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Horizon League men's basketball tournament
College tournament in Indiana, U.S.
College tournament in Indiana, U.S.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Horizon League men's basketball tournament |
| image | Horizon_League_2024_logo.svg |
| image_size | 200 |
| sport | College basketball |
| conference | Horizon League |
| number_of_teams | 12 |
| format | Single-elimination tournament |
| current_stadium | Corteva Coliseum |
| current_location | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| years | 1980–present |
| most_recent | 2024 |
| current_champion | Oakland (1) |
| most_championships | Butler Bulldogs (7) |
| television | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+ |
| website | https://horizonleague.org/tournaments/?id=63 |
| all_stadiums | Roberts Municipal Stadium (1980–1983) |
| Campus locations (1981, 2003–2015, 2019–present) | |
| Frederickson Fieldhouse (1981) | |
| Riverfront Coliseum (1981, 1992) | |
| Mabee Center (1982, 1985) | |
| UIC Pavilion (1984, 1999–2000) | |
| Market Square Arena (1986–1988, 1993) | |
| University of Dayton Arena (1989–1991) | |
| Hinkle Fieldhouse (1994, 2004, 2008–2010) | |
| Nutter Center (1995–1997, 2001, 2007, 2014) | |
| Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (1998) | |
| CSU Convocation Center (2002) | |
| U.S. Cellular Arena (2003–2006, 2011) | |
| Athletics–Recreation Center (2012–2013, 2015) | |
| Resch Center (2014) | |
| Joe Louis Arena (2016–2017)/Little Caesars Arena (2018–2019) | |
| Indiana Farmers/Corteva Coliseum (2020–present) |
Campus locations (1981, 2003–2015, 2019–present) Frederickson Fieldhouse (1981) Riverfront Coliseum (1981, 1992) Mabee Center (1982, 1985) UIC Pavilion (1984, 1999–2000) Market Square Arena (1986–1988, 1993) University of Dayton Arena (1989–1991) Hinkle Fieldhouse (1994, 2004, 2008–2010) Nutter Center (1995–1997, 2001, 2007, 2014) Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (1998) CSU Convocation Center (2002) U.S. Cellular Arena (2003–2006, 2011) Athletics–Recreation Center (2012–2013, 2015) Resch Center (2014) Joe Louis Arena (2016–2017)/Little Caesars Arena (2018–2019) Indiana Farmers/Corteva Coliseum (2020–present)}}
The Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament is held annually at the end of the men's college basketball regular season. The tournament has been played each year since 1980. The winner of the tournament is designated the Horizon League tournament champion and receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The finals of the tournament are typically among the first held before the field for the NCAA tournament is announced.
History and tournament format
Through 2002, the entire tournament was hosted at a single venue. From 2003 through 2015, all first-round matches were played at the home court of the higher-seeded team involved. Hosting rights for the quarterfinals and semifinals were awarded to the winner of the regular season championship. The championship game was played at the home arena of the higher remaining seed. This format rewarded the regular-season champion and runner-up with a double-bye into the semifinals. The regular-season champion received the added benefit of home-court advantage in the semifinals, plus a home-court final if it won its semifinal.
Beginning in 2009, the Horizon League secured an entitlement sponsorship of its men's and women's basketball tournaments with Speedway SuperAmerica, a major gas and convenience store chain throughout the midwest United States, officially changing the name of the tournaments to "The Speedway Horizon League Men's/Women's Basketball Championship".
From 2016 to 2019, the Horizon League tournament was held in Detroit under a five-year deal, beginning at Joe Louis Arena, adding the women's tournament in 2017 (with both events marketed under the title Motor City Madness), and moving to the newly-opened Little Caesars Arena beginning in 2018.
However, the contract with Detroit was ended a year early; the league reopened bidding for the men's and women's tournaments in 2018, with the new contract taking effect with the 2019–20 season. On January 25, 2019, the conference announced that Indianapolis would host the men's and women's semifinals and final from 2020 to 2022, with Indiana Farmers Coliseum, now known as Corteva Coliseum, as the venue. In 2022, the deal was extended through 2026.
On August 20, 2025, the Horizon League announced a new format for the 2026 tournament. The #10 seed will host the #11 seed in the Preliminary Round. The First Round, which will remain on campus, will feature the ten remaining teams paired off according to their seeding. The #1 seed will host the Preliminary Round winner, #2 will host #9, #3 will host #8, and so on. The five winners will advance to the second phase of the tournament in Indianapolis, where the two lowest-seeded First Round winners will play a Second Round game, with the winner playing the highest-seeded First Round winner in the Semifinals. The other Semifinal game will feature the second-highest and third-highest-seeded First Round winners. The two Semifinal winners will then play each other for the Championship.
Horizon League Tournament results
| 2026 | Play-in and first round: campus locations | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second round onwards: Corteva Coliseum – Indianapolis, IN |
Horizon League tournament champions
| Youngstown State | 0 |
|---|
;Notes
- Current conference members in bold.
- Future conference member in italics.
Horizon League Tournament all-time standings
Current members
:Through 2020 tournament finals
| School | Record | Winning pct | Championships | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | ||||||
| Wright State | ||||||
| Green Bay | ||||||
| Milwaukee | ||||||
| Cleveland State | ||||||
| Northern Kentucky | ||||||
| Oakland | ||||||
| Youngstown State | ||||||
| Purdue Fort Wayne | ||||||
| Robert Morris | ||||||
| IU Indy |
Former members
| School | Record | Winning pct | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butler | 30–25 | 7 | |
| Loyola | 25–32 | 1 | |
| Xavier | 24–10 | 6 | |
| UIC | 24–25 | 2 | |
| Evansville | 15–12 | 3 | |
| Valparaiso | 8–6 | 2 | |
| Oral Roberts | 7–6 | 2 | |
| Saint Louis | 7–8 | 0 | |
| Northern Illinois | 5–2 | 1 | |
| Dayton | 5–4 | 1 | |
| Oklahoma City | 5–4 | 1 | |
| Duquesne | 1–1 | 0 | |
| Marquette | 0–2 | 0 | |
| La Salle | 0–3 | 0 |
Postseason appearances
Horizon League members past and present have made several Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four appearances. Charter member Loyola also won the 1963 NCAA tournament.
Current tournaments
| Season | NCAA Tournament | National Invitation Tournament | College Basketball Invitational | Team (seed) | Finish | Team (seed) | Finish | Team (seed) | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Loyola | First round | **Tournament | ||||||
| not | |||||||||
| held** | |||||||||
| 1981 | |||||||||
| 1982 | Evansville (10) | First round | Oral Roberts | First round | |||||
| 1983 | Xavier (12) | Preliminary round | |||||||
| 1984 | Oral Roberts (11) | First round | Xavier | Quarterfinals | |||||
| 1985 | Loyola (4) | Sweet 16 | Butler | First round | |||||
| 1986 | Xavier (12) | First round | |||||||
| 1987 | Xavier (13) | Second round | St. Louis | Second round | |||||
| 1988 | Xavier (11) | First round | Evansville | First round | |||||
| 1989 | Evansville (11) | Second round | St. Louis | Runner-Up | |||||
| Xavier (14) | Second round | ||||||||
| 1990 | Xavier (6) | Sweet 16 | St. Louis | Runner-Up | |||||
| Dayton (12) | Second round | Marquette | First round | ||||||
| 1991 | Xavier (14) | Second round | Butler | First round | |||||
| 1992 | Evansville (8) | First round | Butler | First round | |||||
| 1993 | Xavier (9) | Second round | |||||||
| Evansville (14) | First round | ||||||||
| 1994 | Xavier | Quarterfinals | |||||||
| Evansville | First round | ||||||||
| 1995 | Green Bay (14) | First round | |||||||
| Xavier (11) | First round | ||||||||
| 1996 | Green Bay (8) | First round | |||||||
| Northern Illinois (14) | First round | ||||||||
| 1997 | Butler (14) | First round | |||||||
| 1998 | UIC (9) | First round | |||||||
| Detroit (10) | Second round | ||||||||
| Butler (13) | First round | ||||||||
| 1999 | Detroit (12) | First round | Butler | Quarterfinals | |||||
| 2000 | Butler (12) | First round | |||||||
| 2001 | Butler (10) | First round | Detroit | Semifinals | |||||
| 2002 | UIC (15) | First round | Butler | Second round | |||||
| Detroit | First round | ||||||||
| 2003 | Butler (12) | Sweet 16 | UIC | First round | |||||
| Milwaukee (12) | First round | ||||||||
| 2004 | UIC (13) | First round | Milwaukee | First round | |||||
| 2005 | Milwaukee (12) | Sweet 16 | |||||||
| 2006 | Milwaukee (11) | Second round | Butler (8) | First round | |||||
| 2007 | Butler (5) | Sweet 16 | |||||||
| Wright State (14) | First round | ||||||||
| 2008 | Butler (7) | Second round | Cleveland State (6) | First round | Valparaiso (4) | Second round | |||
| 2009 | Butler (9) | First round | Green Bay (2) | First round | |||||
| Cleveland State (13) | Second round | ||||||||
| 2010 | Butler (5) | Nat'l Runner-Up | Green Bay (3) | Second round | |||||
| 2011 | Butler (8) | Nat'l Runner-Up | Cleveland State (2) | Second round | |||||
| Milwaukee (5) | First round | ||||||||
| 2012 | Detroit (15) | First round | Cleveland State (6) | First round | Butler | Semifinals | |||
| Valparaiso (7) | First round | Milwaukee | First round | ||||||
| 2013 | Valparaiso (14) | First round | Detroit (6) | First round | Wright State | Semifinals | |||
| 2014 | Milwaukee (15) | First round | Green Bay (4) | First round | |||||
| 2015 | Valparaiso (13) | First round | Green Bay (5) | First round | |||||
| 2016 | Green Bay (14) | First round | Valparaiso (1) | Runner-Up | |||||
| 2017 | Northern Kentucky (15) | First round | Oakland (7) | Second round | Green Bay | First round | |||
| Valparaiso (7) | First round | UIC | First round | ||||||
| 2018 | Wright State (13) | First round | Northern Kentucky (7) | First round | |||||
| 2019 | Northern Kentucky (14) | First round | Wright State (7) | First round | |||||
| 2020 | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||||
| 2021 | Cleveland State (15) | First round | |||||||
| 2022 | Wright State (16) | First round | Cleveland State (7) | First round | Purdue Fort Wayne (16) | First round | |||
| 2023 | Northern Kentucky (16) | First round | Youngstown State (8) | First round | Cleveland State (9) | First round | |||
| Milwaukee (11) | Quarterfinals | ||||||||
| 2024 | Oakland (14) | Second round | Cleveland State (9) | Quarterfinals | |||||
| 2025 | Robert Morris (15) | First round | Cleveland State | Runner-up |
Defunct tournaments
| Season | CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament | Vegas 16 | The Basketball Classic | Team | Finish | Team | Finish | Team | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | **Tournament | ||||||||
| not | |||||||||
| held** | **Tournament | ||||||||
| not | |||||||||
| held** | |||||||||
| 2010 | |||||||||
| 2011 | Valparaiso | First round | |||||||
| 2012 | |||||||||
| 2013 | Youngstown State | Second round | |||||||
| UIC | Second round | ||||||||
| Green Bay | First round | ||||||||
| 2014 | Valparaiso | First round | |||||||
| Wright State | Second round | ||||||||
| Cleveland State | First round | ||||||||
| 2015 | Cleveland State | Second round | |||||||
| Oakland | First round | ||||||||
| 2016 | Oakland | Runner-Up | |||||||
| 2017 | **Tournament | ||||||||
| not | |||||||||
| held** | |||||||||
| 2018 | UIC | Runner-Up | |||||||
| 2019 | Green Bay | Runner-Up | |||||||
| 2020 | **Tournament | ||||||||
| not | |||||||||
| held** | |||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||
| 2022 | Detroit Mercy | First round | |||||||
| Youngstown State | Quarterfinals |
Broadcasters
Television
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Analyst |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | ESPN | Jordan Bernfield | David Padgett |
| 2023 | Mark Adams | ||
| 2022 | Bob Wischusen | ||
| 2021 | Jason Benetti | Chris Spatola | |
| 2020 | Dan Dakich | ||
| 2019 | Rich Hollenberg | Fran Fraschilla | |
| 2018 | |||
| 2017 | Bob Wischusen | ||
| 2016 | Mike Tirico | Dan Dakich | |
| 2015 | Bob Wischusen | Jim Calhoun | |
| 2014 | Malcolm Huckaby | ||
| 2013 | Stephen Bardo | ||
| 2012 | Mark Jones | ||
| 2011 | Bob Wischusen | ||
| 2010 | Jon Sciambi | LaPhonso Ellis | |
| 2009 | Ron Franklin | Fran Fraschilla | |
| 2008 | Terry Gannon | Stephen Bardo | |
| 2007 | |||
| 2006 | Dave Barnett | Tim McCormick and Jason Williams | |
| 2005 | Dave Strader | Stephen Bardo | |
| 2004 | Dave Revsine | Bob Valvano | |
| 2003 |
Radio
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Analyst |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Westwood One | Wayne Larrivee | Will Perdue |
| 2012 | Dave Ryan | Pete Gillen | |
| 2011 | Wayne Larrivee | ||
| date=December 2010}} | |||
| 2009 | Mark Champion |
Notes
References
- (May 7, 2015). "Moving Horizon League tourney to Detroit is all about branding". MediaNews Group.
- Paul, Tony. (January 25, 2019). "Motor City 'Sadness': Horizon League pulls plug on hoops tourneys in Detroit".
- Paul, Tony. (May 7, 2015). "Moving Horizon League tourney to Detroit is all about branding". The Detroit News.
- Potter, Bill. (July 5, 2016). "Horizon League Announces 2017 Little Caesars Motor City Madness Updates".
- Paul, Tony. (March 13, 2019). "'Beyond compare': Horizon League commish raves about four-year run in Detroit". The Detroit News.
- (October 12, 2018). "Horizon League Announces Bid Process for #HLMBB and #HLWBB Tournament". Horizon League.
- (January 25, 2019). "Horizon League Announces Indianapolis as Future Site for #HLMBB and #HLWBB Championships". Horizon League.
- (September 20, 2022). "Indianapolis to Remain Home of Horizon League Basketball Championships as HL and ISFC Extend Partnership". Horizon League.
- (4 March 2013). "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule - ESPN Press Room U.S.".
- "Championship Week: Coverage of a Record 137 Men's Games Begins March 1 | ESPN MediaZone".
- http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2011/02/28/championship-week-presented-by-dick%e2%80%99s-sporting-goods-schedule/?s-sporting-goods-schedule/
- (2010-03-02). "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Espnmediazone3.com.
- "ESPN Press Room".
- "Vikings Face Butler In Horizon League Title Game - CLEVELAND STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE". Csuvikings.cstv.com.
- "What to Watch: College basketball lovers rejoice".
- "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com.
- "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com.
- "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com.
- http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wiml/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/champnotes.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-04 {{Bare URL PDF). (March 2022)
- "Horizon League Championship Highlights: Detroit 70 – Valparaiso 50 | Westwood One SportsWestwood One Sports".
- "We've Moved!".
- (December 2010)
- http://images.westwoodone.com/images/pdf/pressreleases/2009NCAAChampionshipWeek.pdf {{dead link. (December 2017)
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