Rosemont, Illinois – As part of its ongoing preparations to add four new member institutions during the 2024-25 academic year, the Big Ten Conference on Tuesday announced details regarding future regular season and postseason competition structures for men's and women's basketball.
Starting next season, the Big Ten men's and women's basketball tournament fields will be expanded to include 15 teams (up from 14), a format that maintains the five-day event schedule, provides access to all teams competing for postseason invitations, and will maintain the bye double for each of the top four seeds while seeds 5-9 will get one bye.
Men's and women's conference schedules will remain at 20 and 18 contests, respectively, for each school. This allows for non-conference scheduling flexibility, conforms to peer scheduling formats and increases the chances of NCAA postseason berths. Home/Away single play locations will rotate annually, and competitors in the two games will be determined taking into account competitive balance, geography and rivalries.
The 2024 Big Ten women's and men's basketball tournaments will be hosted at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The women's event begins on Wednesday, March 6, and the championship match is scheduled for Sunday, March 10, broadcast on CBS for the first time in its history. The men's tournament begins on Wednesday, March 13, and the title will be distributed on Sunday, March 17.
Fans who wish to purchase tickets for all sessions within their university's reserved fan block are encouraged to contact their school's ticket office. Tickets are also available at the Target Center box office or online at the website AXS.com.