By WMBD TV
ST. LOUIS (WMBD/WYZZ) — This season’s Missouri Valley Conference postseason basketball tournaments will look quite a bit different than one’s in the past.
The men’s and women’s tournaments will both be played in St. Louis. Simultaneously.
And the top two seeds in the tournaments won’t have to play until the tournament semifinals. The MVC announced the changes on Monday.
The conference is adopting a new 10-team tournament format for both men’s and women’s basketball. The last-place team in the 11-team conference will not qualify for the postseason tournament, and the top two finishers in the regular season will earn double byes into the semifinal round.
The 2027 tournaments will be played at the Enterprise Center in the first week of March. Games will run from Wednesday, March 3 to Sunday, March 7 when the men’s and women’s champions will be crowned.
“Whether you’re talking about Missouri State’s departure and that taking (the MVC) down to 11 teams, whether you’re talking about the NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 teams and us maybe being more purposeful in protecting our first and second seeds, this is not something that has taken place over a short period of time,” MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson said. “This is something we have had extensive conversations about for more than a few months.”
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
