2011 MAC men's basketball tournament


The 2011 Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament was the post-season men's basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference 2010–11 season. Sixth-seeded Akron defeated Kent State in the [2012 Mid-American Conference|MAC men's basketball tournament|MAC tournament] final in overtime and represented the MAC in the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Notre Dame.

Format

Each of the 12 men's basketball teams in the MAC receives a berth in the conference tournament. Teams are seeded by conference record with the following two-team tiebreakers:
For multiple team ties:
Once a three-team tie has been reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaker will go into effect.
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. First round games were played on campus sites at the higher seed. The remaining rounds were held at Quicken Loans Arena.

Bracket

Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.

Championship game

In the championship game, Akron defeated Kent State 66–65. Senior Brett McKnight led Akron with 15 points and scored the final two points of the game, hitting two free throws to put his team up by one. With 12 seconds to go in the overtime period, Kent State had the ball and a chance to win, but Zeke Marshall blocked Kent State's first attempt and the second attempt was deflected. As Akron celebrated after the final buzzer, one of the Kent State players, who had laid down on the court in disappointment, was accidentally stepped on by the jumping mob of Akron players, and a slight skirmish broke out after his teammates came to his defense.
The Akron Zips advanced to their third NCAA Tournament of the Division I era. They would go on to lose to Notre Dame in their first game.

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Zeke Marshall, Akron
PlayerTeam
Jarrod JonesBall State
Michael PorriniKent State
Justin GreeneKent State
Brett McKnightAkron
Zeke MarshallAkron