Purdue's Katie Gearlds Explains Why She Voted to Keep Big Ten WBB Tourney at 15 Teams
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Although the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will expand from 15 to 18 teams in 2026, the women's event will remain at 15 teams for the upcoming season. Purdue coach Katie Gearlds believes that's the right number, at least for the moment.
With the league expanding to 18 teams last season, the Big Ten decided to include the top-15 teams in the conference basketball tournament on both the men's and women's sides. Pretty quickly, men's coaches wanted to include every team in the conference.
On the women's side, almost everyone was in agreement to keep the number at 15.
"It was not quite unanimous, but pretty damn close," Gearlds told reporters on Monday.
With the winner of the Big Ten Tournament receiving an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, you'd think everyone would want an opportunity. Gearlds explained why she, along with other coaches around the league, is happy with capping the tournament at 15 teams.
"I think it's the right thing. Especially in the last couple of years, there just hasn't been the parity between the bottom teams and the top teams," Gearlds said. "As someone who finished in the bottom, we didn't deserve to go to the Big Ten Tournament. Point blank, that's how I feel, that's where my vote landed."
Last year, Purdue finished 16th in the Big Ten with a 3-15 record in conference play.
Does it help the Big Ten in the NCAA Tournament?
Another point Gearlds brought up was that limiting the number of teams in the Big Ten Tournament helps the conference prepare for the NCAA Tournament. It's a way to protect some of those teams from playing too many games in a short amount of time.
"We're a little more compressed for time, too, with our season and our tournament. As a league, it's our job to protect the top teams," Gearlds said. "To do that is to play fewer games. Having all 18 teams just didn't make sense on the women's side."
Last season, 12 of the league's 18 teams earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. As a result, the Big Ten was considered the deepest conference in women's college basketball last year.
An 18-team conference tournament doesn't really impact the conference's status atop the basketball world. Why change the format if it doesn't benefit the conference?
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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