The Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament is held annually at the end of the men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

regular season. The tournament has been played each year since 1980. The winner of the tournament is designated the

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

tournament champion and receives the conference's automatic bid to the

NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

. The finals of the tournament are typically among the first held before the field for the NCAA tournament is announced.

History and tournament format

Through 2002, the entire tournament was hosted at a single venue. From 2003 through 2015, all first-round matches were played at the home court of the higher-seeded team involved. Hosting rights for the quarterfinals and semifinals were awarded to the winner of the regular season championship. The championship game was played at the home arena of the higher remaining seed. This format rewarded the regular-season champion and runner-up with a double-bye into the semifinals. The regular-season champion received the added benefit of home-court advantage in the semifinals, plus a home-court final if it won its semifinal. Beginning in 2009, the Horizon League secured an entitlement sponsorship of its men's and women's basketball tournaments with Speedway SuperAmerica, a major gas and convenience store chain throughout the midwest United States, officially changing the name of the tournaments to "The Speedway Horizon League Men's/Women's Basketball Championship". From 2016 to 2019, the Horizon League tournament was held in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

under a five-year deal, beginning at

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Louis Arena ...

, adding the women's tournament in 2017 (with both events marketed under the title ''Motor City Madness''), and moving to the newly-opened

Little Caesars Arena Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opening on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of t ...

beginning in 2018. However, the contract with Detroit was ended a year early; the league reopened bidding for the men's and women's tournaments in 2018, with the new contract taking effect with the 2019–20 season. On January 25, 2019, the conference announced that

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

would host the men's and women's semifinals and final from 2020 to 2022, with Indiana Farmers Coliseum, now known as

Corteva Coliseum The Corteva Coliseum is a 6,500-seat indoor multi-use arena, located on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. It was originally called the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum and later the Pepsi Coliseum, Fairgrounds Coliseum, and India ...

, as the venue. In 2022, the deal was extended through 2026.

Horizon League Tournament results

Horizon League tournament champions

;Notes * Current conference members in bold. * Future conference member in ''italics''.

Horizon League Tournament all-time standings

Current members

:''Through 2020 tournament finals''

Former members

Postseason appearances

Horizon League members past and present have made several Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four appearances. Charter member Loyola also won the 1963 NCAA tournament.

Current tournaments

Defunct tournaments

Broadcasters

Television

Radio

Notes

{{NCAA men's college basketball tournament navbox Recurring sporting events established in 1980