Back in late October, the Kent State men’s basketball team was selected to place third in the Mid-American Conference East Division, as voted on by the coaches.

Often feeling like they’ve been disrespected, criticized and overlooked by the bulk of the league, the Flashes stormed into the 2014-2015 season with a chip on their shoulders, and more importantly, something to prove.

Fast-forward more than four months and they have certainly proven many doubters wrong.

Instead of finishing third in the MAC East Division, as forecasted in October, Kent State now enters the MAC Tournament fray as the No. 3 seed with a share of the overall conference title.

Finally, Kent State (12-6 MAC) stands atop of a deep Mid-American Conference field headed into the MAC Tournament this week with a large stake in the regular season title, tied with No. 1 seed Central Michigan and No. 2 seed Buffalo, who all finished their seasons with league-leading 12-6 MAC tabs.

The narrow, hard-fought 79-77 victory over Akron on Friday night gave the Flashes their first taste of a MAC crown since 2011, the year Rob Senderoff took over as head coach.

Kent State’s last game of the season, that carried heavy playoff implications, didn’t come without its fair share of drama.

On senior night, the senior backcourt trio of Derek Jackson, Devereaux Manley and Kris Brewer started together and combined for 52 of the Flashes’ 79 points on a 14-for-26 shooting from the field and an 8-for-12 shooting performance from beyond the arc.

Jackson led the way for his team, finishing with 22 points, but it was Brewer’s last-second, buzzer-beating layup at the end of regulation that defeated Akron and sent the Flashes to the MAC Tournament quarterfinal as the No. 3 seed. For his efforts Friday, Brewer was also named the Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week for the final week of the season, the league office announced Saturday afternoon.

Brewer and company only controlled a small portion of their playoff fate, though, as their standing was amply determined by the outcome of Central Michigan’s game against Western Michigan on Friday night.

Kent State’s one-game ascent to the top of the leaderboards received a little help from the Broncos, who defeated Central Michigan to position the Chippewas in a three-way tie with Kent State and Buffalo for the Mid-American Conference regular season championship.

When the smoke of Friday night’s regular season finale cleared, Central remained ahead in the standings and Buffalo landed a bye to the semifinals Friday, while Kent State and Toledo earned byes to Thursday’s quarterfinals, with these games being played at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

No. 1 Central Michigan, No. 2 Buffalo and No. 3 Kent are all tied for the overall league title at 12-6, while Toledo (11-7 MAC) claimed the No. 4 seed via a tiebreaker with No. 5 Bowling Green (11-7 MAC). The Rockets toppled the Falcons, 71-67, in the teams’ only meeting this season, thus giving Toledo a seeding edge despite even records.

The No. 6 Western Michigan Broncos follows Bowling Green with a 10-8 conference record, No. 7 Akron (9-9 MAC) behind them, and so on.

Before the first round of the MAC Tournament begins Monday, below is a quick look at how Kent State stacks up against the competition. The first round will be played at the respective teams’ campus sites, and the second round, quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will be played inside The Q.

Here are the pairings:

FIRST ROUND

Game 1: No. 12 Ball State (7-22, 2-16 MAC) at No. 5 Bowling Green (19-10, 11-7 MAC)

Game 2: No. 9 Miami (13-18, 8-10 MAC) at No. 8 Eastern Michigan (19-12, 8-10 MAC)

Game 3: No. 11 Ohio (10-19, 5-13 MAC) at No. 6 Western Michigan (19-12, 10-8 MAC)

Game 4: No. 10 Northern Illinois (14-15, 8-10 MAC) at No. 7 Akron (18-13, 9-9 MAC)

SECOND ROUND

Game 5: BSU/BGSU winner vs. Miami/EMU winner

Game 6: Ohio/WMU winner vs. NIU/Akron winner

QUARTERFINALS

Game 7: No. 4 Toledo (19-12, 11-7 MAC) vs. Game 5 winner

Game 8: No. 3 Kent State (21-10, 12-6 MAC) vs. Game 6 winner

SEMIFINALS

Game 9: No. 1 Central Michigan (22-7, 12-6 MAC) vs. Game 7 winner

Game 10: No. 2 Buffalo (21-9, 12-6 MAC) vs. Game 8 winner

CHAMPIONSHIP

Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner

Kent State will play its first tournament game in the quarterfinals Thursday, March 12, against Ohio, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois or Akron; all teams Kent State had the opportunity to face this season.

The Championship game will be played Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. and aired on ESPN2.

Contact Richard Mulhall at [email protected].