The Ivy League men's basketball tournament is the postseason conference tournament in men's basketball for the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

. It was first held in 2017, and is held alongside the Ivy women's tournament, also introduced in 2017, at the same venue. The overall event is currently marketed as Ivy Madness. The Ivy League was the last

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

conference without a postseason tournament. The tournament follows a single-elimination format that involves the top four schools in the standings at the end of the regular season. Two semifinal games are held on the first day (Saturday) with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed playing the No. 3 seed, followed by the championship game played the next day (Sunday). This schedule format mimics much of the conference season, where road trips usually consist of two games at two sites on Fridays and Saturdays (or Saturdays and Sundays) to minimize time spent out of classes. As such, the tournament has the tagline "The Ultimate Back-To-Back". The tournament's winner receives the league's automatic bid to the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. The team or teams that finish with the best record after the 14-game regular-season conference schedule will continue to be recognized as Ivy League champion. A regular-season champion that fails to win the tournament will be invited to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

, per NCAA policy on regular season champions, should they fail to receive an NCAA bid. Prior to the tournament, the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament was awarded to the conference champion as determined by the regular season standings. In the event of a tie between two teams a

one-game playoff A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff, tiebreaker game or knockout game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a ...

was used to determine which team would receive the league bid to the NCAA tournament. This happened on eight occasions. In 2001–02, a three-team, two game tournament was held when three teams tied for the league title. The first two tournaments (2017 and 2018) were held at the Palestra on the campus of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in Philadelphia. The 2019 tournament was held at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. On February 27, 2019 the Ivy League announced that the tournament will continue to rotate annually through the remaining member schools through 2025. The 2020 tournament was to be held at Harvard, but due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, that year's tournament was canceled and league champion Yale was awarded the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Following years will be hosted by Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia. The Ivy League canceled its entire 2020–21 season due to continued COVID-19 concerns. The tournament resumed in 2022.

Tournament champions

†

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

was awarded the conference's automatic bid after the Ivy League Tournament was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. According to Ivy League policy, the first-place team in the regular season is deemed the league champion. †† The Ivy League cancelled all winter athletics for the 2020–21 season on November 12, 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Tournament championships by school

Ivy League Tournament appearances

‡ The 2020 Ivy League Tournament was canceled due to

, but Harvard's, Penn's, Yale's, and Princeton's qualifications for the tournament are still counted toward all-time tournament appearances.

NCAA Tournament appearances

Prior to the introduction of the Ivy League Tournament in 2017 the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament was awarded to the Ivy League Champion as determined by the regular season standings. In the event of a tie a playoff was held to determine the bid recipient. However, the league title is still shared.

References

{{NCAA men's college basketball tournament navbox Recurring sporting events established in 2016 2017 establishments in Pennsylvania