2025 MAC women's basketball tournament
College basketball tournament
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The 2025 MAC women's basketball tournament was the postseason basketball tournament for the 2024–25 college basketball season in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).[1] The entire tournament was held at Rocket Arena, in Cleveland, Ohio on March 12 and 14–15, 2025.[2] Ball State defeated Western Michigan, Kent State, and Toledo to win their second MAC tournament title, and first since 2009, to advance to the 2025 NCAA tournament. Ally Becki was the tournament MVP.[3]
| 2025 MAC women's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| |
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2024–25 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Site | Rocket Arena Cleveland, Ohio |
| Champions | Ball State Cardinals (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | Brady Sallee (1st title) |
| MVP | Ally Becki (Ball State) |
| Television | CBSSN, ESPN+ |
MAC women's basketball tournaments | |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ball State † | 16 | – | 2 | .889 | 27 | – | 8 | .771 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toledo | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 24 | – | 9 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buffalo | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 30 | – | 7 | .811 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kent State | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 21 | – | 12 | .636 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miami (OH) | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 19 | – | 12 | .613 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling Green | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 18 | – | 13 | .581 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central Michigan | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 14 | – | 17 | .452 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 12 | – | 18 | .400 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Illinois | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 13 | – | 17 | .433 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Akron | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 10 | – | 21 | .323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohio | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 6 | – | 23 | .207 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Michigan | 1 | – | 17 | .056 | 2 | – | 27 | .069 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2025 MAC tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Format
As with the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 tournaments, only the top eight teams qualify.[4] The winner of the tournament, Ball State, received the MAC's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA tournament.[5]
Venue
The 2025 MAC tournament was held at Rocket Arena for the 25th consecutive season. The venue is the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA,[6] has a capacity for basketball of 19,432, and is located in downtown Cleveland at One Center Court.[7]
Seeds
Eight out of the 12 MAC teams qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.[8]
| Seed | School | Conference record |
Tiebreaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ball State | 16–2 | |
| 2 | Toledo | 13–5 | 2–0 vs. Buffalo |
| 3 | Buffalo | 13–5 | 0–2 vs. Toledo |
| 4 | Kent State | 12–6 | |
| 5 | Miami (OH) | 11–7 | 1–0 vs. Bowling Green |
| 6 | Bowling Green | 11–7 | 0–1 vs. Miami (OH) |
| 7 | Central Michigan | 9–9 | |
| 8 | Western Michigan | 8–10 | |
| DNQ | Northern Illinois | 6–12 | |
| DNQ | Akron | 4–14 | +5 head-to-head point differential |
| DNQ | Ohio | 4–14 | -5 head-to-head point differential |
| DNQ | Eastern Michigan | 1–17 |
Schedule
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup | Score | Attendance | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 12 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 11:00 am | No. 1 Ball State vs. No. 8 Western Michigan | 82–53 | ESPN+ | ||
| 2 | 30 mins after Game 1 | No. 4 Kent State vs. No. 5 Miami (OH) | 68–61 | ||||
| 3 | 30 mins after Game 2 | No. 2 Toledo vs. No. 7 Central Michigan | 76–58 | ||||
| 4 | 30 mins after Game 3 | No. 3 Buffalo vs. No. 6 Bowling Green | 65–63 | ||||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 14 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 2 | 5 | 10:00 am | No. 1 Ball State vs. No. 4 Kent State | 70–53 | ESPN+ | ||
| 6 | 30 mins after Game 5 | No. 2 Toledo vs. No. 3 Buffalo | 56–49 | ||||
| Championship – Saturday, March 15 – Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | |||||||
| 3 | 7 | 11:00 am | No. 1 Ball State vs. No. 2 Toledo | 65–58 | CBSSN | ||
| *Game times in EDT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding. | |||||||
Source[9]
Bracket
| Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 12, 2025 | Semifinals Friday, March 14, 2025 | Championship Saturday, March 15, 2025 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Ball State | 82 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Western Michigan | 53 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Ball State | 70 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Kent State | 53 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Kent State | 68 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Miami (OH) | 61 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Ball State | 65 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Toledo | 58 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Toledo | 76 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Central Michigan | 58 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Toledo | 56 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Buffalo | 49 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Buffalo | 65 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Bowling Green | 63 | ||||||||||||
All-Tournament team
Tournament MVP – Ally Becki, Ball State
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Ally Becki | Ball State |
| Alex Richard | Ball State |
| Khera Goss | Toledo |
| Sammi Mikonowicz | Toledo |
| Chellia Watson | Buffalo |
Source[10]