1) It wasn't unanimous and even Tod K voted against it originally.
2) It only lasted 4 years, 2012-15, reverting back to the original format in 2016. The format had the shortest lifespan of the 3 formats and seemingly the only reasons it's back are because Miami OH got embarrassed in the first round last year and Toledo couldn't end their drought despite being a 1 seed for 4 of the 6 years.
Yes, it's confirmed. Your latter format is what they're going with.
How does this make it any more difficult for a 5-8 to win? They get to avoid the top 2 teams in the league until the semis on Friday and get 2 warm up games to adjust to Rocket Arena.
The Sun Belt's gauntlet yielded a semifinals of 1v8 and 2v10, with 1v10 being the championship.
The now-previous format featured a top 2 seed in the Finals all 6 years, and a top 2 seed won it all 4 out of the 6 years. Ohio - a 5 seed in 2021 - was one of the non-top-2-seed winners and went on to win a game in the NCAAs and Akron - a 4 seed in 2022 - nearly beat UCLA in the NCAAs. I bring that up to say those anomalies were arguably the better teams in the MAC that didn't have the best regular seasons, but rose to the top when it mattered. It wasn't broken.
The suits need to quit trying to have their cake and eat it, too. If the goal is to have an advantageous format for the top 2 seeds, just put them into the Finals automatically. If the goal is to make more money, they should have left it how it was. Unless Kent/Akron/OU are playing on that Wednesday, those games will be far less attended than the all day marathon that was Thursdays.