Named in honor of students and alumni who gave their lives in World War II, the MAC Center remains a living memorial in an age of corporate and large donor naming rights.
With a capacity of 6,327 the MAC Center is just the right size for basketball in this conference.
Built in 1950, the MAC Center has seen the ups and downs of Kent State basketball and is a great spot to catch some basketball MACtion. The home for the Golden Flashes is the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. Entering the tournament as a 10 seed, the Golden Flashes would go on to upset number 7, Oklahoma State, number 2 Alabama and number 3 Pitt. In 2002, the Golden Flashes made it all the way to the Elite Eight, the best showing in Kent State history. All this sounds great, however it was the 2002 Kent State team that tops them all. The regular season MAC title was also won by Kent State in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 20. Those same years the Golden Flashes made appearances in the NCAA tournament. The Golden Flashes have slowly grown to a strong team in the conference winning the MAC Tournament in 1999, 2001, 2002, 20. However, basketball at Kent State should not take a back seat to football, golf nor tragedy. The Golden Flashes have a number of distinguished alumni including baseball legend Thurman Munson, football great Jack Lambert and golfer Ben Curtis. With over 30,000 students, Kent State University is a significant member of the Mid-American Conference, where they have been a member since 1951, just five years after the founding of the conference. A decent sized university established in 1910, Kent State is located just south of Cleveland in the college town of Kent, Ohio. It’s unfortunate that Kent State is most known for the tragedy that happened in 1970 with the shootings by the Ohio National Guard.