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YPSILANTI, Mich. —- The Mid-American Conference revealed a new format for the 2011-12 basketball tournament played at Quicken Loan Arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio next March.

The first seed and the second seed will be awarded with a bye into the semifinal round, while the third and fourth seeds have receive byes into the quarterfinals and seeding will be done by winning percentage regardless of division.

“The new format will increase the importance of each regular season and bring greater value to the seeds earned by the top teo teams,” Mid-American Conference Commissioner Dr Jon A. Steinbrecher said about the change. “This continues the efforts for our membership to challenge the status quo.”

The 2012 FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournament will begin from the Quicken Arena in Cleveland March 7-10, 2012. Men’s tournament action will begin March 5, 2012 from on campus sites for seeds No.5-No.12, while the women’s tournament will begin on campus March 3 featuring the No.5-No.12 seeds.

“We believe this change will reward teams for their body of work and strength of schedule over the course of a season and provide greater opportunity for national success,” Director of Athletics at Miami University and Chair of the MAC Council of Directors of Athletics Brad Bates said. “We are very excited to implement the new tournament format to better our regular season champions and highest performing teams for success in the NCAA National Championship and other post-season tournaments.”

The Mid-American Conference and the Quicken Loan Arena have announced a six-year contract extension that will keep the tournament in Cleveland until 2017.

The FirstEnergy MAC Tournament will continue to sponsor and feature the MAC FanFest at Tower City Center. This is a celebration of the league, the teams and a chance to feel the excitement of tournament basketball.

All of the activities are free and opened to the public; the fans can meet cheerleaders, mascots, listen to school bands and participate in activities that are fun for all ages.

Fans will get a chance to shoot free throw in contest of accuracy, show their best dunk moves and other contests that will test the basketball skills of all athletes.

“I am very supportive of the changes to our conference basketball tournament for several reasons. First it get’s both men’s and women’s tournaments aligned more closely which is good for everyone in our conference. Secondly it rewards programs that have a 16-game conference schedule perform at the highest level and increases their opportunity to represent our conference at the NCAA Tournament,” University at Buffalo Athletic Director Warde Manuel said.

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Written by Mel Suiter
Graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2002 and have been working as a beat writer for The Ypsilanti Courier covering Eastern Michigan University football and men's basketball during my school career and after graduation. I like the Mid-American Conference and the rest of the mid-major conferences.