As Ivy basketball becomes more competitive nationwide, exemplified by the Crimson’s spending nine weeks ranked in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, the prospect of two Ivy teams receiving bids to the NCAA tournament is becoming more realistic. By NCAA regulations, the Ivy League regular season champion would also secure an automatic bid to the NIT if it lost in the conference tournament.

“I think [that a tournament] would benefit our league in a variety of ways—the excitement and the energy we see that goes on in other conferences around the country,” Amaker said. “I think more than anything else if you polled or asked our players, not just our current players but former Ivy-League basketball players, I can’t imagine that many of them wouldn’t be in favor of the opportunity to play in their postseason conference tournament.”

Despite the support of Ivy players and coaches, there is still a long road ahead before changes could be officially enacted. The proposal would still need to overcome a variety of hurdles, including the approval of Ivy administrators.

“When you look into something like this, lots of factors come up,” Amaker said. “Where would you do it? Would there be one site? Do you do it at the higher seed’s site? Do you do it at a neutral site? There are many things to figure out if this becomes something that gains any kind of momentum.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: April 15

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the proposed plan for an Ivy League men’s basketball tournament includes removing one conference game in the regular season. In fact, the proposed plan includes removing one regular season game from the overall schedule.