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2026 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Tournament Basics

Format

One day before the Sun Belt Conference’s “flock of Canada geese” bracket takes flight, the Horizon offers up a completely new format, at least for basketball. It’s reminiscent of the old WCHA Final Five format from hockey.

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• The bottom two teams, 10th and 11th, meet in a “play-in” with the 10 seed hosting.

• The winner joins the top nine teams for the “first round.”

• Those five winners are reseeded from 1 to 5, with all heading to Indianapolis.

• The new 4 and 5 seeds meet in the “second round.”

• The winner of that game plays the new 1 seed in the semifinals, while the new 2 and 3 seeds meet in the other.

This format guarantees the 1 seed in each stage meets the lowest-seeded team possible. Will this translate to the 1 seed having a better chance at making the NCAAs? That’s a lot to ask a of a format for a conference that’s usually extremely balanced.

Site

For the ninth season in a row, higher seeds will host the first two rounds—dubbed the Play-In and First Rounds for this edition. For the eighth season in succession, the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis will host the final stages, this year spread over three days.

Participants

All 11 Horizon League members will participate. That number will grow to 12 next season when Northern Illinois (1996 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament champion) rejoins the conference from the Mid-American Conference—a move driven by the football team’s switch to the Mountain West.

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Schedule

Downloadable PDF Bracket

TV/Streaming Info

ESPN+ ($) will stream all games before the semifinals.

Play-In (Mon. 3/2)

Gm. 1: (11) IU Indianapolis (7-25, 3-17) 93, (10) Cleveland State 101

First Round (Tues. 3/3)

Gm. 6: (6) Purdue Fort Wayne (17-14, 11-9) at (5) Green Bay (17-14, 12-8), 8
The Phoenix swept: 72-54 (away) on 1/1 and 76-59 (home) on 2/12.

First Round (Wed. 3/4)

Gm. 2: (10) Cleveland State (11-21, 6-14) at (1) Wright State (20-11, 15-5), 7
Road split: Vikings 85-79 on 1/21 and Raiders 102-90 on 2/15.
Gm. 3: (9) Youngstown State (15-16, 8-12) at (2) Robert Morris (21-10, 13-7), 7
The Colonials swept: 80-77 (OT) (home) on 12/17 and 72-66 (away) on 2/7.
Gm. 4: (8) Milwaukee (12-19, 8-12) at (3) Detroit Mercy (15-14, 12-8), 7
The Titans swept: 76-63 (away) on 2/9 and 91-86 (home) on 2/20.
Gm. 5: (7) Northern Kentucky (18-13, 10-10) at (4) Oakland (16-15, 12-8), 7
The Golden Grizzlies swept: 82-77 (away) on 12/17 and 76-65 (home) on 2/1.

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Second Round (Sun. 3/8)

Gm. 7: First Round winner No. 5 vs. First Round winner No. 4, 3:30

Semifinals (Mon. 3/9)

Gm. 8: Gm. 7 winner vs. First Round winner No. 1, 7 (ESPNU)
Gm. 9: First Round winner No. 3 vs. First Round winner No. 2, 9:30* (ESPN2)

Championship (Tues. 3/10)

Gm. 10: Semifinal winners, 7 (ESPN)

Mayhem Potential

Data originally posted by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter in 2020 with my own additions for the seasons beyond.

Horizon League seasons tend to be demolition derbies, with the tournament usually following this pattern. So, it’s surprising to see that the No. 1 seed is on a two-year title run. In 2025, 0nly four games separated the top seven teams, with top-seeded Robert Morris finishing a game ahead of the 2 and 3 seeds and two games ahead of the 4 seed. This year, Wright State won the regular season crown by two games over the Colonials, but three further teams finished three games back, all of whom got home games.

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• 1 seed (5): 2013, 2015, 2021, 2024, 2025

• 4 seed (4): 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023

• 2 seed (4): 2011, 2018, 2019, 2020

• 3 seed (1): 2012

• 5 seed (1): 2014

NCAA Seeding Record In The 68-Team Era

Years with an NCAA win are in bold.

• 8 seed (1): 2011

• 13 seed (1); 2015

• 14 seed (3): 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2024

• 15 seed (4): 2012, 2017, 2021, 2025

• 16 seed (2): 2022 (First Four), 2023

The 8 seed (and the 5 the conference landed in 2010) is an outlier, as Butler, now in the Big East, earned it. This year’s Horizon champ is likely to end up on line 14 or 15, particularly if it’s one of the league’s two NET Top 150 teams: Wright State (140) or Robert Morris (144).

Last NCAA Tournament Appearances

Robert Morris: 2025 (15 seed, 1st round)
Oakland: 2024 (13 seed, 2nd Round)
Northern Kentucky: 2023 (16 seed, 1st Round)—2020 Horizon League Tournament Champion
Wright State: 2022 (16 seed, First Four)
Cleveland State: 2021 (15 seed, 1st Round)
Green Bay: 2016 (14 seed, 1st Round)
Milwaukee: 2014 (15 seed, 1st Round)
Detroit Mercy: 2012 (15 seed, 1st Round)
IU Indianapolis: 2003 (16 seed, 1st Round, Mid-Continent (Summit) member)

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Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne have never qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Both teams will need to win road games this week to have the chance to change that.