Currently, the B1G has 14 teams and hosts a 14 team B1G tournament. OSU (or anyone else for that matter) could lose every regular conference game from here on out and still have a shot at winning the tournament and all the spoils that come from the conference championship.
Next year, the B1G will host a 15 team tournament, yet have 18 teams. This means, no berth for the bottom 3.
Currently OSU is 3rd from the bottom and finished 2nd from the basement last year.
I knew it was possible to miss out on March Madness and the NIT, but not the conference tournament. I guess, finishing 15 out of 18 is the new goal.
Beginning next season, both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament fields will expand to 15 teams (from 14), a format that 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.
