Get ready for a college basketball extravaganza throughout March.
For the eighth straight year, Evansvilleโs Ford Center will host the Ohio Valley Conference menโs and womenโs basketball tournament. The March 5-8 event features the top eight menโs and womenโs teams in the OVC, and the No. 5 University of Southern Indiana womenโs team looks to defend its 2024 title.
USI defeated Nashvilleโs Tennessee State University 90-66 in its opening game of the tournament Wednesday afternoon and will next play the University of Arkansas at Little Rock at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Automatic NCAA Tournament bids go to the menโs and womenโs champions, although USI and Lindenwood University of St. Charles, Missouri, remain ineligible because of Division I transition rules. (USI officials on Feb. 13 announced their intent to accelerate the schoolโs transition to full membership in Division I athletics.) If USI or Lindenwood win, the regular-season league champion instead will advance to the NCAA.
The following week, March 13-16, the Ford Center hosts the Missouri Valley Conference womenโs basketball tournament for the first time. All 12 womenโs teams in the MVC, including the University of Evansville, Murray State University, Indiana State University, and Southern Illinois University, will be in action. The champion is an automatic NCAA Tournament qualifier.
Finally, Evansville continues its tradition of closing out its own brand of March Madness with the Division II menโs Elite Eight, which will have quarterfinals on March 25, semifinals on March 27, and the national title game on March 29.
The stacked schedule of hoops adds up to a busy month for Brandon McClish, executive director of the Evansville Regional Sports Commission. โWhatโs crazy about it is that looking at the calendar, March has 31 days, and I am at the Ford Center for 27 of them,โ he says.
McClish notes the national television exposure that college basketball tournaments bring the city and the Ford Center. The OVC and womenโs MVC championship games are shown on ESPN networks, while the menโs Division II title game is aired by CBS.
The events also deliver an economic jolt to Evansville, although McClish says the OVC packs the biggest punch with 16 menโs and womenโs teams.
Past OVC tournaments in Evansville drew thousands of Murray State menโs basketball fans. With the Racers having moved to the MVC in 2022, McClish says the USI womenโs team, as well as fan bases from schools such as Morehead State University in Kentucky and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, likely will move the most ticket sales.
The OVCโs menโs and womenโs basketball tournament is committed to Evansville for 2026, and the conference holds an option for 2027, which McClish says must be decided by summer of this year.
McClish is optimistic the OVC will stay for 2027 and beyond. โWe are looking at extending (the leagueโs stay in Evansville),โ he says. โThe presidents and athletic directors love it here.โ
Evansville is getting the womenโs MVC tournament for this year only. McClish says the competition will be strong โ Missouri State University in Springfield leads the league, with Murray State and Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, also having strong seasons.
Itโs not yet known, of course, who the menโs Division II Elite Eight will bring to town. Fans can hope for a championship battle as exciting as 2024, when Minnesota State University in Mankato won its first-ever title on a late-game shot.
The Elite Eight has been played on the Ford Centerโs court annually since 2021, and in 2019, 2015, and 2014. Roberts Municipal Stadium hosted the event from its beginning in 1957 through 1976, and again in 2002.
This yearโs Elite Eight will be Evansvilleโs last one, at least for a while. It leaves for Indianapolis in 2026 โ the Hoosier Stateโs capital city is hosting the NCAA Division I, II, and III menโs basketball championships next year.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, landed the Elite Eight menโs and womenโs events for 2027 and 2028. McClish says Evansville will bid with the NCAA to recapture the Elite Eight in future years.
In the meantime, Evansville is chasing another high-profile college basketball showcase.
McClish tells Evansville Living that the city is a finalist to host the semifinals and finals of the new NCAA Womenโs Basketball Invitation Tournament in 2026. The 2024 championship, won by the University of Illinois over Villanova University, was held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. This yearโs tournament also is at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The NCAA WBIT would bring Evansville a Division I championship, likely with nationally known teams, McClish says. He expects to learn by summer if Evansville has landed the tournament.
Itโs time for โArch Madness,โ too
The MVC menโs tournament, which has been anchored in St. Louis, Missouri, for 34 years, is coming up, as well. UE heads to โArch Madnessโ March 6-9 at Enterprise Center.
The Aces are the No. 10 seed in the 12-team tournament and will play No. 7 seed Murray State at 6 p.m. March 6. The winner advances to face No. 2 seed Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, at 6 p.m. March 7.
Arch Madness is circled on the annual calendar of devoted Aces fans such as Scott and Stephanie Morris, who are making the trip again this year with friends Don Shymanski and Kelly Gates, purple attire in tow.
Between games, the group enjoys exploring St. Louis. Ballpark Village outside Busch Stadium is one popular pregame and postgame hangout for MVC fans.
โWe have a good time going and supporting and being fans,โ Stephanie says.
