'Almost heaven': Butler basketball headed to second-year tournament in 2025-26 season
The tournament consists of eight teams, four from Power Five conferences and four from mid-major conferences split into two divisions, River and Mountain. Butler joins a field consisting of Virginia, South Carolina and Northwestern. The Bulldogs will play the week before Thanksgiving. Matchups, dates and times have not been set. The field for the mid-major division has also not been set.
Wisconsin won the inaugural Mountain Division, beating UCF in the first round and clinching the title with an 81-75 win over Pittsburgh. UT Rio Grande won the River Division, beating Charleston Southern in the first round before clinching the title with an 83-58 win over Tennessee Tech.
Butler played won the Arizona Tip-Off last season, beating Northwestern in the first round before clinching a tournament title with an 87-77 win over Mississippi State. The win moved Butler to 7-1. The Dawgs went 8-19 the remainder of the season.
The schedule for Butler's 2025-26 season continues to round into shape. Two games in West Virginia are added to a growing list. The Dawgs open the first week of the season against Southern Indiana on Nov. 5 and IU Indy on Nov. 8 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Bulldogs will conclude their home-and-home series against SMU with a game in Dallas, a date and time has not been set. Butler beat the Mustangs 81-70 at Hinkle last season.
A nonconference game against Western Illinois is tentatively scheduled, but that could be subject to change.
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