MAC tournament odds, schedule, favorites

Toledo may need to finally beat Kent State to get to the NCAA tournament.

The Rockets enter the MAC tournament as the No. 1 seed and are the clear favorite at BetMGM to win the school’s first conference tournament title since the first event in 1980.

A conference tournament win would give Toledo its first NCAA tournament berth since that 1980 season. The 42-year tournament drought is one of the longest in college basketball.

Toledo lost just three MAC games during the regular season and two of those were at the hands of second-place Kent State. The flashes beat Toledo 66-63 in the first meeting and 72-59 in the rematch at Toledo. Since the teams are on opposite sides of the bracket, the only way they can meet is in the title game — and Kent State may have to get past Ohio to get there.

Here are the MAC standings and the odds for the conference tournament via BetMGM. The top eight teams in the conference qualified for the tournament and it begins on Thursday. The championship game is 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Standings

1. Toledo (17-3 in MAC) [+125 to win tournament]

2. Kent State (16-4) [+500]

3. Ohio (14-6) [+325]

4. Akron (14-6) [+900]

5. Buffalo (13-6) [+650]

6. Ball State (9-10) [+5000]

7. Miami (8-12) [+3300]

8. Central Michigan (6-12) [+15000]

9. Bowling Green (6-14)*

10. Northern Illinois (6-14)*

11. Eastern Michigan (5-15)*

12. Western Michigan (4-16)*

The favorites

• Toledo (+125): The Rockets are the highest MAC team in KenPom.com’s advanced metrics at No. 75 and ahead of teams like Colorado, Oregon, and Wichita State. Ryan Rollins leads the team with 19 points per game and JT Shumate scores nearly 16 points a game on 57% shooting from the field. Shumate is also 63-of-123 from deep with the second-most 3-point attempts on the team. Toledo averages over 80 points per game and has one of the best offenses in the country.

• Ohio (+325): The Bobcats won the MAC title a year ago and upset Virginia 62-58 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Ohio then lost by 14 to Creighton in the second round. This year’s Ohio team enters the MAC tournament with four losses in its last five games. The season-ending slide dropped Ohio from the running for the top seed in the tournament. Mark Sears is averaging over 19 points a game while Ben Vander Plas averages 14 points and nearly seven boards a game.

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A long shot to consider

• Akron (+900): The best way to muck up a basketball game is to slow it down and, boy, Akron plays really slowly. The Zips’ adjusted KenPom.com tempo ranks 348th out of 358 teams at the top level of college basketball. Akron also enters the tournament on a five-game win streak, though only one of those wins (Ohio) came over a team in the top five of the conference. Four Akron players average at least 10 points per game, and Enrique Freeman shoots 65% from the field with 13 points and 11 boards a contest.