the maac men's basketball tournament (popularly known as the maac tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the metro atlantic athletic conference (maac). the tournament has been held every year since 1982, the maac's first season. it is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. the winner, declared conference champion, receives the conference's automatic bid to the ncaa men's basketball tournament. the maac did not receive its automatic bid from the ncaa until 1984.