2018 MAC women's basketball tournament

The 2018 Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament was a post-season basketball tournament for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) 2017–18 college basketball season. Tournament first round games was held on campus sites at the higher seed on March 5. The remaining rounds was held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland between March 7–10. Central Michigan won the MAC Women's Tournament received the conference's automatic bid into the 2018 NCAA tournament.

2018 MAC women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2017–18
Teams	12
First round site	Campus sites
Quarterfinals site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Semifinals site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Finals site	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, Ohio
Champions	Central Michigan (4th title)
Winning coach	Sue Guevara (2nd title)
MVP	Reyna Frost (Central Michigan)
Television	CBSSN, ESPN3
MAC women's basketball tournaments

2017–18 Mid-American Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Buffalo	16	–	2		.889			29	–	6		.829
Miami (OH)	12	–	6		.667			21	–	11		.656
Ohio	9	–	9		.500			16	–	15		.516
Kent State	5	–	13		.278			13	–	19		.406
Bowling Green	3	–	15		.167			11	–	19		.367
Akron	3	–	15		.167			9	–	21		.300
West
Central Michigan †	17	–	1		.944			30	–	5		.857
Ball State	13	–	5		.722			25	–	7		.781
Western Michigan	9	–	9		.500			18	–	15		.545
Toledo	8	–	10		.444			18	–	15		.545
Northern Illinois	7	–	11		.389			15	–	15		.500
Eastern Michigan	6	–	12		.333			11	–	20		.355
† 2018 MAC tournament winner As of March 24, 2018

Format

Unlike with the recent tournaments, where the top two seeds received byes into the semifinals, with the three and four seeds receiving a bye to the quarterfinals, the tournament will revert to its original structure in which the top four seeds receive just one bye into the quarterfinals.

Seeds

Seed	School	Conference record	Division	Tiebreaker
1†	Central Michigan	17–1	West
2†	Buffalo	16–2	East
3†	Ball State	13–5	West
4†	Miami (OH)	12–6	East
5	Ohio	9–9	East	1–0 vs. Western Michigan
6	Western Michigan	9–9	West	0–1 vs. Ohio
7	Toledo	8–10	West
8	Northern Illinois	7–11	West
9	Eastern Michigan	6–12	West
10	Kent State	5–13	East
11	Bowling Green	3–15	East	2–0 vs. Akron
12	Akron	3–15	East	0–2 vs. Bowling Green
† – Received Bye to quarterfinals. Overall record are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

Game	Time	Matchup#	Television
First Round – Monday, March 5
1	7:00 PM	#9 Eastern Michigan at #8 Northern Illinois	ESPN3
2	7:00 PM	#12 Akron at #5 Ohio
3	7:00 PM	#10 Kent State at #7 Toledo
4	5:30 PM	#11 Bowling Green at #6 Western Michigan
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 7
5	12:00 NN	#9 Eastern Michigan vs. #1 Central Michigan	ESPN3
6	2:30 PM	#5 Ohio vs. #4 Miami (OH)
7	5:00 PM	#10 Kent State vs. #2 Buffalo
8	7:30 PM	#6 Western Michigan vs. #3 Ball State
Semifinals – Friday, March 9
9	11:00 AM	#1 Central Michigan vs. #4 Miami (OH)	ESPN3
10	1:30 PM	#2 Buffalo vs. #6 Western Michigan
Championship – Saturday, March 10
11	11:00 AM	#1 Central Michigan vs. #2 Buffalo	CBSSN
* Game times in ET. # Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Monday, March 5					Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 7					Semifinals Friday, March 9					Championship Saturday, March 10
						2	Buffalo	72
						10	Kent State	50
	7	Toledo	76
	10	Kent State	80OT
											2	Buffalo	85
											6	Western Michigan	53
						3	Ball State	54
						6	Western Michigan	65
	6	Western Michigan	85
	11	Bowling Green	71
																2	Buffalo	91
																1	Central Michigan	96
						1	Central Michigan	67
						9	Eastern Michigan	64
	8	Northern Illinois	77
	9	Eastern Michigan	84
											1	Central Michigan	61
											4	Miami (OH)	58
						4	Miami (OH)	69
						5	Ohio	66
	5	Ohio	85
	12	Akron	73

First round games at campus sites of lower-numbered seeds

All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP – Reyna Frost, Central Michigan

Player	Team
Reyna Frost	Central Michigan
Tinara Moore	Central Michigan
Micaela Kelly	Central Michigan
Stephanie Reid	Buffalo
Cierra Dillard	Buffalo

See also

2018 MAC men's basketball tournament