The 2023–24 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season was the season for

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

teams. It began with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the

2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with th ...

in November. Conference play began in January 2024 and concluded in March 2024. The 2024 MAC tournament was held at

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Rocket Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The building is the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL). It also serves as a sec ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

for the 25th consecutive season. Toledo won their fourth straight regular season championship with a 14–4 record in MAC play. Akron defeated

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in the MAC tournament and then

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia, ...

in the final Enrique Freeman was the MVP.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Bowling Green

on March 5, 2023,

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

fired head coach

Michael Huger Michael Anthony Huger (born June 27, 1970) is an American college basketball Coach (basketball), coach who is an assistant coach for Temple Owls men's basketball, Temple. Prior to Temple, he was the head coach for his alma mater Bowling Green Fa ...

after three consecutive seasons posting win totals under 15 and with a 126–125 over eight seasons. On March 18, 2023, Bowling Green hired

Todd Simon Todd Andrew Simon (born April 21, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Biography As a youth, Simon played in the 1985 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Young Nationals minor ice hockey team. ...

, who had previously been the head coach at

Southern Utah Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah, bordering nearby Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave ...

Buffalo

On March 11, 2023,

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

fired

Jim Whitesell Jim Whitesell (born December 27, 1959) is an American college basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the Albany Great Danes men's basketball team. Prior to Albany, he was the head men's coach for the Buffalo Bulls. Previously he coached a ...

after four seasons with a 70–49 record at the school. Buffalo hired Villanova associate head coach George Halcovage on March 30, 2023.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only. * Years at school includes 2023–24 season. * MAC records are from time at current school only. * All records are through the beginning of the season. Source -

Preseason

The preseason coaches' poll and league awards were announced by the league office on November 1, 2023."MAC Announces 2023-24 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll & Teams"
''getsomemaction.com''. Retrieved 2023-11-01. Akron was named the MAC favorite over 2023 MAC tournament champion Kent State and Ohio.

Preseason men's basketball coaches poll

MAC Tournament Champions: Akron (9), Kent State (1), Ohio (1), Toledo (1) Source

MAC Preseason All-Conference

Regular season

Rankings

Source - AP: Coaches:

Conference matrix

All-MAC awards

Mid-American men's basketball weekly awards

Postseason

Mid–American Tournament

Akron defeated

and

in the MAC tournament and then

in the final Enrique Freeman was the MVP.

NCAA tournament

Akron was defeated by Creighton in the opening round.

National Invitation tournament

No MAC teams played in the NIT.

Postseason awards

Enrique Freeman of Akron was the unanimous selection for player of the year. Central Michigan's Tony Barbee was named coach of the year #Coach of the Year:

Tony Barbee Anthony Michael Barbee (born August 10, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, who was most recently the head coach at the Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball, Central Michigan. He was previously head coach at Auburn Tigers men's ...

, Central Michigan #Player of the Year:

Enrique Freeman Enrique Gabriel Freeman (born July 29, 2000) is an American basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Indiana Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He played college basketball f ...

, Senior, Forward, Akron #Freshman of the Year: Javan Simmons, Forward, Toledo #Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Pritchard, Junior, Guard, Central Michigan #Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Tyler Cochran, Junior, Guard, Toledo #Sixth Man of the Year: JaVaughn Hannah, Sophomore, Guard, Western Michigan

Honors

References

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