Men's College Basketball

Why is the Big Ten Tournament starting a week early?

All your questions about the odd timing of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament are here.

Feb 28, 2018, 4:00 PM UTC

Penn State Nittnay Lions v Ohio State Buckeyes

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The 2018 Big Ten basketball tournament kicks off Wednesday night and rolls on until a champion is crowned Sunday. If you’re thinking that this feels a bit premature, you aren’t alone.

The Big Ten is the only major conference playing its tournament this week, a week typically reserved for the tournaments of mid- and low-major leagues. The early start means the Big Ten teams that wind up qualifying for the NCAA Tournament could have as much as two full weeks off before taking the court again. It also means that two of the league’s teams are going to see their 2017-18 seasons end before the calendar even gets to March.

So why in the world is this happening?

Basically, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany really, really, really wanted to play this thing Madison Square Garden. Because when you think Big Ten, you think Big Apple.

Anyway, the problem is the Big East has played its tournament at the world’s most famous arena for the last 35 years, and its current contract with the Garden runs through 2026. That meant if the Big Ten wanted in, it was going to have to play its tournament a week earlier than all the other big boys. Delany didn’t see that as a deal-breaker, and so here we are.

How did they play enough conference games during the regular season?

The league went to a condensed schedule that saw some teams play their first conference games as early as Dec. 1. It also saw every team have to go through stretches where they played a significant number of games in an unusually short period of time.

For instance, Illinois once had to play three games in five days. Ohio State played four games in 10 days, and Indiana had to play five games in 12 days.

Did the Big Ten teams like it?

They hated it.

The condensed schedule was a consistent complaint throughout the year from coaches, fans, and players who were already upset about the tournament setup heading into the season.

Delany himself admitted earlier this week that the move may have been a misstep.

“I appreciate the sacrifices the teams made, the impact it had on our students,” Delany said. “Wasn’t good. Wasn’t healthy. I thought starting (the conference schedule) early was OK, but if you look at our schedules (through the years), we’ve been able to give everybody two-day prep (before games) in 99 percent of the cases.

“We won’t do it again this way, and I take responsibility for asking the coaches.”

Is there a benefit to this?

Sure.

Madison Square Garden is awesome, and the Big Ten gets the added exposure of being the only major conference tournament that’s happening this week. They also finally get to play a championship game that matters.

In years past, the Big Ten has always played the championship game that has led into the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on CBS. Because the game was always played so late, the committee admitted that it was impossible for them to seriously consider the outcome, unless one of the teams participating was only going to be in the field of 68 if they won. Essentially, the game was meaningless as far as the selection process was concerned. That won’t be the case in 2018.

So what championship game is leading into the selection show this year?

The Selection Show will actually be on TBS this year, which means no game will lead directly into it. The last conference to crown its tournament champion will be the American Athletic. The AAC title game tips off at 3 p.m. on Selection Sunday on CBS.