The Great Midwest Conference was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference; UAB from the Sun Belt Conference; Marquette and Saint Louis from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League), and independent DePaul. Dayton joined in 1993.

It functioned as an NCAA (non-football) league from 1991 until 1995, when it merged with the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Metro Conference) to form Conference USA. Dayton was not part of the merger and joined the Atlantic 10.

Mike Slive, the Great Midwest Conference's only commissioner, is currently serving the same position for the SEC.

• 1991-92: Cincinnati and DePaul
• 1992-93: Cincinnati
• 1993-94: Marquette
• 1994-95: Memphis

• 1992: Chicago Stadium; Chicago, Illinois
• 1993: The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
• 1994: Shoemaker Center; Cincinnati, Ohio
• 1995: Bradley Center; Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Cincinnati won all four Great Midwest Conference Tournament championships.