How To Watch the 2014 MAC Basketball Tournament: Gametime, TV, Streaming & More

The 2014 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament (presented by Barbasol, so don't even think of coming to it without a clean-shaven face) tips off Monday night with Round 1 taking place on campus sites. Over the course of the next week the field will whittle down from 12 teams ot one. Think of it as the MAC Basketball Royal Rumble, if you like.

This year, thanks to the new ESPN MAC Digital Network, it's easier than ever to catch the MAC Tournament action. Not only can you head out to one of our lovely campuses for Round 1, or make the trip to gorgeous (eye of the beholder) downtown Cleveland for the rest of the action, but you can catch every single game online. Most of the action can also be found on TV this year as well, either on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, or on ESPN2 (Championship game only).

First, let's explain how the tournament works, so you can understand how and when to watch the games. (Here's a full breakdown of the 2014 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament bracket as well). The MAC Tournament is set up to reward the conference's top teams heavily. The Top 2 teams, in this case WMU and Toledo, receive direct byes into the semifinals games, which take place Friday, March 14 in Cleveland, starting at 6:30 p.m. The No. 3 and No. 4 teams (Buffalo, Akron) get direct byes into the quarterfinals, also in Cleveland, on Thursday, March 13 starting at 6:30 p.m. The bottom eight seeds receive no byes, and comprise Round 1.

Round 1 is hosted on the campus sites, so Monday night, starting at 7 p.m. (all times are Eastern) the 2014 MAC Tournament officially begins. The winners of those four games advance to Round 2, in Cleveland on Wednesday March 12 starting at 6:30 p.m. It is straight-forward from there, with the winners of those games advancing to the quarterfinals, and so on.

Because of all of the Round 1 games taking place at the same time, they will not be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, at least not according to the channels official guide. All games in Round 2, the quarterfinals and the semifinals will be on TWC SportsChannel (not sure if you have it or where it's available, check here). The Championship game moves over to ESPN2 on Saturday night.

All games (including Round 1) will also be available for streaming online via ESPN3, WatchESPN and the MAC-Sports.com Digital Network. There is of course a catch to that. The ESPN3 & WatchESPN streams are subject to blackout, especially if you're an Ohio resident. That's where the MAC-Sports.com streams come in handy. They are not subject to blackout, and though not nearly as high in quality, they're 100 percent free (no login even required).

Enough blabbering, here's a full breakdown of when, where and how to watch the games. It will be updated nightly to show which teams have moved on.