MAC Releases 2012-13 Conference Basketball Schedule

The Mid-American Conference released its 2012-13 men’s basketball conference composite schedule on Wednesday, which features a total of 192 games.

The MAC season will begin on Jan. 9 with a full slate of games highlighted by a showdown between preseason favorites Ohio and Buffalo. The season will conclude with the FirstEnergy MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena, March 13-16.

Big things are expected from the MAC in 2012-13 as defending tournament champion Ohio and defending regular season champion Akron each return more than enough pieces to be players on the national scene.

The Bobcats return every contributor from the team that was a regulation point away from stunning top-seeded North Carolina and becoming the first 13 seed to ever advance to a regional final. That postseason run should help the perception of the MAC, which has been overshadowed in recent years by mid-major conferences like the Colonial, Horizon and Missouri Valley.

If the Zips and Bobcats can make some noise in the early part of the season and then avoid those bad losses which seem to always plague the MAC’s top teams during the heart of the conference grind, the league could see multiple members having their names called on Selection Sunday.

Here’s the complete MAC schedule for 2012-13: