MAC Preview: 2026-27 College Basketball Predictions & Best Bets Recap
Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) and Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) break down the 2026-27 MAC basketball preview, from Miami of Ohio chasing another regular season title after going 31-0 to Akron starting over under Dustin Ford. They also pick who wins it all in Cleveland.
Miami’s 31-0 Season And Akron’s Cleveland Three-Peat
Last season gave the MAC two NCAA bids, and Ryan McIntyre, aka Moneyline Mac, saw a lot of it courtside. Travis Steele and Miami ran the regular-season table at 31-0. Then Frank Martin and UMass knocked the RedHawks out of the conference tournament. That opened the door for John Groce and Akron to win a third straight MAC title. The Zips went 17-1 in league play, and their only loss came at Miami. So they were a little bitter about never getting the rematch. Toledo also pushed them in the final, building a 17-point lead before Akron came back.
Miami still got the at-large bid and won its play-in game, with the guys screaming Miami moneyline through the second half. Tennessee then trampled the RedHawks in the first round. Akron got smoked by Texas Tech, and Groce left for the Charleston job. Noah Bieniek still has a sore spot about Toledo, because he picked Coach K’s team to win the tournament. The Rockets blew that second half. Todd Kowalczyk has now gone 17 seasons at Toledo without a MAC tournament title. Meanwhile Kent State quietly went 24-10 and 14-4 under Rob Senderoff, and almost nobody talked about it.
The 2026-27 MAC Basketball Preview Storylines
The biggest change is the schedule. The MAC moves to 22 league games, a full round-robin, and the conference tournament adds double byes. Noah loves it, because Miami nearly got left out of the NCAA field last year after losing one conference tournament game. Mac is less sold. He likes the old three-games-in-three-days grind, and he thinks the UMass loss was a blessing in disguise for a tired Miami team. Also gone is Northern Illinois, which left for the Horizon League in most sports and the Mountain West in football. The Huskies had only three winning conference records this century, so Mac calls it dropping dead weight.
Noah’s league trend is simple. In six divisionless seasons, 18 teams have finished in the top three. Only one of them lacked a top-five offense and defense. Four new coaches also arrive. Dustin Ford takes over Akron after years as Groce’s right-hand man, so Mac expects no drop-off. Billy Donlon comes to Eastern Michigan after winning at Wright State and working with Brad Brownell. Khalil Fennell jumps from UT Rio Grande Valley to Western Michigan. Then Chris Kapko comes to Ball State from Andy Enfield’s staffs at SMU and USC. And Andy Bronkema enters year two at Central Michigan after an up-and-down debut.
Stock Up, Stock Down
Noah’s stock-up team is Western Michigan, which tied for last at 4-14 in league play and went 10-21 overall. Fennell did a phenomenal job at UTRGV. Western Michigan is also spending, including a roughly $500 million arena that is mainly built for hockey. Fennell brings two UTRGV players along with Rob Lee Jr., one of the best guards in the Southland. Lee is a Metro Detroit kid out of D2 Wayne State, and he can flat-out shoot. The hole is an undersized frontcourt that leans on German big man Janis Tjunman. So Noah has the Broncos sixth, up from last.
Mac goes stock up on his Minutemen, and nobody was surprised. UMass sits close behind Miami and Akron in NIL spending, and it returns two key contributors. Mac likes Wang, a stretch four from the Dons, and Clayden from Northwestern. He also expects a more athletic team, because Frank Martin’s group was oddly better on offense than defense last year. Noah adds BYU transfer Abdullah Ahmed, who averaged a block and a half in 12.5 minutes a game. That gives UMass six players at 6’9 or bigger. And Frank’s pressure defense needs exactly that kind of rim protection behind it.
On the stock-down side, Noah fades Buffalo. Daniel Freitag and Ryan Sable were unbelievable last year, and both transferred out. Noah has never fully bought the Bulls’ coach as a guy who gets the most out of a roster. So he sees Buffalo sinking back under .500 with four or five league wins, and he has them 12th. Mac’s stock-down pick is Miami, mostly because 31-0 has nowhere to go but down. The RedHawks lose three of their four main starters, Suter and Byers included. Mac still expects 20-plus wins, but no back-to-back regular-season title.
Akron Or Miami For The Regular-Season Crown
That sets up the real split. Noah has Miami winning the league again. The RedHawks return both primary backcourt ball handlers from the unbeaten team. Evan Esparo was also the starting point guard before a season-ending injury after 10 games. Big man Wolfark is the X factor, and if he isn’t back, Ball State transfer Preston Copeland is the concern. Steele has posted a top-three MAC offense and defense in back-to-back years. Noah admits Miami is vulnerable, but two all-conference guards make them hard to beat any night. He also sees seven wins or better in a nine-game non-conference slate.
Mac takes Akron and Ford in year one. He likes what the Zips kept, plus the shot-making they added from Incarnate Word and Illinois State. Ford has been with Groce for 20 years, so the culture and system stay put. Noah calls it the best roster in the league but still slots Akron second, because Ford has to show him. Akron has also finished top three in all six divisionless seasons. The projected starters are old, with Taj Stafsky plus Ty Pence and Collin White on the wings. And if Evan Mahaffey is eligible, Noah says it is clearly the best roster in the MAC.
Toledo, Kent State And UMass Round Out The Top Five
Noah has Toledo third. The Rockets have posted a top-three MAC offensive efficiency for seven straight seasons, per KenPom. Coach K also returns the league’s fifth-most minutes and adds three guard transfers. Sean Jones comes from Marquette, Rich Baron from Providence and Angel Montas from UMass Lowell. Austin Parks headlines the returning bigs. So the starting lineup is one of the league’s best, and defense stays the only real question. Mac has UMass third instead, but he still sees a gap between the Minutemen and the top two. Then both guys land on Kent State at four.
Kent State is the defensive bet. Senderoff’s offense has finished top five in the MAC for five straight years. Meanwhile his deep frontcourt has produced the league’s best and fourth-best defense in back-to-back seasons. Noah admits it is a portal roster without an obvious lead guard, but he trusts the system. The order flips at five, with Noah on UMass and Mac on Toledo. Mac points out Kowalczyk has not finished outside the top four since 2016. Fifth would be his worst finish in a decade, because Mac worries about the guards he lost. But Noah’s answer is that Coach K loses guards every year and just reloads.
Bowling Green, Ohio And The Bottom Six
Both guys have Western Michigan sixth. Mac says the zero returning minutes number is misleading, because Fennell brought over Rio Grande guys who won 20 games last year. Then Noah plants his flag on Bowling Green at seven. Todd Simon is exactly 27-27 in the MAC through three seasons. The Falcons have posted a top-half defensive efficiency every year, and last season they had the league’s second-best defense. Jayden Johnson, a strong point guard at South Carolina State, could run it alongside Josiah Shackleford. Mac flips those two, with Ohio seventh and Bowling Green eighth. He thinks the young Bobcats take lumps early and play well by conference play.
Noah stays lower on Ohio, which he has eighth. The Bobcats used to live in the league’s top quartet, but they have played faster lately and the new pieces worry him. Next come the directional Michigan schools. Noah has Central ninth, because Bronkema returns the most minutes in the MAC. Bronkema also went 278-105 in 12 seasons at Ferris State and won a D2 national title. Mac has Eastern Michigan ninth and Central tenth. Noah puts EMU tenth, though he thinks Muhammad Habhab, who averaged 14 and 8.5 in 36 minutes a game, becomes all-conference. Then both guys finish with Ball State 11th and Buffalo 12th.
Cleveland Picks And Season Awards
For the tournament in Cleveland, Noah goes back to the well with Toledo. Mac nearly took UMass, but Frank Martin teams always hit a February wall. Even the Final Four year at South Carolina lost six of nine down the stretch. So Mac takes Miami to win the conference tournament this time around. For coach of the year, both guys land on Ford at Akron. Mac, who called Dustin Ford by his brother Geno’s name most of the night, also has the Zips winning the league outright. Noah flags Central Michigan’s 7’2″ D2 transfer Conrad Lechinsky as a name to know. Player of the year splits, with Noah on Miami’s lead guard and Mac on Mahaffey if he gets cleared.
2026-27 College Basketball Conference Previews
| MEAC | AMERICA EAST | NEC |
| MAAC | BIG EAST | SOCON |
| PATRIOT LEAGUE | OVC | ASUN |
| UAC | BIG SOUTH | SWAC |
| SOUTHLAND | SUMMIT LEAGUE | SUN BELT |
| BIG SKY | HORIZON LEAGUE | IVY LEAGUE |
| CUSA | BIG WEST | CAA |
| PAC 12 | BIG TEN | ACC |
| MAC |
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
01:06 Welcome to the College Basketball Experience MACtion Preview
03:23 Miami, Akron and Last Year’s MAC Tournament
07:51 MAC Storylines: 22-Game Schedule, NIU Exit & New Coaches
18:48 Stock Up: Western Michigan and UMass
25:07 Stock Down: Buffalo and Miami of Ohio
28:09 Winning the Regular Season: Miami of Ohio or Akron
35:38 Kent State, UMass and Toledo in the Top Five
39:13 Western Michigan, Bowling Green and Ohio
43:22 Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Ball State and Buffalo
48:33 Tournament Winner, Coach of the Year & Player of the Year
55:00 Sign-Off & Socials
