I'm okay with the bottom four not qualifying for the conference tournament. Puts more weight on the totality of the regular season. On the other hand, keeping the bottom four helps keep the fanbases engaged until the end. Not only might there be drama over who qualifies for the eight seed and better, there's drama over qualifying for the four seed or better.

If the MAC is going to stay with 18-20 conference games, I would like to see them designate one week in November or December when schools are in session for maybe two conference games. One weekday and one Saturday. That way you minimize the number of games that could fall on winter or spring breaks. I'd be much more interested in coming to a game the first weekend of December if we were playing Kent or Toledo as opposed to Austin Peay or Radford. Tuck those types of games into the winter breaks.

No divisions....complete round robin of 22 conference games....all 12 teams in the tournament....keep final 8 in Cleveland.

MAC has agreed with Rocket Mortgage to continue the tournament there through 2030. : )

I’d like to second this man’s ideas.

I'm in general agreement with much of this. I support the idea of the regular season meaning something and would prefer just eight going to the MAC Tournament; all in Cleveland. As basically a one bid conference at this point, why run the risk of a poor team getting hot, at least in theory winning it all, and being a poor representative for the conference. Probably virtually no chance to win in the NCAA tournament and more likely a blowout loss.

I'd also like to see a complete 22 game conference schedule, where all teams play each other twice. I'm not a fan of unbalanced schedules when trying to determine the pecking order in any sport. Related to that thought, if we play Buffalo and Akron, or more, twice every year, that's a disadvantage when determining conference standings. Likewise, if Western plays Central and Eastern, or more, twice every year, that's an advantage that shouldn't be built into the scheduling. Plus, I think it's better to add 3-4 conference games than some of the low majors we've been picking up.

In addition, I'd love to play 2-3 high majors, especially if we could lure at least one to the Convo. However, maybe I'm wrong but I'm afraid that playing those teams (if you have a good team especially) is only possible these days in early season tournaments at neutral sites. It's the old worn out phrase that they sometimes even say publically..."We have nothing to gain and everything to lose". They will want nothing to do with us next year; especially in Athens. Furthermore, of course the NCAA won't force anything when it comes to scheduling. After all, such losses by the power programs might take away one of the crutches they use against mids to add power teams on selection Sunday.

And finally, given the limited opportunities I think there are to schedule high majors, I think it would be a good idea for the Ohio AD to try to set up our own version of the old bracket buster concept that was sponsored by ESPN at one time. Try to schedule 3-4 teams with this in mind. In looking at the latest KenPom.com ratings I see that Ohio is #81. We could try to schedule those programs who are + or - 30 from our ranking, for instance. Teams within that group include: St. Louis, Drake, Richmond, Xavier (although I don't think they'd play us), Davidson, Wright State...all above us, and, Dayton (see Xavier), Marshall, Liberty, W Ky, Winthrop, Greensboro, Belmont...all below us. I'll add that I think there is incentive for most of those teams to play us too. Who knows, if we are "on the bubble" in March maybe it could help. Worth a try.

I like divisions and the 18 game schedule. Home and home in division, one each against opposite division. Eat west banter and bragging rights simple schedule rotation and 18 games is plenty. I like the added flavor of more non conference games.

If we can fill the schedule with more quality (aka 22 conference round robin) than the dregs of the SWAC or wherever else, then sign me up. I do agree that it gives any top team in the west (aka TOLEDO) a leg up when they get to take on NIU and EMU twice while we get Akron, Buffalo and Kent. If the conference is truly trying for more competition and want the cream to rise to the top, then make it even when all is said and done.

I know budgets are always a big concern when it comes to scheduling OOC, but it would be nice to see us schedule west of the Mississippi every once in a while.

Well OUV, we would have certainly missed out on a lot of fun with our Bobcats if they were left out as a nine seed. I will give you that. ;)

However, even that doesn’t change my opinion about fairness and what is the best arrangement for the conference in the long run. But that’s just my opinion. Obviously on this board not everyone agrees with that assessment.

Exactly. Let them play! 2010 was a blast.

I've been wondering for years why this hasn't been brought back. For me, Bracketbuster Saturday was one of my absolute favorite weekends for hoops every year. Linking up with maybe the Horizon/OVC/MVC to put something like this together would be fun.

And I'm 100% in agreement with bornacat -- requiring scheduling that doesn't bring the collective conference down is something that is long overdue.

I'm all for the mac tourney having all teams play with the top eight playing in Cleveland. I don't think any team should get a bye to Cleveland . I feel all teams should have to fight their way thru. With regard to our schedule I feel we should play teams that are good and close by. I'm talking teams like Indiana, Michigan, Michigan state, Xavier,Kentucky and Cincinnati. Would be sweet to negotiate a home and home with Indiana to draw crowds. Also given our overall record against uva we should play them more often. Butler is someone we should play too. Teams like these are beatable and would look good as victories to pad our NCAA resume and bump up our shot for an at large bid. Playing in precseason tourneys with strong teams would be good for purpose of battle testing the team as well.

I understand the importance of playing a full 22 game round robin league schedule. Playing extra league schools are better than scheduling Wilbenforce, Rio, Heidelberg or Capital. As it stands now, the MAC regular season winner doesn't benefit from the grind of winning the regular season title. A few conferences like the Big South, Patriot and maybe one more play games at the higher seed. I would prefer the MAC stay in Cleveland, but the regular season winner doesn't get much of an advantage for a one bid league.

Some good thoughts here. Triple bye is good and bad in my opinion. It does put emphasis on regular season, but you also risk facing a hot team that's won a few games before you would even play a game. Tough one...but I see the logic here.