The second day of the 2026 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Basketball Tournament is complete, with the semifinal matchups set for Friday.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Tyler Kavalecz and Lucas Kleimeyer recapped the full day of games and gave their Falcon Four takeaways from action at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
Conference tournament mayhem is here
The chalk dominated last year’s men’s and women’s MAC Tournaments.
However, this year is shaping up to be a different story.
After two upsets yesterday on the women’s side of the bracket—No. 5 Ohio defeating No. 4 Central Michigan and No. 6 Toledo defeating No. 3 UMass—the biggest upset of the MAC season happened Thursday, as No. 8 UMass took down No. 1 Miami (OH), ending the RedHawks’ undefeated season.
There are already three more upsets than last season’s tournament, and by the way things have played out so far, it may only be the beginning of the madness.
Teams have to execute for a full 40 minutes
All four of the men’s quarterfinals games were close, being decided by nine points or less.
UMass defeated Miami by four points, Toledo beat Bowling Green by one, Akron took down Buffalo by three and Kent State knocked out Ohio by nine.
No matter how big of a lead teams create, it is never safe in a neutral site contest in March, and Thursday proved this, with comebacks forcing late-game drama in all four contests.
Late-game execution is going to crucial for the rest of the tournament.
Akron is the best remaining team in the field
With Miami out of the tournament, Akron is the overwhelming favorite, even though they were already the betting favorite.
The Zips, led by head coach John Groce, now have a clear path to their third consecutive MAC Tournament Championship.
Akron has just one conference loss on the season and it will be an incredibly tough task to prevent the Zips from cutting down the nets for the fourth time in five seasons.
UMass is poised for a possible Cinderella run
The Minutemen pulled off the biggest upset of the season.
After limping to the finish line and barely sliding into the tournament at the end of the regular season, UMass now has a chance to shock the conference in their first season in the MAC.
The Minutemen are led by an experienced head coach, Frank Martin, who know what it takes to win in March, previously taking Kansas State to the Elite Eight in 2010 and South Carolina to the Final Four in 2017.
UMass is playing with house money, which makes them the most dangerous kind of team.
