The Big Ten is launching its inaugural volleyball tournament this November in Fishers, Indiana, the conference announced Thursday.
The Big Ten volleyball tournament marks the first time the conference will determine its champion via a playoff competition, with the top 15 regular-season teams qualifying for the event.
"For the first time in its history, the Big Ten Conference will determine its volleyball champion with a postseason tournament featuring the best volleyball teams in the country," said Commissioner Tony Petitti in a statement. "We look forward to bringing the nation's top talent together for an entire week of exhilarating competition."
The format includes three opening-round matches followed by four second-round contests before the competition progresses through quarterfinals and semifinals. The championship match subsequently takes place on November 25th, with organizers building one off-day into the schedule.
Big Ten volleyball dominates the national landscape, with current programs combining for 22 NCAA DI Championships. They won 12 of the last 20 national titles, while also claiming eight of the nine most-watched college volleyball matches of all time. Six different Big Ten regular-season matches last season drew more than 500,000 viewers across three networks.
The conference has additionally led DI attendance rankings every season since 2007.
"Fishers is a volleyball city, and today's announcement brings us one step closer to delivering an unforgettable experience for fans," said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. "This fall, our city will become the epicenter of Big Ten women's volleyball."
Fishers Event Center opened in 2024 and seats 7,500 fans. The venue serves as home for Major League Volleyball's Indy Ignite.
How to Watch Big Ten Volleyball Next NCAA Season
The 2026 volleyball season kicks off with Big Ten Volleyball Media Day on August 3rd in Chicago.
The schedule also includes the first-ever Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week, culminating in a doubleheader at Wrigley Field on September 6th.
The NCAA is taking fans out to the (volley)ball game, as the Big Ten and SEC announced plans to close out its inaugural Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week inside Chicago's historic MLB stadium, Wrigley Field, this September.
To cap the six-day event, which will feature all 18 Big Ten and 16 SEC schools, the conferences will stage an outdoor doubleheader on Sunday, September 6th.
A trio of national champions will compete on the Chicago Cubs' home diamond, with five-time title-winners Nebraska taking on Missouri before eight-time victors Penn State battles 2020 champ Kentucky.
While volleyball will make its Wrigley Field debut in the challenge, it's far from the iconic stadium's first foray into women's sports, with the MLB venue previously hosting a record-breaking NWSL match between the Chicago Stars and Bay FC in 2024 before welcoming Ohio State and Wisconsin women's hockey to the Big Ten's Frozen Confines in early 2025.
"Bringing the SEC and Big Ten together for a championship-caliber volleyball showcase, culminating at an iconic venue like Wrigley Field, reflects the extraordinary momentum of the sport," said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in the event's Monday announcement.
How to attend, watch Big Ten/SEC Volleyball at Wrigley Field
Tickets to the September 6th doubleheader will go on sale at 11 AM ET on Thursday, April 9th, on the Chicago Cubs' website.
For fans tuning in from home, Nebraska will face Missouri at 7 PM ET before Kentucky takes on Penn State at 9 PM ET.
Both volleyball games will air live on FOX.
UCLA capped a dominant Big Ten run on Sunday, as the No. 2 Bruins thrashed No. 9 Iowa 96-45 to secure back-to-back Big Ten women's basketball tournament titles — and continue a 24-game conference unbeaten streak.
The 51-point win marked the largest margin of victory in Big Ten tournament final history, with guard Gianna Kneepkens's 19 points leading the six UCLA players who reached double-digit scoring in the matchup — including 15 points from tournament MVP Kiki Rice.
"For us to come out the way we did, it means a lot because we're doing it against really good teams," said Bruins head coach Cori Close.
Carrying the fourth-strongest Division I schedule alongside 18 Quad 1 wins, UCLA is making a case for the 2026 NCAA tournament's overall No. 1 seed ahead of Selection Sunday.
That said, the Bruins' toughest competition for that top spot is No. 1 UConn, with the defending national champion Huskies topping the NET rankings without a single loss in 2025/26 NCAA play — albeit in the weaker Big East conference.
"I don't really care," Close said about NCAA seeding. "When you focus on things out of your control, it will adversely affect the things under your control."
What's Next for UCLA Women's Basketball
UCLA will learn their national tournament path when the NCAA committee reveals the 2026 March Madness bracket this weekend.
Live coverage of the Selection Sunday bracket drop will begin at 8 PM ET on ESPN.
While No. 2 UCLA looks to run the Big Ten women's basketball table, this week's conference tournament will also provide opportunities for underdogs to better their odds in the national bracket.
Wednesday's first round features unranked Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue, and Oregon, before Thursday sees unranked USC and Washington tip off alongside No. 11 Ohio State, No. 14 Maryland, and No. 18 Michigan State.
The teams surviving the first two rounds will then face top-seeded No. 2 UCLA, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Iowa, and No. 19 Minnesota, who all earned byes into Friday's quarterfinals.
One of the teams in the hot seat is No. 9 seed USC, as the Trojans fight to make the NCAA tournament cut while continuing to build around 2025/26 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson.
The top 2025 recruit stepped up in lieu of injured star JuJu Watkins in a big way, averaging 17.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.1 blocks, and two steals per 34.4 minutes of game time to lead the team in nearly every category.
"She's had an incredible freshman year," USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb said. "And I think we're still only tapping into what she's capable of."
How to watch the 2026 Big Ten women's basketball tournament
The 2026 Big Ten tournament tips off with Indiana vs. Nebraska at 3:30 PM ET on Wednesday.
All three Wednesday matchups will stream live on Peacock before tournament coverage shifts to the Big Ten Network on Thursday.
The SEC flex its muscles on Sunday, scoring two of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee's second Top 16 rankings of the 2025/26 season — two weeks before Selection Sunday.
Texas edged out Vanderbilt for the last No. 1 spot — despite the Commodores earning a higher SEC tournament seed — joining UConn, UCLA, and South Carolina in the elite mix.
If the lineup holds, it would mark the third time in NCAA history that the No. 1 seeds represent the prior year's Final Four.
The NCAA tournament's Top 4 seeds get to host the first two rounds, raising the late-season stakes with home-court advantage on the line.
To that end, the Big Ten is leading the charge for hosting duties, as the conference landed seven teams in the Top 16, with Iowa and Michigan as projected No. 2 seeds and Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Ohio State claiming all four No. 4-seed spots.
"Like the first reveal, the discussions around these teams made it clear that there is not a lot of separation," said committee chair Amanda Braun. "With so much basketball still to be played, there remains a lot of potential for change."
How to watch the 2026 DI basketball tournament's bracket reveal
The 2026 NCAA women's basketball tournament's Selection Sunday show will air live on ESPN at 8 PM ET on March 15th.
The 2026 NCAA Basketball Committee Rankings
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Texas
5. Vanderbilt
6. Iowa
7. LSU
8. Michigan
9. Louisville
10. Duke
11. TCU
12. Oklahoma
13. Maryland
14. Michigan State
15. Minnesota
16. Ohio State
One of the oldest rivalries in college sports headlines Wednesday's NCAA women's basketball action, as No. 8 Michigan visits No. 13 Ohio State with more than just Big Ten pride on the line.
Riding a 13-3 conference record, the Wolverines currently sit in a second-place tie with No. 9 Iowa in the Big Ten standings, with the Buckeyes chasing both squads on a fourth-place 12-4 record.
Both teams will also enter Wednesday night's clash fighting off a late-season plateau: Ohio State dropped two their last three games — upset losses to No. 14 Maryland and No. 22 Minnesota — while Michigan suffered a blowout defeat at the hands of the Hawkeyes last weekend.
Though the Wolverines have broken through as a serious contender this season, the rivalry's history heavily favors the Buckeyes, with Ohio State holding a 61-17 all-time record — and a 32-6 home-court advantage — against Michigan.
Both teams lean on skilled guards, with Buckeye sophomore Jaloni Cambridge sitting at No. 6 in Division I behind her impressive 23.1 points per game average.
Michigan's sophomores aren't far behind, as Olivia Olson leads her squad with 18.9 points per game while Syla Swords averages 14.2.
How to watch Michigan vs. Ohio State women's basketball this week
No. 8 Michigan will travel to Columbus to take on No. 13 Ohio State at 8 PM ET on Wednesday, airing live on Peacock.
No. 13 Iowa refuses to back down, handing No. 6 Michigan a 62-44 upset loss on Sunday to tie the Wolverines for second in the Big Ten basketball standings with just one week left in the 2025/26 NCAA regular season.
Hawkeyes sophomore center Ava Heiden registered a game-leading 24-point, 10-rebound double-double in the win, bolstered by senior forward Hannah Stuelke's 11 points and 12 rebounds.
"Just a high-emotion game, especially for me," said Stuelke, saluting the home crowd in Iowa's senior night celebrations before tip-off. "That kind of translates into how hard we work as a team."
"She's the hometown hero," Hawkeyes head coach Jan Jensen said of Stuelke. "It's been a really fun story, watching her mature…. Choosing to stay here, becoming a high-profile player, and there's still a little wonderment in her, the joy she plays with."
Iowa now has their eyes on the prize with just two games to go before this year's Big Ten basketball tournament — starting with unranked Illinois — as top teams vie for seeding behind first-time regular-season champion No. 2 UCLA.
"What's so interesting about a league like this — I was excited and then by the time I got to locker room, I was like, 'Man Illinois is good,'" Jenson said of her team's stacked conference. "And they are."
How to watch Iowa basketball this week
No. 6 Iowa will face unranked Illinois in the Hawkeyes' penultimate regular-season game at 9 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on the Big Ten Network.
The No. 2 UCLA Bruins narrowly avoided an upset on Sunday, surviving No. 8 Michigan 69-66 to extend their winning streak to 17 straight games — and strengthen their grip atop the 2025/26 Big Ten basketball table.
UCLA center Lauren Betts ran the court with 16 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists, while guard Kiki Rice put up a team-leading 20 points in the win.
Despite 16 forced turnovers and a strong fourth-quarter rally, Michigan sophomore guard Syla Swords air-balled a potentially game-tying buzzer-beater to seal the deal.
The Bruins haven't dropped a game since a late November loss to No. 4 Texas, as UCLA's size advantage — namely 6-foot-7 Betts and 6-foot-4 Angela Dugalić, who post a combined 13.3 rebounds per game — continues to wear down opponents.
"[The Wolverines] were playing really aggressively with us, so I was like, 'Why don't we do the same thing back?'" Betts said on Sunday. "Once we started rebounding and locking in on taking away their best players… that was just really important for us."
How to watch UCLA, Michigan in this week's NCAA basketball action
No. 2 UCLA will visit No. 12 Michigan State at 8 PM ET on Wednesday, before No. 8 Michigan hunts a bounce-back win against unranked Northwestern at 9 PM ET on Thursday.
Both Big Ten games will air live on Peacock.
The 2025/26 Big Ten basketball regular-season title could boil down to Sunday, when the No. 2 UCLA Bruins visit No. 8 Michigan with just a one-game conference advantage over the Wolverines.
UCLA has only dropped one game this season — November's nonconference loss to No. 4 Texas — while Michigan's lone Big Ten loss came via a New Year's Day upset at the hands of No. 24 Washington.
"We know we're at the point where we want better and we want more," said sophomore guard Syla Swords after leading the Wolverines to a program-best 11-1 Big Ten start. "We want to improve and there's multiple areas which we need to be better if we want to reach the heights that we plan to."
Coming off a 2025 Final Four run, the Bruins land in Ann Arbor with big-game pedigree, while scrappy Michigan pushes for a first-ever Big Ten title.
"They're different than everyone else because of their size," Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said of UCLA. "Then the other thing about them is their experience. Their guard play is so experienced."
"This is why I came here," Barnes Arico continued. "I said, 'I'm going to leave everything I know on the East Coast to come to the University of Michigan because I believe that's a place where we can win a championship.'"
How to watch UCLA vs. Michigan basketball this weekend
No. 8 Michigan will host No. 2 UCLA at 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
While the SEC and Big Ten still run the AP Poll, Monday's update revealed one ACC team quietly shooting up the Top 25 as the 2025/26 NCAA basketball regular season nears its end.
Dominant conference play fueled No. 6 Louisville's one-spot Week 13 gain, as the Cardinals ride a 14-game winning streak to the team's highest ranking in four years.
Louisville's 11-0 ACC record matches their best conference start in program history as they close in on their first regular-season title since 2021.
Elsewhere, unbeaten UConn remains the unanimous No. 1 pick after another blowout slate, with the rest of last week's Top 4 following suit.
Benefitting from now-No. 7 Vanderbilt's two-game skid, LSU rose to No. 5 while No. 13 Ole Miss jumped four spots in the week's biggest boost.
Suffering the largest fall was No. 22 Maryland, who dropped six spots as the injury-struck Terrapins keep trying to right the ship on a four-game Big Ten losing streak.
How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball this week
The ranked basketball action continues on Wednesday, when No. 22 Maryland visits East Lansing to take on a tough No. 12 Michigan State side reeling from their own injuries — with both teams hunting bounce-back wins.
The game tips off live at 6:30 PM ET on B1G+.
2025/26 AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 13
1. UConn (23-0, Big East)
2. UCLA (21-1, Big Ten)
3. South Carolina (22-2, SEC)
4. Texas (21-2, SEC)
5. LSU (21-2, SEC)
6. Louisville (21-3, ACC)
7. Vanderbilt (21-2, SEC)
8. Michigan (19-3, Big Ten)
9. Ohio State (20-3, Big Ten)
10. Iowa (18-4, Big Ten)
11. Oklahoma (17-5, SEC)
12. Michigan State (19-3, Big Ten)
13. Ole Miss (19-4, SEC)
14. TCU (20-3, Big 12)
15. Baylor (19-4, Big 12)
16. Kentucky (18-5, SEC)
17. Duke (16-6, ACC)
18. Texas Tech (21-3, Big 12)
19. Tennessee (14-5, SEC)
20. West Virginia (18-5, Big 12)
21. Alabama (19-4, SEC)
22. Maryland (17-6, Big Ten)
23. Princeton (18-2, Ivy)
24. Washington (17-5, Big Ten)
25. North Carolina (18-5, ACC)