Horizon League men's basketball tournament

"Motor City Madness" redirects here. For the album, see Motor City Madness: The Ultimate Funkadelic Westbound Compilation.

The Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament is held annually at the end of the men's college basketball regular season. The tournament has been played each year since 1980. The winner of the tournament is designated the Horizon League Tournament Champion and receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The finals of the tournament are typically among the first held before the field for the NCAA tournament is announced.

Horizon League men's basketball tournament
Sport	College basketball
Conference	Horizon League
Number of teams	12
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Indiana Farmers Coliseum
Current location	Indianapolis, Indiana
Played	1980–present
Last contest	2024
Current champion	Oakland (1)
Most championships	Butler Bulldogs (7)
TV partner(s)	ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+
Official website	https://horizonleague.org/tournaments/?id=63
Host stadiums
Roberts Municipal Stadium (1980–1983) Campus locations (1981, 2003–2015, 2019–present) Frederickson Fieldhouse (1981) Riverfront Coliseum (1981, 1992) Mabee Center (1982, 1985) UIC Pavilion (1984, 1999–2000) Market Square Arena (1986–1988, 1993) University of Dayton Arena (1989–1991) Hinkle Fieldhouse (1994, 2004, 2008–2010) Nutter Center (1995–1997, 2001, 2007) Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (1998) CSU Convocation Center (2002) U.S. Cellular Arena (2003–2006, 2011) Athletics–Recreation Center (2012–2013, 2015) Resch Center (2014) Joe Louis Arena (2016–2017) Little Caesars Arena (2018–2019) Indiana Farmers Coliseum (2020–present)

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 under a five-year deal, beginning at 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 beginning in 2018.^[1][2][3][4]

However, the contract with Detroit was ended a year early;^[5] 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.^[6] On January 25, 2019, the conference announced that Indianapolis would host the men's and women's semifinals and final from 2020 to 2022, with Indiana Farmers Coliseum as the venue.^[7] In 2022, the deal was extended through 2026.^[8]

Horizon League tournament champions

Team	Championships	Years
Butler	7	1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2010, 2011
Xavier	6	1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991
Milwaukee	4	2003, 2005, 2006, 2014
Northern Kentucky	4	2017, 2019, 2020, 2023
Wright State	3	2007, 2018, 2022
Detroit Mercy	3	1994, 1999, 2012
Evansville	3	1982, 1992, 1993
Cleveland State	2	2009, 2021
Green Bay	2	1995, 2016
Oral Roberts	2	1980, 1984
UIC	2	2002, 2004
Valparaiso	2	2013, 2015
Dayton	1	1990
Loyola	1	1985
Northern Illinois	1	1996
Oakland	1	2024
Oklahoma City	1	1981
Duquesne	0
IU Indy	0
La Salle	0
Marquette	0
Purdue Fort Wayne	0
Robert Morris	0
Saint Louis	0
Youngstown State	0

Notes

• Current conference members in bold.

Horizon League Tournament all-time standings

Current members

Through 2020 tournament finals

School	Record	Winning pct	Championships
Detroit	33–37	.471	3
Wright State	28–24	.538	3
Green Bay	24–25	.490	2
Milwaukee	23–20	.535	4
Cleveland State	19–23	.452	3
Northern Kentucky	10–3	.769	3
Oakland	7–9	.438	0
Youngstown State	7–21	.250	0
Purdue Fort Wayne	2–2	.500	0
Robert Morris	1–2	.333	0
IU Indy	0–5	.000	0

Former members

School	Record	Winning pct	Championships
Butler	30–25	.545	7
Loyola	25–32	.439	1
Xavier	24–10	.706	6
UIC	24–25	.490	2
Evansville	15–12	.556	3
Valparaiso	8–6	.571	2
Oral Roberts	7–6	.538	2
Saint Louis	7–8	.467	0
Northern Illinois	5–2	.714	1
Dayton	5–4	.556	1
Oklahoma City	5–4	.556	1
Duquesne	1–1	.500	0
Marquette	0–2	.000	0
La Salle	0–3	.000	0

Horizon League Tournament results

Year	Champion	Seed	Score	Runner-up	Seed	Tournament MVP	Site
1980	Oral Roberts	2	103–93	Loyola	1	Calvin Garrett, Oral Roberts	Roberts Municipal Stadium – Evansville, IN
1981	Oklahoma City	2	82–76	Xavier	1	Anthony Hicks, Xavier	Opening round: campus locations Semifinals: Frederickson Fieldhouse – Oklahoma City, OK Championship: Riverfront Coliseum – Cincinnati, OH
1982	Evansville	1	81–72	Loyola	3	Brad Leaf, Evansville	Mabee Center – Tulsa, OK
1983	Xavier	2	82–76	Loyola	1	Alfredrick Hughes, Loyola	Roberts Municipal Stadium – Evansville, IN
1984	Oral Roberts	1	82–76	Xavier	3	Sam Potter, Oral Roberts	UIC Pavilion – Chicago, IL
1985	Loyola	1	89–83	Oral Roberts	3	Alfredrick Hughes, Loyola	Mabee Center – Tulsa, OK
1986	Xavier	1	74–66	Saint Louis	2	Byron Larkin, Xavier	Market Square Arena – Indianapolis, IN
1987	Xavier	3	81–69	Saint Louis	4
1988	Xavier	1	122–96	Detroit	6
1989	Xavier	3	85–78	Evansville	1	Tyrone Hill, Xavier	University of Dayton Arena – Dayton, OH
1990	Dayton	2	98–89	Xavier	1	Negele Knight, Dayton
1991	Xavier	1	81–68	Saint Louis	3	Jamie Gladden, Xavier
1992	Evansville	2	95–76	Butler	3	Parrish Casebier, Evansville	Riverfront Coliseum – Cincinnati, OH
1993	Evansville	2	80–69	Xavier	1		Market Square Arena – Indianapolis, IN
1994	Detroit	4	72–63	Evansville	2	Andy Elkins, Evansville	Hinkle Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN
1995	Green Bay	3	73–59	Wright State	8	Jeff Nordgaard, Green Bay	Nutter Center – Dayton, OH
1996	Northern Illinois	3	84–63	Detroit	5	Chris Coleman, Northern Illinois
1997	Butler	1	69–68	UIC	3	Kelsey Wilson, Butler
1998	Butler	3	70–51	Green Bay	4	Jon Neuhouser, Butler	Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena – Green Bay, WI
1999	Detroit	1	72–65	Butler	2	Rashad Phillips, Detroit	UIC Pavilion – Chicago, IL
2000	Butler	1	62–43	Detroit	3	Mike Marshall, Butler
2001	Butler	1	53–38	Detroit	2	LaVall Jordan, Butler	Nutter Center – Dayton, OH
2002	UIC	6	76–75 (OT)	Loyola	5	Cedrick Banks, UIC	CSU Convocation Center – Cleveland, OH
2003	Milwaukee	2	69–52	Butler	1	Clay Tucker, Milwaukee	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: U.S. Cellular Arena – Milwaukee, WI
2004	UIC	2	65–62	Milwaukee	1	Armond Williams, UIC	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals: Hinkle Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN Championship: U.S. Cellular Arena – Milwaukee, WI
2005	Milwaukee	1	59–58	Detroit	3	Joah Tucker, Milwaukee	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: U.S. Cellular Arena – Milwaukee, WI
2006	Milwaukee	1	87–71	Butler	2	Adrian Tigert, Milwaukee
2007	Wright State	1	60–55	Butler	2	DaShaun Wood, Wright State	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: Nutter Center – Dayton, OH
2008	Butler	1	70–55	Cleveland State	2	Mike Green, Butler	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: Hinkle Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN
2009	Cleveland State	3	57–54	Butler	1	Cedric Jackson, Cleveland State
2010	Butler	1	70–45	Wright State	2	Matt Howard, Butler
2011	Butler	2	59–44	Milwaukee	1		Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: U.S. Cellular Arena – Milwaukee, WI
2012	Detroit	3	70–50	Valparaiso	1	Ray McCallum, Jr., Detroit	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: Athletics–Recreation Center – Valparaiso, IN
2013	Valparaiso	1	62–54	Wright State	3	Erik Buggs, Valparaiso
2014	Milwaukee	5	69–63	Wright State	3	Jordan Aaron, Milwaukee	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals: Resch Center – Green Bay, WI Championship: Nutter Center – Dayton, OH
2015	Valparaiso	1	54–44	Green Bay	2	Alec Peters, Valparaiso	Opening round: campus locations Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Championship: Athletics–Recreation Center – Valparaiso, IN
2016	Green Bay	4	78–69	Wright State	3	Jordan Fouse, Green Bay	Joe Louis Arena – Detroit, MI
2017	Northern Kentucky	4	59–53	Milwaukee	10	Lavone Holland II, Northern Kentucky
2018	Wright State	2	74–57	Cleveland State	8	Grant Benzinger, Wright State	Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
2019	Northern Kentucky	2	77–66	Wright State	1	Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky	Opening round: campus locations Semifinals, Championship: Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
2020	Northern Kentucky	2	71–62	UIC	4	Jalen Tate, Northern Kentucky	Opening round: campus locations Semifinals, Championship: Indiana Farmers Coliseum – Indianapolis, IN
2021	Cleveland State	1	80–69	Oakland	3	Torrey Patton, Cleveland State
2022	Wright State	4	72–71	Northern Kentucky	3	Grant Basile, Wright State
2023	Northern Kentucky	4	63–61	Cleveland State	3	Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
2024	Oakland	1	83–76	Milwaukee	6	Trey Townsend, Oakland

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

Season	NCAA Tournament		National Invitation Tournament		College Basketball Invitational
	Team (seed)	Finish	Team (seed)	Finish	Team (seed)	Finish
1980			Loyola	First round	Tournament not held
1981
1982	Evansville (10)	First round	Oral Roberts	First round
1983	Xavier (12)	Preliminary round
1984	Oral Roberts (11)	First round	Xavier	Quarterfinals
1985	Loyola (4)	Sweet 16	Butler	First round
1986	Xavier (12)	First round
1987	Xavier (13)	Second round	St. Louis	Second round
1988	Xavier (11)	First round	Evansville	First round
1989	Evansville (11)	Second round	St. Louis	Runner-Up
	Xavier (14)	Second round
1990	Xavier (6)	Sweet 16	St. Louis	Runner-Up
	Dayton (12)	Second round	Marquette	First round
1991	Xavier (14)	Second round	Butler	First round
1992	Evansville (8)	First round	Butler	First round
1993	Xavier (9)	Second round
	Evansville (14)	First round
1994			Xavier	Quarterfinals
			Evansville	First round
1995	Green Bay (14)	First round
	Xavier (11)	First round
1996	Green Bay (8)	First round
	Northern Illinois (14)	First round
1997	Butler (14)	First round
1998	UIC (9)	First round
	Detroit (10)	Second round
	Butler (13)	First round
1999	Detroit (12)	First round	Butler	Quarterfinals
2000	Butler (12)	First round
2001	Butler (10)	First round	Detroit	Semifinals
2002	UIC (15)	First round	Butler	Second round
			Detroit	First round
2003	Butler (12)	Sweet 16	UIC	First round
	Milwaukee (12)	First round
2004	UIC (13)	First round	Milwaukee	First round
2005	Milwaukee (12)	Sweet 16
2006	Milwaukee (11)	Second round	Butler (8)	First round
2007	Butler (5)	Sweet 16
	Wright State (14)	First round
2008	Butler (7)	Second round	Cleveland State (6)	First round	Valparaiso (4)	Second round
2009	Butler (9)	First round			Green Bay (2)	First round
	Cleveland State (13)	Second round
2010	Butler (5)	Nat'l Runner-Up			Green Bay (3)	Second round
2011	Butler (8)	Nat'l Runner-Up	Cleveland State (2)	Second round
			Milwaukee (5)	First round
2012	Detroit (15)	First round	Cleveland State (6)	First round	Butler	Semifinals
			Valparaiso (7)	First round	Milwaukee	First round
2013	Valparaiso (14)	First round	Detroit (6)	First round	Wright State	Semifinals
2014	Milwaukee (15)	First round	Green Bay (4)	First round
2015	Valparaiso (13)	First round	Green Bay (5)	First round
2016	Green Bay (14)	First round	Valparaiso (1)	Runner-Up
2017	Northern Kentucky (15)	First round	Oakland (7)	Second round	Green Bay	First round
			Valparaiso (7)	First round	UIC	First round
2018	Wright State (13)	First round	Northern Kentucky (7)	First round
2019	Northern Kentucky (14)	First round	Wright State (7)	First round
2020	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Cleveland State (15)	First round
2022	Wright State (16)	First round	Cleveland State (7)	First round	Purdue Fort Wayne (16)	First round
2023	Northern Kentucky (16)	First round	Youngstown State (8)	First round	Cleveland State (9)	First round
					Milwaukee (11)	Quarterfinals

Defunct tournaments

Season	CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament		Vegas 16		The Basketball Classic
	Team	Finish	Team	Finish	Team	Finish
2009			Tournament not held		Tournament not held
2010
2011	Valparaiso	First round
2012
2013	Youngstown State	Second round
	UIC	Second round
	Green Bay	First round
2014	Valparaiso	First round
	Wright State	Second round
	Cleveland State	First round
2015	Cleveland State	Second round
	Oakland	First round
2016			Oakland	Runner-Up
2017			Tournament not held
2018	UIC	Runner-Up
2019	Green Bay	Runner-Up
2020	Tournament not held
2021
2022					Detroit Mercy	First round
					Youngstown State	Quarterfinals

Broadcasters

Television

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
2024	ESPN	Jordan Bernfield	David Padgett
2023			Mark Adams
2022		Bob Wischusen
2021		Jason Benetti	Chris Spatola
2020			Dan Dakich
2019		Rich Hollenberg	Fran Fraschilla
2018
2017		Bob Wischusen
2016		Mike Tirico	Dan Dakich
2015		Bob Wischusen	Jim Calhoun
2014			Malcolm Huckaby
2013[9]			Stephen Bardo
2012[10]		Mark Jones
2011[11]		Bob Wischusen
2010[12]		Jon Sciambi	LaPhonso Ellis
2009[13]		Ron Franklin	Fran Fraschilla
2008[14]		Terry Gannon	Stephen Bardo
2007[15]
2006[16]		Dave Barnett	Tim McCormick and Jason Williams
2005[17]		Dave Strader	Stephen Bardo
2004[18]		Dave Revsine	Bob Valvano
2003[19]

Radio

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
2013	Westwood One	Wayne Larrivee	Will Perdue
2012 [20]		Dave Ryan	Pete Gillen
2011[21]		Wayne Larrivee
2010[22]
2009[23]		Mark Champion

See also

• List of Horizon League champions
• Horizon League women's basketball tournament

Notes

1. "Moving Horizon League tourney to Detroit is all about branding". The Detroit News. MediaNews Group. May 7, 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
2. Paul, Tony (January 25, 2019). "Motor City 'Sadness': Horizon League pulls plug on hoops tourneys in Detroit". The Detroit News. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
3. Paul, Tony (May 7, 2015). "Moving Horizon League tourney to Detroit is all about branding". The Detroit News. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
4. Potter, Bill (July 5, 2016). "Horizon League Announces 2017 Little Caesars Motor City Madness Updates". Horizon League. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
5. Paul, Tony (March 13, 2019). "'Beyond compare': Horizon League commish raves about four-year run in Detroit". The Detroit News. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
6. "Horizon League Announces Bid Process for #HLMBB and #HLWBB Tournament" (Press release). Horizon League. October 12, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
7. "Horizon League Announces Indianapolis as Future Site for #HLMBB and #HLWBB Championships" (Press release). Horizon League. January 25, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
8. "Indianapolis to Remain Home of Horizon League Basketball Championships as HL and ISFC Extend Partnership" (Press release). Horizon League. September 20, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
9. "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule - ESPN Press Room U.S." 4 March 2013.
10. "Championship Week: Coverage of a Record 137 Men's Games Begins March 1 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
11. http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2011/02/28/championship-week-presented-by-dick%e2%80%99s-sporting-goods-schedule/?s-sporting-goods-schedule/
12. "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Espnmediazone3.com. 2010-03-02. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
13. "ESPN Press Room". www.espnmediazone.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009.
14. "Vikings Face Butler In Horizon League Title Game - CLEVELAND STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE". Csuvikings.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
15. "What to Watch: College basketball lovers rejoice". www.mysanantonio.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009.
16. "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
17. "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
18. "Milwaukee Athletics - Men's Basketball". Uwmpanthers.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
19. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wiml/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/champnotes.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL PDF]}
20. "Horizon League Championship Highlights: Detroit 70 – Valparaiso 50 | Westwood One SportsWestwood One Sports". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
21. "We've Moved!".
22. http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1267859867;start=all ^{[dead link‍]}
23. http://images.westwoodone.com/images/pdf/pressreleases/2009NCAAChampionshipWeek.pdf ^{[permanent dead link‍]}