Big Ten OKs Postseason Tournament

The Big Ten, seeking increased TV exposure and another money maker for its athletic programs, adopted a men’s postseason basketball tournament Monday--the first in the league’s 102 years.

The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors was 9-2 with Michigan and Indiana against the proposal.

The tournament will begin March 5-8, 1998, at a neutral site the Big Ten hopes to announce in the spring. The winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“I think the athletes will like it,” said Purdue Coach Gene Keady, whose teams have won three consecutive regular-season conference titles.

“We’ve done a lot of things lately with the rules that were not for the athletes. And the fans will like it, so it’ll be exciting. We can make some money from it, so that will be good.”

Indiana Coach Bob Knight has long been an opponent of the tournament, saying it detracts from the regular season, is of little benefit and costs players too much time away from classes. Knight refused comment Monday.

The conference will also revise its schedule with schools playing 16 league games instead of the current 18.

The Big Ten is 3-11 in the last two NCAA tournaments.

The Big Ten currently has agreements with CBS, ESPN and Creative Sports. CBS would probably get the championship game with the other two splitting the opening rounds.

The tournament will feature all 11 teams.

*

University of Cincinnati basketball player Ruben Patterson, 21, was cleared of burglarizing the apartment of his former girlfriend. Prosecutor Joseph Deters said a Hamilton County grand jury declined to indict because the evidence did not support the felony charge of aggravated burglary that police filed Thursday.

*

UCLA, despite Saturday’s loss to No. 1-ranked Kansas, is ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll. The Wildcats, meanwhile, kept the top spot, getting 63 of the 68 first-place votes. Wake Forest, No. 2, got the other five. Arizona jumped from No. 15 to No. 8, and Stanford was ranked No. 20.