Akron will be no worse than NIT if they lose in Cleveland. Ohio if they can atleast reach the MAC final they would have an excellent shot at NIT and same with Buffalo. Best outcome would have Ohio win the quarterfinal and Akron reach the final but lose to Ohio/UB. Akron gets NIT auto, 1 NCAA automatic and perhaps an at-large NIT selection. That would be a solid year for the MAC getting three teams into the top 2 tournaments and perhaps a 4 team in Kent State into the CIT or CBI.
Isn't this about what the MAC does on a typical year? I was looking back on the records and since 2005 both Ohio, Akron and Kent State have made the NCAA tournament twice a piece with Miami taking it in one year (2007). If Ohio can win the MAC tourney that will give the Cats 3 trips to the dance since 2005 which will be most in the conference since that time period. This could be the postseason where Ohio moves itself firmly into the upper echelon of MAC basketball programs up there with Kent and Akron instead of more on the middle tier as the program was from 1996-2004.