View the 2011 OVC Basketball Tournament bracket
format (PDF)
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference Basketball
Tournament will change its format and move to a new venue to
determine the men’s and women’s basketball
championships, beginning next year. The league office announced the
new format and location on Monday.
Starting with the 2011 Championships, all eight men’s and
all eight women’s teams that qualify for the tournament field
will gather at a single site for the entire tournament. Previously
first round games were played on campus sites with the semifinals
and finals being held in Nashville.
The bracket will also shift from a traditional 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7,
etc. format to a merit-based format that rewards the top teams
during the regular season with byes into the quarterfinals and
semifinals. Starting in 2011, the first round of each the
men’s and women’s tournament will feature the No. 5
seed against the No. 8 seed and the No. 6 seed against the No. 7
seed. The winners of those games will advance to the quarterfinals
to face the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds (who received a bye). The winners
of those quarterfinal matchups will advance to the semifinals to
face the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds (who received a pair of byes).
“This is a positive development for our conference and will
truly enhance the championship experience for our
student-athletes,” said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner.
“Having 16 teams come to Nashville gives us the opportunity
to showcase what our student-athletes and our member institutions
are all about.”
Along with the change in format, comes a relocation of the
tournament to historic Nashville Municipal Auditorium in downtown
Nashville, Tenn. The venue will host the championship, which will
now be a four-day event. Municipal Auditorium has been the site of
the OVC Basketball Championship in 1989 (men only), 1994, 1995,
1996, 2004 and most recently in 2008.
“The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is excited about the
opportunity to be home court for the OVC basketball tournament
during the next four years,” said Bob Skoney, general manager
of Nashville Municipal Auditorium. “Mayor Karl Dean and the
Metropolitan Council members have expressed their appreciation of
this event in downtown Nashville by approving funds that will allow
the NMA to purchase an NBA Finals basketball floor, a new
scoreboard, and make improvements to our locker rooms. We are
looking forward to March Madness and the OVC in the NMA.”
The move to Municipal Auditorium will keep the championships in
Nashville, a place where they have been held 16 times in the last
17 years (including this year’s championship which will be
held March 5-6 at the Sommet Center). The only year the tournaments
have not been held in Nashville during that stretch was 2002.
“Having a permanent home to call our own and an expanded
format makes Nashville a destination location for our fans,”
said DeBauche. “The former structure limited our fan
base’s ability to plan ahead, but now our fans will be able
to plan well in advance and make a trip to Municipal Auditorium for
the OVC Basketball Championship an annual part of the basketball
season.”
The 2011 OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship
dates are March 2-5.