The 2019 Horizon League men's basketball tournament (also known as Motor City Madness) was the final event of the 2018–19 men's basketball season of the Horizon League. It began on March 5, 2019, and ended on March 12; first-round games were played at the home courts of the top four teams in regular-season league play, with all remaining games at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
| 2019 Horizon League men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2018–19 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Site | Campus sites (Quarterfinals) Little Caesars Arena (Semifinals and Finals) Detroit, Michigan |
| Champions | Northern Kentucky (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | John Brannen (2nd title) |
| MVP | Drew McDonald (Northern Kentucky) |
| Television | ESPN/ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+ |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wright State | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 21 | – | 14 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Kentucky † | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 26 | – | 9 | .743 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 16 | – | 17 | .485 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 21 | – | 17 | .553 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UIC | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 16 | – | 16 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 12 | – | 20 | .375 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mercy | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 11 | – | 20 | .355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IUPUI | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 16 | – | 17 | .485 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland State | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 10 | – | 21 | .323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milwaukee | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 9 | – | 22 | .290 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2019 Horizon League tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Kentucky, which shared the regular-season conference title with Wright State, won the tournament and thus received the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
Seeds
editThe top 8 teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with the following tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records: [1]
- Head-to-head record against the other team(s) involved in the tie.
- Record against the highest-placed team in the conference table not involved in the tie. If still tied, proceed down the conference standings.
- If two or more teams are tied for a league placement, they are considered a single entry for tiebreaking purposes, with collective records against said teams considered.
- If three or more teams are involved in a tie for a given seed, the above procedure is followed until the tie is either broken, or reduced to a two-team tie. If reduced to a two-team tie, the procedure restarts, this time with only the surviving teams analyzed.
- If teams remain tied after all of the following, the team with the higher NET[a] rating at the end of the regular season, as published by the NCAA immediately after the end of the Horizon regular season, receives the higher seed.
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker 1 | Tiebreaker 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wright State | 13–5 | 1–1 vs. NKU | 2–0 vs. Oakland |
| 2 | Northern Kentucky | 13–5 | 1–1 vs. Wright | 1–1 vs. Oakland |
| 3 | Oakland | 11–7 | ||
| 4 | Green Bay | 10–8 | 2–0 vs. UIC | |
| 5 | UIC | 10–8 | 0–2 vs. Green Bay | |
| 6 | Youngstown State | 8–10 | 3–1 vs. UDM/IUPUI | |
| 7 | Detroit Mercy | 8–10 | 2–2 vs. IUPUI/YSU | |
| 8 | IUPUI | 8–10 | 1–3 vs. UDM/YSU | |
| DNQ | Cleveland State | 5–13 | ||
| DNQ | Milwaukee | 4–14 |
- Notes
- ^ NCAA Evaluation Tool, a metric officially used by the NCAA in its tournament selection process.
Schedule
edit| Game | Time[2] | Matchup | Score | Television |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 5 | ||||
| 1 | 8:00 pm | No. 8 IUPUI at No. 1 Wright State | 56–71 | ESPN+ |
| 2 | 8:00 pm | No. 5 UIC at No. 4 Green Bay | 77–82 | |
| Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 6 | ||||
| 3 | 7:00 pm | No. 6 Youngstown State at No. 3 Oakland | 84–88 | ESPN+ |
| 4 | 7:00 pm | No. 7 Detroit Mercy at No. 2 Northern Kentucky | 88–99 | |
| Semifinals – Monday, March 11 | ||||
| 5 | 7:00 pm | No. 4 Green Bay vs. No. 1 Wright State | 54–66 | ESPNU |
| 6 | 9:30 pm | No.3 Oakland vs. No. 2 Northern Kentucky | 63–64 | |
| Finals – Tuesday, March 12 | ||||
| 7 | 7:00 pm | No. 2 Northern Kentucky vs. No. 1 Wright State | 77–66 | ESPN |
| All game times in Eastern Time Zone. Rankings denote tournament seed | ||||
Bracket
edit| Quarterfinals Tuesday/Wednesday, March 5/6 ESPN+ | Semifinals Monday, March 11 ESPNU | Championship Tuesday, March 12 ESPN | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Wright State | 71 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | IUPUI | 56 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Wright State | 66 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Green Bay | 54 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Green Bay | 82 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | UIC | 77 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Wright State | 66 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Northern Kentucky | 77 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Northern Kentucky | 99 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Detroit Mercy | 88 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Northern Kentucky | 64 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Oakland | 63 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Oakland | 88 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Youngstown State | 84 | ||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Basketball Tiebreaker Procedures". Horizon League. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ "MOTOR CITY MADNESS - Horizon League".