This time next year, the Ivy League's top four teams will be preparing for a two-day tournament to determine the conference champion. The Ivy League is the last Division I conference to determine its champion based solely on its regular season record.
Though the team with the best conference record will still earn an "Ivy League Champion" distinction, it will be the tournament's winner that gets the NCAA bid. Yale is now officially the last Ivy League team to make the NCAA Tournament without winning a conference tournament.
"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. 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," Peter Salovey, Yale University's president and Council of Ivy League Presidents chair, said in a statement.
Both the men and women's tournaments will be held on March 11 and 12 at The Palestra in Philadelphia. The 2018 tournaments will be held on March 10 and 11, though the Ivy League has not yet determined the location. The conference has also not set a date or location for the 2019 tournaments.
Famously featuring eight members, the Ivy League will only invite its top four basketball teams to its conference tournament. The semifinal round will take place on Saturday and the finals will follow on the next day.
The Ivy League was known to be considering implementing a basketball tournament since December, and the decision to do so in time for next season seemed to be inevitable. Despite what the conference's leadership has said aloud, the Ivy League's fan base has seemingly wanted to keep things they way they were. But given the opportunity for a television contract and greater exposure, the decision was likely a no-brainer.
"These tournaments will be a great celebration of basketball," Kathy Delaney-Smith, Harvard's head women's basketball coach, said in the conference's statement. "They provide us the opportunity to feature our League during a time of year when national attention is focused on basketball."
