2018 MAC men's basketball tournament

The 2018 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC).^[2] Tournament first-round games were held on campus sites at the higher seed on March 5. The remaining rounds were held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio between March 8–10, 2018.^[3] Regular-season champion Buffalo defeated Toledo in the championship game to win the tournament and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. There they defeated Arizona before losing to Kentucky.^[4][5]

2018 MAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	12
Site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
First round site	Campus sites
Champions	Buffalo (3rd title)
Winning coach	Nate Oats (2nd title)
MVP	Wes Clark (Buffalo)
Television	CBSSN, ESPN2[1]
MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2017 2019 →

2017–18 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Buffalo †	15	–	3		.833			27	–	9		.750
Kent State	9	–	9		.500			17	–	17		.500
Miami (OH)	8	–	10		.444			16	–	18		.471
Bowling Green	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
Ohio	7	–	11		.389			14	–	17		.452
Akron	6	–	12		.333			14	–	18		.438
West
Toledo	13	–	5		.722			23	–	11		.676
Eastern Michigan	11	–	7		.611			22	–	13		.629
Ball State	10	–	8		.556			19	–	13		.594
Western Michigan	9	–	9		.500			17	–	15		.531
Central Michigan	7	–	11		.389			21	–	15		.583
Northern Illinois	6	–	12		.333			13	–	19		.406
† 2018 MAC tournament winner

Seeds

All 12 MAC teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top four teams will receive a bye to quarterfinals.

Seed	School	Conference record	Division	Tiebreaker
1	Buffalo	15–3	East
2	Toledo	13–5	West
3	Eastern Michigan	11–7	West
4	Ball State	10–8	West
5	Kent State	9–9	East	1–0 vs. WMU
6	Western Michigan	9–9	West	0–1 vs. KSU
7	Miami (OH)	8–10	East
8	Central Michigan	7–11	West	3–0 vs. tied teams (2–0 vs. Ohio, 1–0 vs. BGSU)
9	Bowling Green	7–11	East	1–2 vs. tied teams (1–1 vs. Ohio, 0–1 vs. CMU)
10	Ohio	7–11	East	1–3 vs. tied teams (1–1 vs. BGSU, 0–2 vs. CMU)
11	Akron	6–12	East	1–0 vs. NIU
12	Northern Illinois	6–12	West	0–1 vs. Akron

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television
First round – Monday March 5 – Campus sites
1	7:00 pm	No. 9 Bowling Green at No. 8 Central Michigan	77–81OT	ESPN3
2	7:00 pm	No. 12 Northern Illinois at No. 5 Kent State	59–61	ESPN3
3	7:00 pm	No. 10 Ohio at No. 7 Miami (OH)	55–68	ESPN3
4	7:45 pm	No. 11 Akron at No. 6 Western Michigan	79–78	ESPN3
Quarterfinals – Thursday March 8 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
5	12:00 pm	No. 8 Central Michigan vs. No. 1 Buffalo	74–89	BCSN ESPN3
6	2:30 pm	No. 5 Kent State vs. No. 4 Ball State	76–73
7	6:30 pm	No. 7 Miami (OH) vs. No. 2 Toledo	69–71
8	9:00 pm	No. 11 Akron vs. No. 3 Eastern Michigan	58–67
Semifinals – Friday March 9 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
9	6:30 pm	No. 5 Kent State vs. No. 1 Buffalo	61–78	CBSSN
10	9:00 pm	No. 3 Eastern Michigan vs. No. 2 Toledo	63–64
Championship – Saturday March 10 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
11	7:00 pm	No. 2 Toledo vs. No. 1 Buffalo	66–76	ESPN2
Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Monday, March 5					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 8					Semifinals Friday, March 9					Championship Saturday, March 10
						1	Buffalo	89
						8	Central Michigan	74
	8	Central Michigan	81*
	9	Bowling Green	77
											1	Buffalo	78
											5	Kent State	61
						4	Ball State	73
						5	Kent State	76
	5	Kent State	61
	12	Northern Illinois	59
																1	Buffalo	76
																2	Toledo	66
						2	Toledo	71
						7	Miami (OH)	69
	7	Miami (OH)	68
	10	Ohio	55
											2	Toledo	64
											3	Eastern Michigan	63
						3	Eastern Michigan	67
						11	Akron	58
	6	Western Michigan	78
	11	Akron	79

* denotes overtime period

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Wes Clark, Buffalo^[6]

Player	Team
Marreon Jackson	Toledo
Jaelan Sanford	Toledo
Jeremy Harris	Buffalo
Wes Clark	Buffalo
Paul Jackson	Eastern Michigan