The 2017 Horizon League men's basketball tournament (also known as Motor City Madness) was the conference tournament for the Horizon League. It was played from March 3 through March 7, 2017 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Northern Kentucky defeated Milwaukee 59-53 in the championship game to win the tournament championship. As a result, Northern Kentucky received the conference's automatic berth into the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the first for the Norse in their first season of Division I eligibility.
Seeds All 10 teams participated in the tournament. The top six teams receive a bye into the quarterfinals. This was a change from the previous season where the top two seeds received double byes into the semifinals. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Seed School Conference Tiebreaker 1 Oakland 14–4 2–0 vs. Valparaiso 2 Valparaiso 14–4 0–2 vs. Oakland 3 Green Bay 12–6 1–1 vs. Northern Kentucky; 1–1 vs. No. 1 Oakland 4 Northern Kentucky 12–6 1–1 vs. Green Bay; 0–2 vs. No. 1 Oakland 5 Wright State 11–7 6 UIC 7–11 7 Detroit 6–12 8 Cleveland State 5–13 1–1 vs. Youngstown State; 1–1 vs. No. 1 Oakland 9 Youngstown State 5–13 1–1 vs. Cleveland State; 0–2 vs. No. 1 Oakland 10 Milwaukee 4–14
Schedule Game Time Matchup Score Television First round – Friday, March 3 1 5:30 pm No. 7 Detroit vs. No. 10 Milwaukee 85–60 ESPN3 2 8:00 pm No. 8 Cleveland State vs. No. 9 Youngstown State 84–69 ESPN3 Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 4 3 5:30 pm No. 1 Oakland vs. No. 9 Youngstown State 81–80 ESPN3 4 8:00 pm No. 2 Valparaiso vs. No. 10 Milwaukee 43–41 ESPN3 Quarterfinals – Sunday, March 5 5 5:00 pm No. 3 Green Bay vs. No. 6 UIC 79–70 ESPN3 6 7:30 pm No. 4 Northern Kentucky vs. No. 5 Wright State 82–77 ESPN3 Semifinals – Monday, March 6 7 7:00 pm No. 4 Northern Kentucky vs. No. 9 Youngstown State 84–74 ESPNU 8 9:30 pm No. 6 UIC vs. No. 10 Milwaukee 74–68 ESPNU Finals – Tuesday, March 7 9 7:00 pm No. 4 Northern Kentucky vs. No. 10 Milwaukee 59–53 ESPN All game times in Eastern Time Zone. Rankings denote tournament seed
Bracket
References