With little success from Mid-American Conference basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament recently (aside from Ohio's 97-83 win over Georgetown in 2010), conference officials announced on Thursday that they have revised the format of the conference tournament.
The new format, which is intended to give higher seeds an easier road to the finals, will grant a two-round bye to the top two seeds.
Therefore, the first and second seeded teams will only need to win two games to win the tournament.
Subsequently, first-round byes will be given to seeds three and four.
For the remaining teams, it will require four wins to cut down the nets in Cleveland, as the Bobcats did in 2010.
Also new in 2012, seeding will be determined by winning percentage rather than division. In the past, the two division winners held the top two seeds entering the tournament. That will not be the case this year.
"The new format will increase the importance of each regular season game and reward teams that excel during the regular season and bring greater value to the seeds earned by the top teams," MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher said in a release.
