Big Ten Conference to Alter Basketball Tournaments Starting in 2025
Addition of four news teams will create only one additional spot in Big Ten Tournament
Posted On: January 30, 2024 By :The Big Ten Conference will expand its men’s and women’s basketball tournament fields to 15 teams, an increase of one from previous years, which means that three teams will miss the conference tournament starting with the 2024-2025 season.
The conference will welcome Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington starting this fall, increasing its membership to 18 schools. The tournaments will maintain a five-day schedule along with a double bye for each of the top four seeds, while seeds 5-9 will receive a single bye.
The 2024 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be hosted at Target Center in Minneapolis. The women’s event begins on Wednesday, March 6, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday, March 10. The men’s tournament tips off on Wednesday, March 13, with the title being handed out on Sunday, March 17.
The 2023 women’s basketball tournament in Minneapolis was the first the conference held outside of Indianapolis since 2015. The men’s tournament has been held in four different cities over the past six seasons, including Washington, D.C. (2017), New York City (2018), Chicago (2019) and Indianapolis (2020–2022) and Chicago (2023).
Both the men’s and women’s conference schedules will remain at 20 and 18 contests, respectively, for each school. The regular season conference scheduling allows for non-conference flexibility. Single-play home and away locations will rotate annually and two-play opponents will be determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography and rivalries.
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