Wisconsin basketball will soon have four new conference-mates. With USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington on the way, the Big Ten conference needed to change its scheduling format. After months of speculation and reporting, the B1G announced upcoming changes to its men’s and women’s basketball championships.
Big Ten Conference Announces Future Basketball Scheduling Formats
In a release, the Big Ten announced its plans for “future regular-and postseason competition structures for men’s and women’s basketball.” Even with the addition of four teams to the conference, the regular season schedule for men’s basketball will remain at 20 games. The women’s schedule will remain at 18 games.
The big change is in the format of the conference tournaments. “Beginning next season, both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament fields will expand to 15 teams,” the conference announced. The decision to include 15 of the 18 teams “maintains the five-day schedule of the event, provides access to all teams in contention for postseason invitations, and will maintain a double bye for each of the top four seeds while seeds 5-9 will receive a single bye.”
How Is Wisconsin Basketball Impacted by the Big Ten Schedule Changes?
While omitting some teams from the conference tournament may seem like a drastic move, it is far from unprecedented. The Western Athletic Conference, America East, and ASUN Conference all omit some teams from their conference basketball tournaments as well. The Big West basketball conference tournament, much like the Big Ten will beginning in 2025, omits out the bottom three teams in its regular season standings from postseason play.
The men’s and women’s schedule now feature limited opportunities for Wisconsin basketball to play an opponent twice in one season. Big Ten women’s basketball teams will play each team once and one opponent twice in a season. Men’s teams will play all 17 conference-mates once and three “two-play opponents.” Those opponents “will be determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography and rivalries.
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