The 2009–10 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season was the 64th

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

season in the conference's existence. The conference features 12 teams in two divisions, East and West, who compete for the

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 ...

(MAC) regular season and tournament titles.

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, ...

won the MAC regular season title with a record of 13–3. Ninth-seeded

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 ...

won the MAC tournament received the MAC's automatic bid into the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level ...

tournament. There they defeated Georgetown 97–83 before losing to

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in the second round. Armon Bassett of Ohio was named the tournament MVP.

Pre-season

Coaching

None of the twelve teams made head coaching changes from last season, although some gave their coaches contract extensions.

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. T ...

gave head coach

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the a ...

a two-year contract extension after the Cardinals shared the MAC West Division title with

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

. Taylor finished second in the Coach of the Year ballot sponsored by the Conference and has held a 20–41 record since taking over the program. The contract extension will keep him at Ball State through March 31, 2014. Other changes with the Ball State program include Bob Simmons being promoted to associate head coach and Mitch Gilfillan hired as the Director of Basketball Operations. On the east side,

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 ...

gave their head coach

Louis Orr Louis McLaughlin Orr (May 7, 1958 – December 15, 2022) was an American basketball player and coach. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and became a college basketball coach. Orr was the head coach at Bowling ...

a two-year extension that would also keep him through the 2013–14 basketball season. He beat out Taylor for the MAC Coach of the Year ballot last season. In Orr's two seasons at Bowling Green he increased the team's conference winning percentage, going from 3–13 in the year prior to his arrival, to 7–9 and 11–5 in his two seasons at the institution. To complement the contract extension, Bowling Green announced that

Dennis Hopson Dennis Hopson (born April 22, 1965) is an American former basketball coach and professional player. A prolific scorer while playing at Ohio State University, Hopson's stellar shooting skills placed him second for the NCAA Men's Basketball Divis ...

would join the Falcons as an assistant coach. The

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

gave their head coach

Keith Dambrot Keith Brett Dambrot (born October 26, 1958) is an American former college basketball coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of Duquesne University. In his final year, he led them to their first tournament appearance since 197 ...

a lengthy contract extension, keeping him through the 2015–16 season. Dambrot had led the Zips to four consecutive 20-win seasons in his five years at Akron (his first season had 19 wins). Those five years were capped off with an

Tournament appearance in the 2008–09 season. However, the university lost a key assistant coach when it was announced that

Jeff Boals Jeff Boals (born September 5, 1972) is the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team. Boals spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team under the tutelage of Thad Matta. In his first head c ...

would leave to become an assistant at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. Boals was a key figure in recruiting Zeke Marshall, a 7-foot center who has been Akron's highest recruit in recent history. To replace Boals, Akron hired Dan Peters, former Ohio State assistant coach who helped lead the team to the 2007 National Championship Game. Peters role with the Zips will be the Director of Basketball Operations.

Media voting

On October 28, the members of the MAC News Media Panel voted in the Preseason Media Poll. They voted Akron as the favorite in the MAC East Division and Central Michigan in the MAC West Division. The Zips come off of a 2008 where they represented the Conference in the

2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2008– ...

, and Central Michigan won a share of the MAC West Division title last season. The media also took a vote on who they think would win the MAC tournament at the end of the season. Unlike the preseason votes, the media would only select the winner of the tournament, and not the placement of the teams afterwards. Akron received the most votes with 19, followed by Buffalo with two votes. Northern Illinois, Kent State, and Bowling Green each received one vote to win the tournament.

Exhibition games

All 12 MAC teams combined to play a total of 16 exhibition games. All of these games were against schools of lower divisions (

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II, for example). 15 of these 16 games were played in the home court of the MAC team, with the exclusion of a

Kent State Golden Flashes The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level with footba ...

game at the

College of Wooster {{Infobox university , image = College of Wooster seal.png , image_upright = .6 , name = The College of Wooster , former_names = University of Wooster (1866–1915) , motto ...

on November 7. Overall, MAC teams went 15–1 in these exhibition games, with the lone loss coming from the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

when they lost 48–56 against

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio, United States. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-y ...

. The largest margin of victory was 50 points, which was achieved in two games.

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

was able to beat

Marygrove College Marygrove College was a private Roman Catholic graduate college from 1905 to 2019 in Detroit, Michigan, affiliated with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. History The college grew out of a postgraduate tutorial offered to ...

with a score of 120–70, and the

were able to match that margin of victory with an 88–38 victory over

Mount Union College The University of Mount Union is a private liberal arts university in Alliance, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until 2019. It had an enrollment of 2,100 students as of 2023. Histo ...

Regular season

November

Five Mid-American Conference teams opened up their season on November 13, the first Friday after the

2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2009, and ended with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 5, 2010, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The openin ...

began.

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 ...

first played the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its foundin ...

in their home court in Maryland. While the RedHawks were able to build to a 42–37 lead at halftime, Towson would go on a 10–2 run in the second half and eventually sealing the victory with a final score of 82–71.

would also begin their season with a loss, losing 55–77 against intrastate opponent Northwestern

began their season with a win

Ohio Valley University Ohio Valley University was a private Christian college located between Parkersburg and Vienna in West Virginia. Founded in 1958 (with classes beginning in fall 1960), the school integrated education with teachings of the Christian faith. The co ...

by a score of 101–72 in the Convocation Center. Five Ohio players reached double-digits in scoring, led by Ivo Baltic who had 20 points in that game.

was also able to begin the season with a victory, theirs over

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

opponent Valparaiso. Six players from Ball State were able to score over ten points, which is the first time in over ten years that it has been accomplished by a team. The Cardinals won by a score of 88–78. Finally,

began their season by hosting a version of the 2009

Hispanic College Fund Hispanic College Fund, Inc. (HCF) is a nonprofit organization aiming to prepare Hispanic young people to become professionals in the future. It serves primarily high school and college students. It was founded in 1993 by a group of Hispanic business ...

Classic. Their first match-up in that tournament was against the

Samford Bulldogs The Samford Bulldogs are the 17 varsity teams (8 men's and 9 women's) that represent Samford University in NCAA Division I athletics. The men's basketball team made its first NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000. They were led by Reed Raw ...

. The Golden Flashes snuck out a win in that game, 69–66, to keep their home opener streak at 13 games.

BracketBusters

For the eighth year,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

organized an event that's known as the BracketBusters, which features teams from Mid-Major Conferences which face each other in order to improve their strength of schedule. The matchups will be announced on February 1 with the teams facing each other on February 19 or 20, 2010. The MAC is tied with the most teams in the event, with them and the

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

having 12 teams each featured in the field. Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami, and Ohio will all host games in their venues, while Akron, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, and Western Michigan travelling to opponents' arenas.

MAC Tournament

Post-season tournaments

Awards

All-MAC Preseason Team

As a part of the Preseason Media Poll, the members also voted on the Preseason All-MAC East and West Division teams. Akron and Eastern Michigan had two players in the East and West Division polls, respectively.