in 1984, the conference expanded to eight teams, adding la salle and holy cross, and no longer giving the 1 and 2 seeds first round/quarterfinal byes. in 1990, the conference expanded again, adding canisius, loyola md, niagara, and siena to bring the number of teams to twelve. to compensate for this, the maac was broken into north and south divisions. 1991 saw the conference lose army, holy cross and fordham to the patriot league, thus bringing the total number of members to nine. this tournament setup used an 8 vs 9 play-in game in the first round. this setup continued for two seasons until la salle left the maac for the mid western collegiate conference, bringing current membership to eight teams again.