2006 MAC men's basketball tournament

The 2006 MAC men's basketball tournament, a part of the 2005-06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 6–March 11, 2006 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The March 6 first-round games were held at the higher seeds home arenas. Its winner received the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA tournament. It is a single-elimination tournament with four rounds and the four highest seeds received byes in the first round. All MAC teams were invited to participate. Kent State, the MAC regular season winner, received the number one seed in the tournament. Kent State defeated seventh-seeded Toledo in the final.^[1] In the NCAA tournament they lost in the first round to Pittsburgh.^[2]

2006 MAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2005–06
Teams	12
Site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Kent State (4th title)
Winning coach	Jim Christian (2nd title)
MVP	Kevin Warzynski (Kent State)
MAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2005 2007 →

2005–06 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Kent State †	15	–	3		.833			24	–	8		.750
Akron	14	–	4		.778			23	–	9		.719
Miami (OH)	14	–	4		.778			18	–	12		.600
Ohio	10	–	8		.556			19	–	11		.633
Buffalo	8	–	10		.444			19	–	13		.594
Bowling Green	5	–	13		.278			9	–	21		.300
West
Northern Illinois	12	–	6		.667			17	–	11		.607
Toledo	10	–	8		.556			20	–	10		.667
Western Michigan	10	–	8		.556			14	–	17		.452
Ball State	6	–	12		.333			10	–	18		.357
Eastern Michigan	3	–	15		.167			7	–	21		.250
Central Michigan	1	–	17		.056			4	–	24		.143
† 2006 MAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Tournament

Seeds

The top two seeds of the tournament were given to division winners. Since Kent State had a better record than Northern Illinois, they were given the #1 seed, and the Huskies were given the #2 seed. The remainder of the bracket was determined by overall record. For the #3 seed, Akron and Miami were tied with a 14–4 conference record. They had also split their two regular season matches.^[3][4] The next tiebreaker is to determine the teams performance against ranked teams in order. Akron was able to win one game against the Golden Flashes^[5] while Miami was unable to win one, so Akron was given the fourth seed and Miami was given the final bye in the tournament. The #5 seed was determined through a three-way tie between Ohio, Toledo, and Western Michigan. Ohio had won its matches against Western Michigan^[6] and Toledo^[7] so they were given the #5 seed. Since Toledo was able to defeat Kent State in the regular season and Western Michigan was not, they were given the #6 seed.^[8] Buffalo was seven games behind Kent State and had earned the eighth seed. Ball State was the #9 seed and the final East Division team, Bowling Green was the #10 seed. The final two teams, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan were given the eleventh and twelfth seeds, respectively.

Bracket

	First round March 6, 2006					Quarterfinals March 9, 2006					Semifinals March 10, 2006					Championship March 11, 2006
						1	Kent State	76
						8	Buffalo	67
	8	Buffalo	80
	9	Ball State	72
											1	Kent State	72
											5	Ohio	59
						4	Miami (OH)	58
						5	Ohio	73
	5	Ohio	82
	12	Central Michigan	53
																1	Kent State	71
																7	Toledo	66
						2	Northern Illinois	77
						7	Toledo	78
	7	Toledo	77
	10	Bowling Green	52
											7	Toledo	77
											3	Akron	69
						3	Akron	72
						6	Western Michigan	57
	6	Western Michigan	60
	11	Eastern Michigan	55

First round

Team^[9] 1st 2nd Final Central Michigan 50 32 82 Ohio 32 21 53	Team^[10] 1st 2nd Final Western Michigan 33 22 55 Eastern Michigan 25 35 60
Team^[11] 1st 2nd Final Toledo 34 43 77 Bowling Green 21 31 52	Team^[12] 1st 2nd Final Buffalo 44 36 80 Ball State 28 44 72

Quarterfinals

Team^[13] 1st 2nd Final Toledo 39 39 78 Northern Illinois 23 54 77	Team^[14] 1st 2nd Final Akron 31 41 72 Western Michigan 28 29 57
Team^[15] 1st 2nd Final Kent State 35 41 76 Buffalo 27 40 67	Team^[16] 1st 2nd Final Ohio 40 33 73 Miami 32 26 58

Semi-finals

Team^[17] 1st 2nd Final Kent State 33 39 72 Ohio 26 33 59

Team^[18] 1st 2nd Final Toledo 34 43 77 Akron 40 29 69

Finals

Team^[19]	1st	2nd	Final
Kent State	32	39	71
Toledo	21	45	66

References

1. "Warzynski nets 21 as Kent St. holds off Toledo to win MAC". ESPN. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
2. "Gray, Ramon power Pitt to easy win over Kent State". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
3. "Miami (OH) RedHawks vs. Akron Zips - Box Score". ESPN. January 26, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
4. "Akron Zips vs. Miami (OH) RedHawks - Box Score". ESPN. February 22, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
5. "Kent State Golden Flashes vs. Akron Zips - Box Score". ESPN. March 4, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
6. "Ohio Bobcats vs. Western Michigan Broncos - Box Score". ESPN. February 12, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
7. "Ohio Bobcats vs. Toledo Rockets - Box Score". ESPN. January 21, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
8. "Toledo Rockets vs. Kent State Golden Flashes - Box Score". ESPN. February 7, 2006. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
9. "Central Michigan Chippewas vs. Ohio Bobcats - Box Score". ESPN. March 6, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
10. "Eastern Michigan Eagles vs. Western Michigan Broncos - Box Score". ESPN. March 6, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
11. "Bowling Green Falcons vs. Toledo Rockets - Box Score". ESPN. March 6, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
12. "Ball State Cardinals vs. Buffalo Bulls - Box Score". ESPN. March 6, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
13. "Toledo Rockets vs. Northern Illinois Huskies - Box Score". ESPN. March 9, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
14. "Western Michigan Broncos vs. Akron Zips - Box Score". ESPN. March 9, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
15. "Buffalo Bulls vs. Kent State Golden Flashes - Box Score". ESPN. March 9, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
16. "Ohio Bobcats vs. Miami (OH) RedHawks - Box Score". ESPN. March 9, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
17. "Ohio Bobcats vs. Kent State Golden Flashes - Box Score". ESPN. March 10, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
18. "Toledo Rockets vs. Akron Zips - Box Score". ESPN. March 10, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
19. "Toledo Rockets vs. Kent State Golden Flashes - Box Score". ESPN. March 11, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2009.