Report: Momentum growing for Big Ten to not include all 18 teams in league basketball tournament

We all know football is the main drive behind conference expansion. The Big Ten has added four West Coast schools — Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington — making them one of the largest conferences in the country. While the football schedule has been figured out, adjustments are still needed to sports such as basketball.

While a scheduling format has not been released, there are reportedly discussions about changing the Big Ten Tournament. With 18 teams now being involved, the Big Ten could only invite a select number of teams to the end-of-season event. Jon Rothstein says as many as four teams could stay at home depending on their conference record.

“Momentum is growing for the Big Ten to only have 14 or 15 teams participate in the Big Ten Tournament when the league expands to 18 teams during the 2024-25 season, multiple sources told College Hoops Today,” Rothstein said. “There is no timetable on an official announcement. Discussions have been ongoing with conference administrators over the past couple of weeks.”

Currently, all 14 Big Ten members make the tournament. The top four seeds are automatically placed in the quarterfinals, while the bottom four have to play on Wednesday in the first round. Finishing higher in the standings theoretically gives an easier path toward lifting a trophy.

Maybe conference officials view 18 teams as too many for a five-day tournament. Thankfully, there will be time for a decision to be made. The 2025 Big Ten Tournament will be the first go-round with all 18 teams playing in the regular season, with there not currently being a destination for the event.

In the final year of what has been modern Big Ten basketball in 2023-2024, the Target Center in Minneapolis will play host for the first time ever in March 2024. The typical format will be used where 14 teams compete for a Big Ten Tournament championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

The four West Coast schools will compete in the Pac-12 Tournament, hoping to make their final season in the conference special. But for the 2024-2025 season, Big Ten patches will be on their uniforms.

Before then though, some details need to be figured out by new commissioner Tony Petitti. Not sending every team to a conference tournament has been done before, especially in baseball. Maybe it can be used in basketball to help condense the overall weekend for the conference.