2008 MAC men's basketball tournament

2008 MAC men's basketball tournament
2008 Tournament Logo
ClassificationDivision I
Season2007–08
Teams12
SiteQuicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
ChampionsKent State (5th title)
Winning coachJim Christian (2nd title)
MVPHaminn Quaintance (Kent State)
Top scorerMichael Bramos (Miami (OH))
(50 points)
TelevisionFSN Ohio, ESPN2
MAC men's basketball tournaments
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The 2008 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2007–2008 season. It was won by the #1 seed Kent State Golden Flashes, who defeated their arch-rival and #3 seed Akron Zips 74–55[1] in front of 12,942 fans.[2] Kent State center Haminn Quaintance led all scorers with 16 points and was named the tournament MVP.[3]

The basketball tournament took place March 12 through March 15 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. FSN Ohio televised the quarterfinals and semifinals while ESPN2 broadcast the tournament championship nationally.

Format

Each of the 12 men's basketball teams in the MAC received a berth in the conference tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record with the following tie-breakers:

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

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.

2007–08 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
East
Kent State † 13 – 3   .813 28 – 7   .800
Akron 11 – 5   .688 24 – 11   .686
Ohio 9 – 7   .563 20 – 13   .606
Miami (OH) 9 – 7   .563 17 – 16   .515
Bowling Green 7 – 9   .438 13 – 16   .448
Buffalo 3 – 13   .188 10 – 20   .333
West
Western Michigan 12 – 4   .750 20 – 12   .625
Central Michigan 8 – 8   .500 14 – 17   .452
Eastern Michigan 8 – 8   .500 14 – 17   .452
Toledo 7 – 8   .467 11 – 19   .367
Ball State 5 – 11   .313 6 – 24   .200
Northern Illinois 3 – 12   .200 6 – 22   .214
† 2008 MAC tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Tiebreakers

  • Ohio received No. 4 seed based on 1–1 record vs. No. 1 Kent State; Miami was 0–2 vs. Kent State. Ohio and Miami split the season series 1–1.
  • Central Michigan received No. 6 seed based on 1–0 record vs. No. 3 Akron; EMU was 0–1 vs. Akron. CMU and EMU split the season series 1–1 and had the same record vs. No. 1 Kent State (0–1) and No. 2 WMU (1–1).

Bracket

First round
Wednesday, March 12 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 13 		Semifinals
Friday, March 14 		Final
Saturday, March 15
            
1 Kent State 77
8 Toledo 57
8 Toledo 52
9 Bowling Green 48
1 Kent State 49
5 Miami (OH) 47
4 Ohio 61
5 Miami (OH) 74
5 Miami (OH) 69
12 Buffalo 68
1 Kent State 74
3 Akron 55
2 Western Michigan 70
7 Eastern Michigan 61
7 Eastern Michigan 59
10 Ball State 55
2 Western Michigan 62
3 Akron 73
3 Akron 81
6 Central Michigan 60
6 Central Michigan 83
11 Northern Illinois 71

All-tournament team

  • Al Fisher (Kent State)
  • Haminn Quaintance (Kent State)
  • Joe Reitz (Western Michigan)
  • Mike Scott (Kent State)
  • Jeremiah Wood (Akron)[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Withers, Tom (March 15, 2008). "Kent State knocks off Akron". www.ohio.com. Associated Press/Akron Beacon-Journal. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  2. ^ Kent State Athletic Communications (March 15, 2008). "Official Basketball Box Score Akron vs Kent State". www.kentstatesports.com. Kent State University. Retrieved March 16, 2008.[dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b Maxse, Joe (March 15, 2008). "MAC insider". www.cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com. Retrieved March 16, 2008.