🏀 2026-27 MAC Preview 🏀 Team to watch: Miami (OH). The RedHawks are coming off the most remarkable season in program history, 32-2, a perfect 18-0 in conference, and their first NCAA Tournament bid in over two decades. The engine of that run, Peter Suder, is now in the NBA with the Lakers, so Miami’s floor this year rests on how much Luke Skaljac (10.3 PPG, team-high in assists) and Antwone Woolfolk can absorb. The defending regular-season champs, reloading: Akron. John Groce’s group has won three straight MAC Tournament titles, and now the bet is on Evan Mahaffey leaping from honorable mention (10.1 PPG a year ago) to Player of the Year. That’s a real jump to project, but Mahaffey’s two-way profile, leading the team in steals and tied for the team lead in blocks, gives the swing some shape. Here’s the thing about Ohio: they almost got left off this board entirely. Jackson Paveletzke was First Team All-MAC last season and is back for a fifth year, pairing with Javan Simmons to give the Bobcats as complete a returning tandem as anyone not named Akron or Miami. Easy to overlook with so much roster turnover across the league, but Ohio returns more proven production than most of the teams picked above them. Storylines worth watching: - Miami trying to prove last year wasn’t a ceiling, replacing a Player of the Year without missing a step. - Evan Mahaffey’s path from honorable mention to Player of the Year favorite, the kind of jump that either validates the pick or exposes it fast. - Buffalo’s J.J. Starling, a former McDonald’s All-American who averaged 13.8 points at Syracuse, trying to be the engine of a team picked outside the top half. - Eastern Michigan’s total reset under Billy Donlon, a new staff and a transfer-heavy roster trying to climb out of five years of losing. Player who can’t be ignored: Jackson Paveletzke. First Team All-MAC last season, back for a bonus year, and the rare proven commodity on a roster-turnover-heavy conference. If Ohio outperforms its 4th-place projection, this is almost certainly why. Fun fact: Four of last year’s five First Team All-MAC selections are gone from the conference entirely, one to the NBA, one to the Big 12, one to the Horizon League tournament trail at a new school, and one simply out of eligibility. Paveletzke is the only one left standing, and he’s not even my Player of the Year pick.