According to Jeremy Guy, the MAC Director of Communication the new format will include the one/two seeds getting byes into the semi finals, 3/4 seeds into the quarter finals. 

http://www.mac-sports.com/News/tabid/969/Article/136246/MAC-Announces-New-Basketball-Tournament-Format.aspx

http://twitter.com/#!/JGuyMAC

One good part of this is that the division champs are no longer guaranteed a top 2 seed. Seeding is straight by record 1-12. 

The MAC West is consistently worse then the MAC East, and it shows in their MAC records...  Even though they get to play each other.  Count me on board for this being a good thing.

We copied the WCC 5 years late. At that rate, we'll copy the SEC in 2045 and eliminate divisions.

I like what the Horizon does. The highest seed gets the home game through the championship game. It protects your best team.

Regional proximity? Travel budgets?

At first I thought this was a terrible idea. Why mess with a good thing? The more I think about (and after I actually drew out what the bracket would look like), I'm okay with this. Finishing first or second is a HUGE accomplishment because you only have to win two games in the tournament to win the championship. Finishing third or fourth is still a solid deal since you have to win only three games to win the championship, plus you're playing a team that played the day before, so there might be some slightly tired legs. Finish fifth or lower and you've got a terrible road to win it all. Now you have to win five games in row including four in consecutive days. Yikes.

EDIT: Nevermind on non-conference play. Found what I needed.

You've caught the 5 games to win the MAC Tourney if you are a 5-12 seed. If you are a 3 or 4 seed it only requires 3 games a huge advantage. Another element I see with this new format is a second round set of games at the Q. Previously, the quarterfinals featured 4 games, two of which were in an afternoon session hard to attend for fans. The new setup is all evening session, 2 games for the second round, quarters, semis and then 1 game for the finals. That would be a nice package of basketball for the hardcore hoops fan figuring that either Akron, Ohio or BG will probably show up in the second round and then from there the top MAC teams on the season. It will be a better way to get the students as 8 schools will make an evening session. Good 5 or 6 seeds could bank on 1st/2nd round wins to help position for CIT/CBI bid. 

http://www.mac-sports.com/Portals/20/NewMACBasketballTournamentFormat.pdf

If they are going to keep the basketball divisions then rename the football divisions MAC Atlantic and MAC Central to avoid confusion with basketball.

    While I agree that this is generally a turn for the better with regards to meaningful MAC play, I am worried about how it specifically relates to our team. Considering our recent past performance and how we have tended to peak at the end of the season, I wonder if Groce will have to change his game plan to move the peak forward.  Or, maybe he just won't care as long as he feels his team is playing the best that it can at the end of the season.
     For me, with this new format, I would rather be a pinch off my "ultimate game" but only have to play two games for the championship instead of 3 or possibly 5 games to win it all. That said, this format gives such an advantage to regular season performance that it will sometimes produce a NCAA bound team that is not the best team in the league at the end of the season.  I guess that's a trade that the MAC head office is willing to make for the sake of a more exciting, meaningful MAC season. 

Alright, does that last bit make sense? 
Brian