2024–25 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season

2024–25 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	12
Regular season
League champions	Akron
Runners-up	Miami
Season MVP	Nate Johnson
Tournament

2024–25 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Akron †	17	–	1		.944			28	–	7		.800
Miami (OH)	14	–	4		.778			25	–	9		.735
Kent State	11	–	7		.611			24	–	12		.667
Toledo	10	–	8		.556			18	–	15		.545
Ohio	10	–	8		.556			16	–	16		.500
Western Michigan	9	–	9		.500			12	–	20		.375
Eastern Michigan	9	–	9		.500			16	–	16		.500
Bowling Green	8	–	10		.444			14	–	18		.438
Ball State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	17		.452
Central Michigan	7	–	11		.389			14	–	17		.452
Buffalo	4	–	14		.222			9	–	22		.290
Northern Illinois	2	–	16		.111			6	–	25		.194
† 2025 MAC tournament winner

The 2024–25 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season will be the season for Mid-American Conference men's basketball teams. It will begin with practices in October 2024, followed by the start of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play will begin in January 2024 and conclude in March 2024. The 2025 MAC tournament will be held at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio for the 26th consecutive season.^[1] This will be the conference's last season with 12 members as it will see its first change in membership since 2005 with the addition of UMass.^[2]

Akron won the regular season championship with a 17–1 conference record.^[3] Nate Johnson of Akron was player of the year.^[4] Akron defeated Bowling Green and Toledo in the MAC tournament and then Miami in the final^[5][6][7][8] Nate Johnson of Akron was the MVP.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

There have been no coaching changes since the end of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	School record	MAC record	MAC titles	MAC Tournament titles	NCAA tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Akron	John Groce	Illinois	8	220–212 (.509)	140–80 (.636)	80–48 (.625)	1	2	2	0	0
Ball State	Michael Lewis	UCLA (Asst.)	3	35–28 (.556)	35–28 (.556)	18–18 (.500)	0	0	0	0	0
Bowling Green	Todd Simon	Southern Utah	2	147–128 (.535)	20–14 (.588)	10–8 (.556)	0	0	0	0	0
Buffalo	George Halcovage	Villanova (Assoc. HC)	2	4–27 (.129)	4–27 (.129)	2–16 (.111)	0	0	0	0	0
Central Michigan	Tony Barbee	Kentucky (Asst.)	4	166–185 (.473)	35–58 (.376)	23–31 (.426)	0	0	0	0	0
Eastern Michigan	Stan Heath	Lakeland Magic	4	240–269 (.472)	31–62 (.333)	16–40 (.286)	0	0	0	0	0
Kent State	Rob Senderoff	Kent State (Asst.)	14	264–164 (.617)	264–164 (.617)	138–94 (.595)	1	2	2	0	0
Miami	Travis Steele	Xavier	3	97–87 (.527)	27–37 (.422)	15–21 (.417)	0	0	0	0	0
Northern Illinois	Rashon Burno	Arizona State (Asst.)	4	33–60 (.355)	33–60 (.355)	20–36 (.357)	0	0	0	0	0
Ohio	Jeff Boals	Stony Brook	6	152–102 (.598)	98–60 (.620)	54–35 (.607)	0	1	1	0	0
Toledo	Tod Kowalczyk	Green Bay	15	414–293 (.586)	278–181 (.606)	156–93 (.627)	5	0	0	0	0
Western Michigan	Dwayne Stephens	Michigan State (Assoc. HC)	3	20–43 (.317)	20–43 (.317)	13–23 (.361)	0	0	0	0	0

Notes:

• Appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Years at school includes 2024–25 season.
• MAC records are from time at current school only.
• All records are through the beginning of the season.

Source - ^{[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]}

Preseason

The MAC Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tip-Off will be held on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Each team will have their head coach and a student athlete from both the men's and women's basketball team for interviews.^[21]

MAC Men's Basketball Preview Coaches & Student-Athletes

• Akron: Head Coach John Groce & Nate Johnson (R-Junior, Guard)
• Ball State: Head Coach Michael Lewis & Payton Sparks (Senior, Center)
• Bowling Green: Head Coach Todd Simon & Trey Thomas (Senior, Guard)
• Buffalo: Head Coach George Halcovage III & Noah Batchelor (Junior, Forward)
• Central Michigan: Head Coach Tony Barbee & Anthony Pritchard (Senior, Guard)
• Eastern Michigan: Head Coach Stan Heath & Jalin Billingsley (Senior, Forward)
• Kent State: Head Coach Rob Senderoff & VonCameron Davis (R-Senior, Forward)
• Miami: Head Coach Travis Steele & Eian Elmer (Sophomore, Wing)
• Northern Illinois: Head Coach Rashon Burno & Quentin Jones (Sophomore, Guard)
• Ohio: Head Coach Jeff Boals & AJ Clayton (Senior, Forward)
• Toledo: Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk & Javan Simmons (Sophomore, Forward)
• Western Michigan: Head Coach Dwayne Stephens & JaVaughn Hannah (Junior, Guard)

Preseason men's basketball coaches poll

Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Place	Team	Points	First place votes
1.	Ohio	121	11
2.	Akron	106	1
3.	Kent State	99	--
4.	Toledo	95	--
5.	Bowling Green	73	--
6.	Miami	72	--
7.	Ball State	67	--
8.	Central Michigan	55	--
9.	Eastern Michigan	36	--
10.	Western Michigan	33	--
11.	Northern Illinois	24	--
12.	Buffalo	11	--

MAC Tournament Champions:Ohio (8), Kent State (3), Toledo (1)

Source^[22]

MAC Preseason All-Conference

Honor	Recipient
Preseason All-MAC First Team	Peyton Sparks, Center, Akron, Sr.
	Anthony Pritchard, Guard, Central Michigan, Sr.
	VonCameron Davis, Forward, Kent State, R-Sr.
	AJ Clayton, Forward, Ohio, Sr.
	Javon Simmons, Forward, Toledo, Jo.
Preseason All-MAC Second Team	Isaiah Gray, Guard, Akron, Sr.
	Jalen Sullinger, Guard, Kent State, Sr.
	Shereef Mitchell, Guard, Ohio, Grad.
	AJ Brown, Guard, Ohio, R-So..
	Isaiah Adams, Guard, Toledo, 5th

Source^[22]

Conference matrix

	Akron	Ball State	Bowling Green	Buffalo	Central Michigan	Eastern Michigan	Kent State	Miami (OH)	Northern Illinois	Ohio	Toledo	Western Michigan
vs. Akron	—	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–1
vs. Ball State	2–0	—	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
vs. Bowling Green	1–0	1–1	—	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–1
vs. Buffalo	2–0	2–0	2–0	—	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1
vs. Central Michigan	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	—	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–2
vs. Eastern Michigan	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	—	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–0
vs. Kent State	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	—	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–1
vs. Miami (OH)	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	—	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1
vs. Northern Illinois	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	—	1–0	1–0	2–0
vs. Ohio	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	—	2–0	1–1
vs. Toledo	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	—	0–1
vs. Western Michigan	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	—
Total	17–1	7–11	8–10	4–14	7–11	9–9	11–7	14–4	2–16	10–8	10–8	9–9

Regular season

Rankings

Main article: 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
Akron	AP																		RV	RV
	C
Ball State	AP
	C
Bowling Green	AP
	C
Buffalo	AP
	C
Central Michigan	AP
	C
Eastern Michigan	AP
	C
Kent State	AP
	C
Miami	AP
	C
Northern Illinois	AP
	C
Ohio	AP
	C
Toledo	AP
	C
Western Michigan	AP
	C

Legend

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		No change in ranking from previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
т		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

All-MAC awards

Mid-American men's basketball weekly awards

^[23]

Week	Player(s) of the Week	School
Nov 11[24]	Tyson Dunn	Buffalo
Nov 18[25]	Sonny Wilson	Toledo
Nov 25[26]	AJ Clayton Nate Johnson	Ohio Akron
Dec 2[27]	Jermahri Hill Da’Sean Nelson	Ball State Eastern Michigan
Dec 9[28]	Derrick Butler Peter Suder	Bowling Green Miami
Dec 16[29]	Juanse Gorosito	Ball State
Dec 23[30]	Da’Sean Nelson (2)	Eastern Michigan
Dec 30[31]	Javontae Campbell	Bowling Green
Jan 6[32]	Da’Sean Nelson (3)	Eastern Michigan
Jan 13[33]	AJ Clayton (2)	Ohio
Jan 20[34]	Amani Lyles	Akron
Jan 27[35]	Tavari Johnson	Akron
Feb 3[36]	Payton Sparks	Ball State
Feb 10[37]	Sam Lewis	Toledo
Feb 17[38]	Jalen Terry	Eastern Michigan
Feb 24[39]	Jalen Terry (2)	Eastern Michigan
Mar 3[40]	Javontae Campbell (2) Chansey Willis Jr.	Bowling Green Western Michigan
Mar 10[41]	Jalen Sullinger Javan Simmons	Kent State Toledo

Postseason awards

2025 Mid-American Men's Basketball Individual Awards[42]
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Nate Johnson, Akron
Coach of the Year	John Groce
Defensive Player of the Year	Nate Johnson., Akron
Freshman of the Year	Brant Byers, Miami
Sixth Man Award	Shammah Scott., Akron

All-MAC Honors

2025 Mid-American Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams[43]
First Team	Second Team	Third Team	Honorable Mention	All-Defensive	Freshman Team
Nate Johnson, Akron Tavari Johnson, Akron Ugnius Jarusevicius, Central Michigan VonCameron Davis, Kent State Peter Suder, Miami	Da’Sean Nelson, Eastern Michigan Jalen Terry, Eastern Michigan Jalen Sullinger, Kent State Sam Lewis, Toledo Chansey Willis Jr., Western Michigan	Javontae Campbell, Bowling Green Anthony Pritchard, Central Michigan Kam Craft, Miami AJ Clayton, Ohio Jackson Paveletzke, Ohio Sonny Wilson, Toledo	Isaiah Gray, Akron Jermahri Hill, Ball State Payton Sparks, Ball State Shereef Mitchell, Ohio Javan Simmons, Toledo	Nate Johnson, Akron Javontae Campbell, Bowling Green Anthony Pritchard, Central Michigan Cli’ron Hornbeak, Kent State Shereef Mitchell, Ohio	Sharron Young, Akron Jamai Felt, Bowling Green Ben Michaels, Buffalo Brant Byers, Miami Elijah Elliot, Ohio

Postseason

Mid–American Tournament

Main article: 2025 MAC men's basketball tournament

Akron defeated Bowling Green, Toledo, Miami to win the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament^{[44][6][45][46]} Nate Johnson was the MVP.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

As a 13 seed, Akron lost their first round matchup in the NCAA tournament to Arizona.^[47]

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 2025 National Invitation Tournament

Kent State defeated St. Bonaventure and Stanford in the first two rounds.^[48][49]

See also

2024–25 Mid-American Conference women's basketball season

References

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