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

The 2014 Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament tips off tonight and concludes in five days with the crowning of a champion.  There is bound to be endless amounts of #MACtion during the 11 games that will take place this week, and we want you to experience every last second of it.

The main attractions to the tournament are obviously Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Akron.  Those three teams dominated the league in ways seen very rarely in conference history.  The three went a combined 47-7 in conference play this season but were 42-2 against the other nine teams.  Of course, this doesn't mean there will be nothing to watch in the early rounds.  Eastern Michigan just knocked off Central Michigan on Saturday and plays two dynamic freshmen.  Miami upset Akron early in the season.  Ball State and Toledo have shown that they're capable of standing toe-to-toe with the teams at the top.  One-and-done tournaments can provide wacky happenings, and this year should be no different.

First, let's explain how the tournament works, so you can understand how and when to watch the games. (Here's a full seed-by-seed breakdown of the 2014 MAC Women's Basketball Tournament bracket.) The MAC Tournament is set up to reward the conference's top teams in the regular season. The goal is to get the best team possible into the NCAA Tournament. The two with the best regular-season records receive direct byes into the semifinals, while the third and fourth teams get direct byes into the third round. The bottom eight seeds receive no byes and comprise the four first-round games.

This year's first through third round games will be broadcast exclusively online via the MAC Digital Network, which you can access at the MAC's website. The semifinals and championship game will all be broadcast on the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel and will also be available online through ESPN3 and the MAC's website. The streaming at mac-sports.com is free.  However, it should be noted (particularly for residents in the MAC's geographical footprint) that the Time Warner broadcasts may be subject to blackout on ESPN3.

There are other ways to follow the tournament that don't involve television or live streaming. You can access audio feeds through individual school websites, which you can find all in one place at mac-sports.com. If you cannot watch or listen but still want to follow the games as they happen, the MAC's tournament website will have links to live stats. And aside from following us on Twitter, we'd also suggest that you follow Phil Burwell (@PBurwellMAC), who is the MAC's media relations guru for women's basketball.

Time for talk is over. Here's a complete breakdown of when, where and how to watch the games. It will be updated nightly to show which teams have moved on.