Ivy League basketball is moving to a new timeline beginning next season.
The Ivy League announced Tuesday that men’s and women’s basketball will move from an eight-week to a 10-week schedule, with all 16 teams beginning conference play Jan. 2, 2021. There will be only three of the league’s trademark back-to-back weekends, and each Ivy’s regular season will end with a single-game travel partner matchup.
Robin Harris, executive director of the Ivy League, announced in a press release Tuesday that the two additional weeks of conference play “decompresses the schedule” and follows a year-long decision-forming process with key league coaches, administrators and student-athletes.
The format change coincides with Princeton’s fall semester exams moving from January to December starting with the 2020-21 academic year.
In addition to the three back-to-back weekends, the schedule consists of six one-opponent weekends. Each team will also have a contest on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The schedule has also been approved for the 2021-22 season.
Update: Ivy League Associate Executive Director Matt Panto told IHO reporter Rob Browne Wednesday that all one-game weekends are currently scheduled for Saturday. Only circumstances such as weather, linear television opportunities or extreme campus scheduling conflicts would move games from the scheduled dates, according to Panto.
Ivy League basketball schedule structure
Week 1 – one game
Week 2 – two games (back-to-back)
Week 3 – two games (Saturday and MLK Day)
Week 4 – one game
Week 5 – one game
Week 6 – two games (back-to-back)
Week 7 – one game
Week 8 – two games (back-to-back)
Week 9 – one game
Week 10 – one game (vs. travel partner)