2012 MAC men's basketball tournament

The 2012 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament is the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2011–12 college basketball season. Third-seeded Ohio won the tournament received the MAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament. There they defeated Michigan and South Florida before losing to North Carolina in overtime in the Sweet sixteen.^[1][2][3] DJ Cooper of Ohio was named the tournament MVP.^[4]

2012 MAC men's basketball tournament
2012 MAC Tournament logo
Classification	Division I
Season	2011–12
Teams	12
Site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Ohio Bobcats (6th title)
Winning coach	John Groce (2nd title)
MVP	D. J. Cooper (Ohio)
Attendance	10,301
Television	SportsTime Ohio and ESPN2
MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2011 2013 →

2011–12 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Akron	13	–	3		.813			22	–	12		.647
Buffalo	12	–	4		.750			20	–	11		.645
Ohio†	11	–	5		.688			29	–	8		.784
Kent State	10	–	6		.625			21	–	12		.636
Bowling Green	9	–	7		.563			16	–	16		.500
Miami	5	–	11		.313			9	–	21		.300
West
Eastern Michigan	9	–	7		.563			14	–	18		.438
Toledo	7	–	9		.438			19	–	17		.528
Western Michigan	6	–	10		.375			14	–	20		.412
Ball State	6	–	10		.375			15	–	15		.500
Central Michigan	5	–	11		.313			11	–	21		.344
Northern Illinois	3	–	13		.188			5	–	26		.161
† 2012 MAC tournament winner As of March 23, 2012 Rankings from AP Poll

Format

The format for the conference tournament has been modified for this season.^[5] The new format seeds the tournament by rewarding the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds with a bye into the semifinal round, while the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will receive a bye to the quarterfinal round. Seeding will be determined by winning percentage in conference games, regardless of division. First round games will be played on campus sites at the higher seed. The remaining rounds will be held at Quicken Loans Arena.^[6]

Seeds

Seed	Team	Record	Tiebreaker #1	Tiebreaker #2[7]
1	Akron	13–3
2	Buffalo	12–4
3	Ohio	11–5
4	Kent State	10–6
5	Eastern Michigan	9–7	1–0 vs. BGSU
6	Bowling Green	9–7	0–1 vs. EMU
7	Toledo	7–9
8	Western Michigan	6–10	1–1 vs. BSU	Same record as BSU vs. teams ranked #1–7; 1–0 vs. #10 Miami
9	Ball State	6–10	1–1 vs. WMU	Same record as WMU vs. teams ranked #1–7; 0–1 vs. #10 Miami
10	Miami	5–11	1–0 vs. CMU
11	Central Michigan	5–11	0–1 vs. MIA
12	Northern Illinois	3–13

Bracket

	First round Monday, March 5, 2012					Second round Wednesday, March 7, 2012 STO					Quarterfinals Thursday, Match 8, 2012 STO					Semifinals Friday, March 9, 2012 STO					Championship Game Saturday, March 10, 2012 ESPN2
																1	Akron	78
	12	Northern Illinois	55
											4	Kent State	76			4	Kent State	74
	5	Eastern Michigan	52
						12	Northern Illinois	54			8	Western Michigan	72
						8	Western Michigan	71													1	Akron	63
	9	Ball State	63
																					3	Ohio	64
	8	Western Michigan	69
																2	Buffalo	74
	11	Central Michigan	54
											3	Ohio	65			3	Ohio	77
	6	Bowling Green	53
						11	Central Michigan	72			7	Toledo	57
						7	Toledo	75
	10	Miami (OH)	53
	7	Toledo	60

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – DJ Cooper, Ohio^[8]

Player	Team
Justin Greene	Kent State
Mitchell Watt	Buffalo
Alex Abreu	Akron
Nick Kellogg	Ohio
DJ Cooper	Ohio