The road to March Madness begins this week with an undefeated team and more eyes than usual on the men’s and women’s Mid-American Conference Tournaments at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
On the men’s side, the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks finished the regular season 31–0, drawing national attention to a conference that rarely receives multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Every conference tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Additional spots, known as at-large bids, are typically awarded to teams from larger conferences. The last time the MAC received a second bid was Miami in 1999.
“You could argue their schedule's not that strong or whatever,” Ideastream Public Media’s sports commentator Terry Pluto said. “I don't care. You won 31 games in a row. You play in a legitimate conference. You should be going in.”
The University of Akron is the second seed in the tournament, at 26-5 overall and 17-1 in the MAC. Kent State is the third seed, 23-8 overall and 14-4 in the MAC.
“They all know they could be knocked off anywhere along the way,” Pluto said. “As Keith Dambrot, the former Akron coach, told me, he says, 'It's just a crazy desperate situation for the coaches because you could have this great regular season, but the NCAA Tournament draws so much attention from the average fan.' It's like if you don't make it, somehow you failed.”
Recent history shows how competitive the conference tournament has been.
Akron, led by coach John Groce, has won three of the last five MAC tournament titles. Kent State, coached by Rob Senderoff, captured one.
“Akron has become a big-time power,” Pluto said. “So those two schools, our local schools, they already have had this vice-like grip on who goes to the NCAA tournament and on the MAC tournament in Cleveland.
“Those two programs, Akron and Kent are special,” he added.
This year’s tournament also carries a personal storyline.
“Miami's coach is a guy named Travis Steele," Pluto said. "He is the half-brother of Akron coach, John Groce."
Pluto expects the MAC Tournament to be exciting in Cleveland.
“I'm just excited for the area basketball fans who look beyond Ohio State,” Pluto said. “The life of the mid-majors, and the Mid-American Conference being one of those mid-majors, trying to kind of knock down the door to get in to go to the NCAA tournament and play with the big boys. It is a thing that just drives coaches totally nuts, especially if you had a great regular season.”
The same dynamic exists on the women’s side of the tournament.
Eighth-seeded Kent State (9-9 in the MAC) faces No. 1 seed Miami of Ohio (16-2 in the MAC) in the first round on Wednesday.
“But the same situation exists for the women's teams. In other words, you better win the tournament. I don't care if you're 16-2.”
