// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was the 2011 MAC men's basketball tournament a blast? It was a ball.

2011 MAC men's basketball tournament
2011 MAC Tournament logo
Classification	Division I
Season	2010–11
Teams	12
Site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Akron Zips (2nd title)
Winning coach	Keith Dambrot (2nd title)
MVP	Zeke Marshall (Akron)
Television	SportsTime Ohio and ESPN2
MAC men's basketball tournaments

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.

2010–11 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Kent State	12	–	4		.750			25	–	12		.676
Miami (OH)	11	–	5		.688			16	–	17		.485
Ohio	9	–	7		.563			19	–	16		.543
Akron †	9	–	7		.563			23	–	13		.639
Bowling Green	8	–	8		.500			14	–	19		.424
Buffalo	8	–	8		.500			20	–	14		.588
West
Western Michigan	11	–	5		.688			21	–	13		.618
Ball State	10	–	6		.625			19	–	13		.594
Central Michigan	7	–	9		.438			10	–	21		.323
Northern Illinois	5	–	11		.313			9	–	21		.300
Eastern Michigan	5	–	11		.313			9	–	22		.290
Toledo	1	–	15		.063			4	–	28		.125
† Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

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:

• Head-to-head competition
• Division record (10 games)
• Winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division, vs. common opponents regardless of the number of times played)
• Coin flip

For multiple team ties:

• Total won-lost record of games played among the tied teams
• Two-team tie-breaker procedure goes into effect

Once a three-team tie has been reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaker will go into effect.

The top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. The winners of each division were awarded the #1 and #2 seeds. The team with the best record of the two received the #1 seed. First round games were played on campus sites at the higher seed. The remaining rounds were held at Quicken Loans Arena.

Bracket

	First round Campus sites March 8					Quarterfinals Quicken Loans Arena March 10					Semifinals Quicken Loans Arena March 11					Championship game Quicken Loans Arena March 12
						1	Kent State	73
						8	Buffalo	62
	8	Buffalo	64
	9	Central Michigan	50
											1	Kent State	79
											4	Ball State	68
						4	Ball State	76*
						5	Ohio	73
	5	Ohio	74
	12	Toledo	57
																1	Kent State	65
																6	Akron	66*
						2	Western Michigan	67
						7	Bowling Green	56
	7	Bowling Green	74
	10	Northern Illinois	54
											2	Western Michigan	68
											6	Akron	79
						3	Miami (OH)	75
						6	Akron	82**
	6	Akron	67
	11	Eastern Michigan	53

Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.

Tiebreakers

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

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.

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

Player	Team
Jarrod Jones	Ball State
Michael Porrini	Kent State
Justin Greene	Kent State
Brett McKnight	Akron
Zeke Marshall	Akron