Breaking down the Horizon League Conference basketball tournament schedule

The Horizon League has decided on its conference tournament schedule, and it will be the first one to get underway. The league announced plans to play its first round on Thursday, February 25. We’ll see a stretched out schedule however, with the quarterfinals scheduled for March 2, the semifinals for March 8, and the championship game on March 9.

The first two rounds will take place at the campus of the high seed. The top four seeds get byes, leaving seeds 5 through 12 facing off in the first round. The four first round winners will travel to the campus of their quarterfinal opponent. Following the quarterfinals, the semifinals and finals will take place at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. Each round will see the advancing teams reseeded with the highest seed matching up against the lowest remaining seed.

The Horizon League tournament will air across the ESPN network of channels. ESPN+ will air the four first round and quarterfinal games. ESPNU and ESPN 2 will air the semifinals and ESPN will air the championship game.

Cleveland State and Wright State split the regular season conference title, each going 16-4 and splitting their two-game season series. Cleveland State claimed the top seed due to a tiebreaker involving performance against other teams down the standings. Cleveland State currently ranks No. 155 in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and No. 168 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Wright State ranks No. 63 in the Pomeroy ratings and No. 65 in the NET rankings.

Thursday, February 25

Game 1: No. 5 Detroit Mercy 83-73 over No. 12 Robert Morris University
Game 2: No. 6 Youngstown State 74-58 over No. 11 Illinois-Chicago
Game 3: No. 10 Purdue Fort Wayne 89 89-84 over No. 7 Green Bay
Game 4: No. 8 Milwaukee 84-72 over No. 9 IUPUI

Tuesday, March 2

Quarterfinal 1: No. 1 Cleveland State 108-104 over No. 10 Purdue Fort Wayne
Quarterfinal 2: No. 4 Northern Kentucky 70-69 over No. 5 Detroit Mercy
Quarterfinal 3: No. 3 Oakland 87-83 over No. 6 Youngstown State
Quarterfinal 4: No. 8 Milwaukee 94-92 (OT) over No. 2 Wright State

Monday, March 8

Semifinal 1: No. 1 Cleveland State 71-65 over No. 8 Milwaukee
Semifinal 2: No. 3 Oakland 69-58 over No. 4 Northern Kentucky

Tuesday, March 9

Championship: No. 1 Cleveland State 80-69 over No. 3 Oakland

The Cleveland State Vikings are Horizon League Champions and advance to the NCAA Tournament via automatic bid.