BTPowerhouse's 3/8 Big Ten Tournament Bracketology: Michigan State Spartans Lock Up #3 Seed

With the Big Ten moving closer to the end of the regular season and we will be updating our 2015 Big Ten Tournament bracket more often. Instead of a weekly update, we will be posting updates after each set of games have concluded. As such, we will take a look at the bracket following Saturday's games.

The concept is pretty simple. Each time, BTP will breakdown how the Big Ten Tournament projects as of that moment. For instance, today's bracket will be set as of the morning of Sunday, March 8, 2015. 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 (3/8):

Thoughts

There was not a ton of movement due to Saturday's set of games, but several seeds were clinched and a few matchups were secured for next week's Big Ten Tournament.  In fact, a total of 9 of the 14 seeds in next week's Big Ten Tournament have already been clinched and one game has already been set.  Let's start at the top.

There was no change in the top two seeds as Wisconsin is locked in at #1 and Maryland is locked in at #2.  Both of these two clinched their spots earlier this week.  Michigan State maintained the #3 seed with a win over Indiana and locked into their spot as well.  This was big for a Spartan team trying to secure a better spot in this year's NCAA Tournament.  Finally, at the #4 seed, Purdue jumped Iowa despite them both winning.  This is because Ohio State is no longer tied with Iowa, Michigan State, and Purdue at 12-6 because they have not played their final game.  If Ohio State wins on Sunday, Iowa will take the #4 seed next week and if they lose, Purdue will be the #4 seed.

In the single byes, Ohio State locked up the #6 spot as they do not have the tiebreaker advantage over Iowa, Michigan State, and Purdue so they will be the #6 whether they win or lose on Sunday.  Indiana and Illinois locked up their respective seeds with losses on Saturday.  Indiana will be the #7 seed and Illinois will be the #8 seed.  Michigan was the only winner in the single byes on Saturday and locked up the #9 seed.  The Illini and Wolverines will play for the third time this season in Chicago.  Northwestern lost to Iowa and dropped from the #10 to the #11 seed.  Minnesota moves up to #10 and will lock it up with a win over Penn State on Sunday.

There was no movement at the bottom as Penn State had already locked up the #13 seed and Rutgers had already locked up the #14 seed.  Nebraska is the #12 seed, but could move up to #10 seed with a win and if Minnesota loses on Sunday as they hold the tiebreaker advantage over Minnesota and Northwestern in the event of a three-way tie.  There could be a lot of movement for that last single bye on Sunday.

BTPowerhouse will have more bracket updates as the week continues so stay tuned.