Reports: Big Ten to stay at 20 conference games, invite 15 teams to tournament after expansion

NS_headshot_clearbackgroundby:Nick Schultz•01/26/24•

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As the Big Ten prepares to add four new teams, the league announced a new football schedule model last year. The next step was to figure out what was next for basketball, and that decision is coming soon, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported.

Starting with the 2024-25 season, the Big Ten will stay at 20 conference games as it expands to 18 teams with Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington. The league tournament will see a change, though, as 15 teams will make the field — leaving three programs out. There will be one more game on Wednesday of tournament weekend, according to The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil, and the winner will take on the No. 7 seed in the expanded field.

Currently, all 14 Big Ten teams make the tournament. But adding four more teams would make it a six-day event, which O’Neil reported would have been “too unwieldy.”

The Big Ten has played a 20-game conference schedule since 2017-18, and teams currently play seven teams twice and six teams once. While staying at 20 games looks like the plan, there’s one more piece of the puzzle left. The league will now have to decide how many times teams play each other under the new format.

A look at how the Big Ten, Big 12 will change after conference realignment

The four incoming teams were part of a groundbreaking wave of conference realignment, which saw the Pac-12 disperse. Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington headed to the Big Ten while the “Four Corners” school — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — headed to the Big 12.

If this year is any indication, the new college basketball landscape could get even more exciting.

At No. 51 in the KenPom rankings, Oregon would be in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten ahead of Northwestern and Maryland. Washington is also in the top 75, checking in at No. 73, and USC isn’t far off at No. 78.

In the Big 12, the four teams that joined the league this year are already making their presence known. Houston entered Friday ranked No. 1 in the KenPom rankings and BYU was at No. 9 in both programs’ first season in their new conference. Cincinnati is also in the top 50 at No. 32, putting 10 Big 12 teams in the top 50.

But three more teams are also putting together solid seasons. Arizona is No. 5 in KenPom, Colorado sits at No. 21 and Utah is at No. 30 in their final seasons before joining the Big 12. As a result, both the Big Ten and Big 12 could collectively level up in 2024-25 after expansion.