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The 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament tips off Thursday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. In the MAC, the top 8 teams qualify for the conference tournament, leaving Bowling Green (11-20, 5-13 MAC), Central Michigan (10-21, 5-13), Eastern Michigan (8-23, 5-13) and Western Michigan (8-23, 4-14) out of the festivities.

The first game of Thursday’s early session tips at 11 a.m. ET (ESPN+). The title game is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2).

Below, we analyze lines around the 2023 MAC Tournament futures odds and make our expert college basketball picks and predictions.

The Toledo Rockets (25-6) won the regular-season title — their 3rd outright in a row — behind a 16-2 record inside the conference. G RayJ Dennis led the way with 19.4 points per game (PPG), good for 2nd in the MAC, while leading the league with 5.9 assists per game (APG).

The Kent State Golden Flashes (25-6, 15-3) gave chase up to the finale, falling a game short of sharing the title. G Sincere Carry is the big man on campus for the Flashes, going for 17.4 PPG and 4.9 APG.

In fact, 3 teams from the state of Ohio placed 1-2-3 in the standings with the Akron Zips (21-10, 13-5) completing the trifecta with a 3rd-place showing.

The Zips are the defending MAC Tournament champs. Akron dumped Kent State 75-55 last March in the title game behind the exploits of F Enrique Freeman (game-high 23 points). The Zips were 1-point underdogs in that contest.

Freeman was the conference’s top rebounder, pulling down 11.1 per game to finish as the MAC’s only  player in double-digits in the category. He was 2nd in the league with a 60.5% field-goal percentage (according to the league’s official website) and 9th in scoring (16.5 PPG). Akron also had the MAC’s top scorer in G Xavier Castaneda, who filled up the stat sheet with 21.4 PPG – good enough for 12th in the country.

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MAC Tournament futures odds

Provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 3:09 a.m. ET.

1 seed: Toledo Rockets +150 (bet $100 to win $150)

2 seed: Kent State Golden Flashes +200 (bet $100 to win $200)

3 seed: Akron Zips +350 (bet $100 to win $350)

4 seed: Ohio Bobcats +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000)

5 seed: Ball State Cardinals +1500 (bet $100 to win $1,500)

6 seed: Buffalo Bulls +2000 (bet $100 to win $2,000)

7 seed: Northern Illinois Huskies +8000 (bet $100 to win $8,000)

8 seed: Miami (Ohio) RedHawks +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000)

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MAC Tournament expert pick and prediction

Akron Zips (+350)

To be the champ, you have to beat the champ. The Zips know what it takes to get to the top of the mountain. Look for Akron to repeat and become the first back-to-back MAC Tournament winner since Buffalo (2018 and 2019).

Along with the MAC’s top scorer in Castaneda, the Zips feature Freeman, who was last season’s tourney MVP. The duo give Akron a tremendous one-two punch. G Trendon Hankerson can be a serviceable tertiary scorer, too, posting 8.9 PPG, although he is rather erratic in the FG department, struggling at 37.6% (92 of 245), per the team’s official website. However, he did hit 37.5% of his 3-point attempts (69 of 184).

The Zips aren’t a great shooting team, so that’s the concern with picking Akron to go all the way. Despite a subpar 43.9% FG percentage (ranking 10th in the MAC), it still managed 73.8 PPG (7th) and hit 35.1% from behind the arc (4th). Defensively, the Zips limited opponents to 66.2 PPG (2nd behind Kent State’s 65.4%), although they are susceptible to the 3-pointer, allowing teams to hit at a 34.5% clip (7th).

Top 25: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

MAC Tournament contenders

These teams are worth a futures bet to win the conference title.

Toledo Rockets (+150)

The Rockets are the chalk, but they certainly have flaws. The good news is that Toledo led the league in scoring (85.7 PPG) and swept the regular-season series against defending conference tournament champ Akron. The bad news is that Toledo was worked over by Kent State 75-63 back on Jan. 10, though the Golden Flashes were 4-point home favorites.

Along with Dennis, Toledo has F JT Shumate, who racked up 16.5 PPG and hit 41.5% of his 3-point attempts. F Setric Millner Jr. chipped in with 15.9 PPG, giving the Rockets a solid 3-headed scoring monster.

However, defense wins championships and the Rockets had ugly numbers on that end of the floor. They allowed 76.1 PPG to rank 320th in the country according to NCAA.com, while opponents hit 45.8% from the field (298th) and 36.1% from 3 (299th), which also ranked 11th in the 12-team MAC.

If the Rockets don’t improve defensively, they’ll have a tough time winning this tournament.

Kent State Golden Flashes (+200)

As mentioned above, the Golden Flashes finished 1 game back of the Rockets for the regular-season title despite beating Toledo by 12 in their lone regular-season meeting, which was at Kent. The Flashes split with the 3rd-place Zips, winning 89-84 in overtime as 5-point home favorites in Friday’s regular-season finale, and losing 67-55 as 1-point road favorites Feb. 3.

Kent, which has won 7 of its last 8 games, can light up the scoreboard like Toledo, going for 76.0 PPG (5th in the MAC), although it is a poor 3-point shooting team at 33.7% (8th). However, Kent State is a much more superior defensive club than Toledo as the Golden Flashes led the MAC in least points allowed (65.4). They really threw a blanket on the opposition during the season, holding teams to a 40.1% FG percentage — 1st in the MAC and 18th in the country.

MAC Tournament long shots

Ball State Cardinals (+1500)

The Cardinals (20-11, 11-7) have the 5th-longest odds to cut down the nets after Saturday’s title game, but they are a 20-win team with plenty of confidence.

Ball State scored a 12-point win (82-70) over Kent State Feb. 21, cashing outright as a 3-point home underdog. The Rockets also scored an impressive 90-83 victory at Toledo Jan. 3 as 8.5-point underdogs. In fact, Ball State seems to relish the underdog role lately, covering in 2 of its last 3 games when it was getting points.

OHIO BOBCATS (+1000)

Ohio is almost like a poor man’s Toledo. This team can score with the best of them, but it doesn’t put up much resistance defensively.

The Bobcats went for 78.6 PPG, 2nd in the MAC and 34th in the country. If Ohio gets hot from behind the arc, it could be dangerous. The Bobcats hit 37.2% from downtown, good for 36th in the nation. F Dwight Wilson III is a handful, going for 15.9 PPG and 9.1 RPG, and he hit 62.0% from the field.

Defensively, the ‘Cats allowed 72.9 PPG, which was 4th in the conference but 261st in the country. Defense will likely be their downfall. Still, Ohio is worth a small-unit play for a chance to cash a 10-to-1 payout.

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