The play-in round determined which of the lowest seeds (by regular season conference record) would qualify for the eight-team bracket.

When Houston joined from the Southwest Conference prior to the 1997 season, the play-in round featured the 7th–10th seeds.

The top six regular season finishers qualified for the tournament field, which consisted of two three-team "pods."

The winner of each round robin pod advanced to a single-game final.

[1] In 2011, the round robin format was expanded to the top eight regular season finishers.