Madison Square Garden to host 2018 Big Ten Tournament
By Jacob Rude
The Big Ten tournament will find a new home in the Big Apple for 2018, set to take place in Madison Square Garden, arguably the greatest arena in sports, according to Sports Illustrated and various other sources.
"The Big Ten Conference will play its men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in 2018, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation. A formal announcement is planned for Tuesday.Madison Square Garden will still host the Big East Tournament in 2018. The Big Ten Tournament will be held the week prior, with the Big Ten title game coming the Sunday prior to Selection Sunday. (The Big East Tournament will culminate on its traditional date, the Saturday night prior to Selection Sunday)."
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In it’s heyday prior to conference realignment destroying some of the tradition, Madison Square Garden was home to the Big East tournament and some of the greatest games and moments ever. Who can forget the six overtime thriller? The time Gerry McNamara carried Syracuse to the title?
In recent years, the Big Ten tournament has been rotated between Indianapolis and Chicago, the two central locations for the teams and two of the bigger areas/markets for the conference. However, the conference has already started branching out, with the tournament set to take place in Washington D.C. in 2017.
The biggest downside to this announcement will be the fact that the two finalists in the Big Ten title game will still have at least an 11-day layoff before competing in the NCAA tournament, while teams eliminated earlier in the conference tournament will have even longer delays in play.
Do you think this is a good move for the Big Ten? Let us know in the comments below!