Big Ten Tournament getting some changes with new Pac-12 arriving

The Big Ten Tournament is getting a bit of a shake-up now that more teams are being added to the conference.

Last year, it was announced that the Big Ten was expanding. USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington would be joining the conferencing, giving the Big Ten 18 teams.

With the new additions came an updated football schedule for 2024. Football isn’t the only major sport getting adjusted, though. On Tuesday, the Big Ten officially announced some changes to the Big Ten Tournament for men’s and women’s basketball.

Starting in 2024-25, both the men’s and women’s Big Ten Tournament will go from 14 teams to 15 teams. The conference will keep the same schedule, with the first round opening on Wednesday and the championship game being held on Sunday.

The Big Ten Tournament bracket will look a little different now that there are going to be more teams

With the added teams and the expanded Big Ten Tournament, there will be some adjustments made to the postseason bracket.

The top four seeds will once again get the coveted double-bye. The No. 5 through No. 9 seeds then get the single-bye. The opening round will consist of No. 12 playing No. 13, No. 10 playing No. 15, and No. 11 playing No. 14.

This is a change from the traditional bracket. It used to be that the No. 10 seed would also get the single-bye and play the No. 7 seed in the second round. The No. 10 seed now drops back down into the first round to play the No. 15 seed for the right to play the No. 7 seed.

If you take USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington’s current Pac-12 records and just insert them into the Big Ten, this is how the Big Ten Tournament would look as of today.

• Double-Bye – (1) Wisconsin, (2) Purdue, (3) Illinois, (4) Northwestern

• Single-Bye – (5) Oregon, (6) Maryland, (7) Nebraska, (8) Indiana vs. (9) UCLA

• First Round – (10) Iowa vs. (15) Penn State, (11) Michigan State vs. (14) Ohio State, (12) Minnesota vs. (13) Washington

These are exciting times in the Big Ten. New life is being injected into the conference, and I am excited to see what matchups unfold in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.