Ivy League women's basketball tournament

Last updated
Ivy League women's basketball tournament
Ivy league simple logo.png
Sport College basketball
Conference Ivy League
Number of teams4
Format Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium Pizzitola Sports Center (2025)
Current location Providence, RI (2025)
Played2017–2019, 2022–present
Last contest 2024
Current champion Princeton (5th)
Most championships Princeton (5)
Host stadiums
The Palestra (2017–2018)
John J. Lee Amphitheater (2019)
Lavietes Pavilion (2022)
Jadwin Gymnasium (2023)
Levien Gymnasium (2024)
Pizzitola Sports Center (2025)
Host locations
Philadelphia, PA (2017–2018)
New Haven, CT (2019)
Boston, MA (2022)
Princeton, NJ (2023)
New York, NY (2024)
Providence, RI (2025)

The Ivy League women's basketball tournament is the conference tournament in basketball for the Ivy League, and is held alongside the Ivy League men's tournament at the same venue. The overall event is currently marketed as Ivy Madness. As with the men's tournament, the women's event is a single-elimination tournament involving the top four schools in the standings. The tournament format consists of two semifinal games 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). The tournament winner receives the League's automatic bids to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. The teams that finish with the best records from the 14-game, regular-season conference schedule will continue to be recognized as Ivy League champions.

Contents

Unlike the men's Ivy tournament, in which the regular-season champion receives an automatic berth in the National Invitation Tournament should it fail to win the conference tournament, a women's regular-season champion is technically not guaranteed a postseason berth if it does not make the NCAA tournament. However, the Women's National Invitation Tournament has a standing policy of inviting the top available team from each NCAA Division I conference once the NCAA women's tournament field has been set. [1] (This difference is because unlike the men's NIT, the WNIT is neither owned nor operated by the NCAA.)

Prior to the formal tournament, the Ivy League used a one-game playoff if necessary to break ties eight times with two teams, and in 2001-02, a three-team tournament, in order to settle the conference championship.

The first two tournaments in 2017 and 2018 were held at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The 2019 event was held at John J. Lee Amphitheater, a venue located within Yale University's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. In 2019, the Ivy League announced that the men's and women's tournaments would rotate among the remaining conference members through 2025. [2] Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the 2020 tournament was canceled, and the Ivy League did not play a 2020–21 season. The tournament resumed in 2022, with all venues shifted forward by two years.

Champions

YearChampionScoreRunner-upTournament MVP [a] Location
2017 Penn 57–49 Princeton Michelle Nwokedi Palestra (Philadelphia, PA)
2018 Princeton 63–34 Penn Bella Alarie [3]
2019 Princeton 65–54 Penn Bella Alarie John J. Lee Amphitheater (New Haven, CT)
2020 Not held due to COVID-19
2021
2022 Princeton 77–59 Columbia Kaitlyn Chen Lavietes Pavilion (Boston, MA)
2023 Princeton 54–48 Harvard Kaitlyn Chen Jadwin Gymnasium (Princeton, NJ)
2024 Princeton 75–58 Columbia Kaitlyn Chen Levien Gymnasium (New York, NY)
2025 Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, RI)
  1. Unless otherwise noted, all played for the tournament champion.

Tournament championships by school

SchoolChampionshipsChampionship Years
Princeton 52018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Penn 12017

Tournament appearances by school

TeamBidsYears
Princeton62024
Harvard62024
Penn52024
Columbia32024
Yale22022
Brown12017
Cornell12019
Dartmouth0-

List of regular season champions

Since 1974, the Ivy League has had regular season titles for women's basketball. [4]

References

  1. "The Ivy League Adds Men's, Women's Basketball Tournaments Beginning in 2017". Ivy League. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  2. "Ivy Madness Headed to Harvard in 2020, League Announces Pre-Determined Campus Rotation" (Press release). February 27, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  3. "Princeton Takes Home Ivy League Tournament Title". Ivy League Sports. March 11, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  4. Ivy League Basketball: Women's Postseason History (PDF)