BTPowerhouse's 1/23 Big Ten Tournament Bracketology

Big Ten play continues to heat up and the last week featured some great matchups across the conference including ranked games involving Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, and Wisconsin.  On top of this, there were some thrilling games involving teams like Northwestern, who challenged several teams on the road.  Considering all of this, we will be taking a look at how the Big Ten Tournament seeding is set up this week.

The concept is pretty simple.  Each week, BTP will be taking a look at how the Big Ten Tournament projects as of that morning.  For instance, today's bracket will be set as of Friday, January 23, 2015 morning.  I have taken the liberty of looking at the Big Ten records and using the Big Ten tiebreaker scenarios to see where teams will land.  Things will certainly move, but it is still interesting to see as of this moment.  Let's take a look.

2015 B1G Tournament Bracket (1/23):

Thoughts

When I actually started putting together this bracket, I actually imagined the David after dentist video where David is asking his parents if he was experiencing real life.  To think that Indiana and Michigan are not only in the higher end of the bracket, but that both have two byes in the Big Ten Tournament right now and are both within the Top 3 seeds is pretty remarkable.  Most don't expect it to stay this way, but it's still pretty interesting.

Perhaps the most valuable seed in this bracket is the #4 seed as it's the last two round bye.  The race currently involves Iowa, Maryland, and Michigan State.  Things will certainly sort themselves out on this issue, but this could be a key stretch for all three teams as they look to move up the rankings.  Seeding will be crucial in this tournament and getting that extra bye could mean a whole lot in advancing, especially if some of these teams end up on the bubble.

At the bottom, it's still kind of amazing to see Minnesota in the 1st Round, but considering their horrid start to Big Ten play, it shouldn't be all that surprising.  Where the Gophers fall in could be key as they are actually one of the better Big Ten teams statistically, but have a dreadful 1-6 conference record.  They could be very dangerous if they end up feeding into the 2nd Round this year.

Overall, a pretty wild bracket, but there is plenty to be excited about if you are an Indiana or Michigan fan right now, though we can't be sure how long that excitement will last.