Ivy League adds basketball tournaments beginning in 2017

The Ivy League is set to add women’s and men’s basketball tournaments to its slate of conference championships beginning with the 2016-17 academic year. The League’s Council of Presidents approved four-team tournaments in men’s and women’s basketball, with a one-game reduction for each team in the regular season. The tournaments will determine the conference’s automatic bids to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championships.  The 2017 tournaments will both be held March 11 and 12 at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

“The presidents adopted the proposal to establish men’s and women’s basketball tournaments after thoughtful discussions and careful review of the thorough information provided by our athletics directors and head coaches,” said Peter Salovey, Yale president and chair, Council of Ivy League Presidents. “Ultimately, this decision was based on enhancing the overall experience for our basketball student-athletes, while also paying attention to time demands by shortening the regular season.”

The format for each tournament will be two semifinal games on the first day (Saturday) with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed playing the No. 3 seed, followed by the championship game played the next day (Sunday). The winners will receive the league’s automatic bids to the NCAA Division I championship. The teams that finish with the best records from the 14-game, regular-season conference schedule will continue to be recognized as Ivy League champions.

“These tournaments will be a great celebration of basketball, said Harvard head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “They provide us the opportunity to feature our league during a time of year when national attention is focused on basketball.”

The 2018 tournaments will be played March 10 and 11. The location of the 2018 tournaments and the location and dates of the 2019 tournaments will be announced at a later date.