Summit League basketball tournament to expand to five days, all 10 teams
The Summit League is changing up the format for its annual basketball party, and everyone is invited.
The conference postseason basketball tournament will expand to include all 10 teams starting next year, the league announced Thursday, which will stretch the event to five days by adding Friday to the usual Saturday-through-Tuesday format.
The 2023 Championships are scheduled for March 3-7 next year at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
The first round of games, which will be played on a Friday will feature men’s and women’s matchups between the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds and No. 8 and No. 9 seeds.
The winners of those games will play in a quarterfinal contest on Saturday with the No. 7/No. 10 winner advancing to play the No. 2 seed and No. 8/No. 9 winner advancing to play the top seed in their respective brackets.
The tournaments will continue with the remaining quarterfinal games pitting the No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed and No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed on Sunday, followed by men’s and women’s semifinals on Monday.
Both the men’s and women’s championship games will remain on Tuesday.
In previous years, only the top eight teams qualified for the event, but now all 10 teams, including the league’s newest member, the University of St. Thomas, will make up the men’s and women’s fields.
St. Thomas must complete the five-year Division I transition period to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. The earliest the Tommies could qualify is in 2026. If the Tommies were to win either the men’s or women’s tournament from 2023-25, then the regular season champion or highest-finishing team besides St. Thomas in the regular season standings would earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
This year's Summit League tournament, an 8-team, four-day event, will run March 5-8 at the Premier Center.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Summit League basketball tournament to expand to five days, all 10 teams
