[1] The entire tournament will be played at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.[2]
Format
As with all MAC tournaments since 2021, only the top eight teams will qualify.[3] The winner of the tournament will receive the MAC's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament.[4]
Venue
The 2026 MAC tournament will be held at Rocket Arena for the 27th consecutive season. The venue, located in downtown Cleveland at One Center Court, is the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and has a seating capacity for basketball of 19,432.[5][6]
Seeds
Eight out of the thirteen MAC teams will qualify for the tournament. Teams will be seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[7]
| Seed | School | Conference Record |
Tiebreaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | |||
| 8 | |||
| DNQ | |||
| DNQ | |||
| DNQ | |||
| DNQ | |||
| DNQ |
Schedule
| Session | Game | Time * | Matchup | Score | Attendance | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 12 Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 2 | 1 | 11:00 a.m. | Seed 1 vs. Seed 8 | ESPN+ | |||
| 2 | 1:30 p.m. | Seed 4 vs. Seed 5 | |||||
| 3 | 4:30 p.m. | Seed 2 vs. Seed 7 | |||||
| 4 | 6:30 p.m. | Seed 3 vs. Seed 6 | |||||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 13 Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 4 | 5 | 5:00 p.m. | Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner | CBSSN | |||
| 6 | 7:30 p.m. | Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner | |||||
| Final – Saturday, March 14 Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 6 | 7 | 8:00 p.m. | Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner | ESPN2 | |||
| * Game times in EDT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding. | |||||||
NOTE: The Mid-American Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments are run simultaneously as one event and, as a result, the sessions are numbered consecutively (1, 3 and 5 are women's; 2, 4 and 6 are men's).
Source:
Bracket
| Quarterfinals Thursday, March 12 ESPN+ | Semifinals Friday, March 13 CBSSN | Final Saturday, March 14 ESPN2 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||||||||
Game summaries
Quarterfinal round
ESPN+
|
March 12
TBD |
| Seed 4 vs. Seed 5 | ||
| Game 2 |
Rocket Arena
Cleveland, OH |
ESPN+
|
March 12
TBD |
| Seed 2 vs. Seed 7 | ||
| Game 3 |
Rocket Arena
Cleveland, OH |
ESPN+
|
March 12
TBD |
| Seed 3 vs. Seed 6 | ||
| Game 4 |
Rocket Arena
Cleveland, OH |
Semifinal round
| Quarterfinal round Game 1 winner vs. Quarterfinal round Game 2 winner | ||
| Game 1 |
CBSSN
|
March 13
7:30 p.m. |
| Quarterfinal round Game 3 winner vs. Quarterfinal round Game 4 winner | ||
| Game 2 |
Rocket Arena
Cleveland, OH |
Final round
| Semifinal round Game 1 winner vs. Semifinal round Game 2 winner | ||
| Championship |
See also
References
- ^ "2025-26 MAC Championships" (PDF). Mid-American Conference. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
- ^ "MAC Tournament staying in downtown Cleveland through 2030". Cleveland 19 News. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Adelson, Andrea (May 12, 2020). "MAC curtails basketball schedules, eliminates conference tournaments in other sports". Retrieved August 4, 2025.
- ^ "MAC eliminating and scaling back postseason tournaments". AP. May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- ^ "About". Rocket Arena. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ "A-Z Guide". Rocket Arena. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ "Tie-Breaker Procedures". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 1, 2022.