This story has been updated to reflect Ohio as the No. 8 seed in the MAC women's tournament.
Michigan’s schools will have sparse representation at next week’s Mid-American Conference basketball tournaments at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
Under the format adopted by the conference last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, only the top eight teams in the standings will head to the shores of Lake Erie for the women's tournament, which starts Wednesday, and the men's tournament, which begins Thursday.
Central Michigan men? You’re in, despite a 6-12 record in conference play and a 7-22 record overall. Eastern Michigan men and Western Michigan men? Sorry, Eagles and Broncos fans, you’ll be sitting this one out.
Still, it’s a step up from last season, in which all three Michigan men's programs failed to qualify.
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On the women’s side, Western Michigan will be the only Michigan school headed to Cleveland. The Broncos locked up a spot midway through their game against Toledo (which had already clinched the No. 1 seed) when Ohio women lost to Kent State. WMU couldn’t pull off the upset of the Rockets, however, and will be the No. 7 seed, after tying for sixth in the standings. (Bowling Green won the three-team tiebreaker, and WMU edged Kent State in a two-team tie.)The Broncos will face No. 2-seed Buffalo at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
WMU lost its only game against the Bulls this season, falling 71-64 on the road on Feb. 7, in a game rescheduled from mid-January. Reilly Jacobson and Lauren Ross each scored 17 points to lead the Broncos, but Buffalo’s Georgia Woolley, Dyaisha Fair and Summer Hemphill combined for 53 points.
Meanwhile on Saturday, EMU lost to Ball State to fall to 7-20 and 4-16 in the MAC; CMU, last year’s tournament champ, was socked by Northern Illinois in the third quarter to finish at 4-25 and 2-18 in league play. The finish snaps a streak of four NCAA tournament appearances for the Chips.
The EMU men dropped their regular-season finale against Miami (Ohio) on Friday night to fall to 5-15 in conference play and 10-21 overall in coach Stan Heath’s first season at his alma mater. The .322 winning percentage is the school’s worst since the 2010-11 season, the last with Charles Ramsey as coach.
The WMU men also lost Friday, 64-63, to Ball State when Lamar Norman’s 3-point attempt with one second left went awry. The loss dropped the Broncos to 8-23 overall and 4-16 in conference play.
The Eagles and Broncos finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 12-team conference.
But CMU, led by first-year head coach Tony Barbee, rolls on as the No. 8 seed in Cleveland. The Chips’ reward: A matchup with No. 1-seed Toledo, which won Friday night to improve to 25-6 and 17-3 in conference play. CMU lost both games against the Rockets this season, though the most recent one, on Feb. 19 in Toledo, was by only two points.
The Chips will get their shot at revenge at 11 a.m. Thursday (online only via ESPN+); if they upset Toledo, they’ll play in the semifinal at 5 p.m. Friday, broadcast on CBS Sports Network. The men’s final is set for 7:30 p.m. March 12 on ESPN2.
The CMU men haven't won the MAC tournament since 2003, when future NBA lottery pick Chris Kaman prowled the boards in Mount Pleasant. That was, oddly enough, the most recent time the WMU women won the MAC, as a 4-seed led by Casey Rost.
COVID-19 had one final impact on the women's bracket: Ohio beat out Kent State, which finished last in a three-team tiebreaker with WMU and Bowling Greene, for the final spot. Kent State went 10-10 in conference play, while Ohio State went 9-10. Because the two teams had the same number of losses and were separated by one win, tiebreakers wereapplied, and Ohio prevailed based on its 1-1 record against No. 1-seed Toledo (Kent State went 0-1 vs. the Rockets).
Here’s how thebrackets breakdown:
2022 MAC men’s basketball tournament schedule
All games at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
Thursday: Quarterfinals
Game 1: No. 1 Toledo (25-6, 17-3 MAC) vs. No. 8 Central Michigan 7-22, 6-12), 11 a.m.
Game 2: No. 4 Akron (21-9, 14-6) vs. No. 5 Buffalo (19-10, 13-6), approximately 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 2 Kent State (21-9, 16-4) vs. No. 7 Miami (Ohio) (14-17. 8-12), approximately 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Ohio (23-8, 14-6) vs. No. 6 Ball State (14-16, 9-10), approximately 6:30 pm.
Friday: Semifinals
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5 p.m., CBS Sports Network.
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, approximately 7:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network.
Saturday: Final
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2.
2022 MAC women’s basketball tournament schedule
All games at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, broadcast on ESPN+ (online-only) except where noted.
Wednesday: Quarterfinals
Game 1: No. 1 Toledo (24-4, 18-1 MAC) vs. No. 8 Ohio(15-13, 9-10), 11 a.m.
Game 2: No. 4 Ball State (18-11, 11-8) vs. No. 5 Northern Illinois (14-14, 11-9), approximately 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 2 Buffalo (22-8, 16-4) vs. No. 7 Western Michigan (16-13, 10-10), approximately 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Akron (16-10, 13-7) vs. No. 6 Bowling Green (15-14, 10-10), approximately 6:30 pm.
Friday: Semifinals
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 10 a.m.,
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, approximately 12:30 p.m..
Saturday: Final
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 11 a.m., CBS Sports Network.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.
