LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The SCAC office today announced a format change for the men's and women's basketball tournament, which is scheduled to begin the weekend of March 5-7 on campus sites around the conference.

Normally conducted over one weekend among the top six teams at a single predetermined site, this year the top eight men's and women's teams will qualify for the postseason conference tournament which will stretch over three weekends.

First round play will be conducted the weekend of March 5-7, semifinals are scheduled for March 12-14 and the men's and women's championship will occur the weekend of March 19-21. The top four seeds will host first round games on both the men's and women's side, and the top remaining seeds will host semifinal and championship rounds.

"In order to maintain our current testing cadence, this was the most efficient way of playing our men's and women's tournaments this year," said SCAC Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry. "It also made sense to expand the field as our regular season scheduling format did not allow us to complete a full round robin."

In a decision that was made by the membership earlier in the fall, in any sport where the NCAA cancels national championship play (which is the case with basketball), the University of St. Thomas, which is in its second year of NCAA and SCAC provisional membership, will become eligible for postseason conference play. 

Brackets will be released next weekend following the completion of the regular season.