2/26 Big Ten Tournament Bracketology: Minnesota Improves To Three Seed

The Big Ten has operated more like the wild west than a major basketball conference this season, but it’s led to some intriguing and exciting results. It should also set things up nicely for the Big Ten Tournament, especially considering how unpredictable play has been for the league’s top teams.

In light of that, let's take a look at the Big Ten Tournament bracket.

The concept of the bracket 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, February 26, 2017. I have taken the liberty of looking at the Big Ten records and using the Big Ten tiebreaker scenarios to see where teams land. Things will certainly move, but it’s interesting to see as of this moment.

2017 Big Ten Tournament Bracket (2/26):

Thoughts:

Things appeared like they might be settling heading into Saturday’s slate of games, but after a wild day that featured two upsets, things remain as unpredictable as ever across the Big Ten. Saturday’s results made some significant changes to the projected bracket that could reshape the events in this year’s Big Ten Tournament.

At the top, nothing changed at the one or two seeds, but Minnesota has now overtaken Maryland and will look to keep the team’s recent run going. The good news for the Terps is that the team closes with Rutgers and a beatable Michigan State team at home. Meanwhile, Minnesota gets Wisconsin on the road next weekend. As such, look for Maryland to move back into the third seed by the end of next week.

The middle of the field is absolutely insane right now. Michigan State is only a half game up on Michigan and Northwestern (both tied in the standings), Iowa is just one game back from those two, and Illinois and Nebraska are tied in the standings behind the Hawkeyes. Expect massive movement in this group by next Sunday.

Finally, the bottom of the bracket is tight as well. Indiana, Ohio State, and Penn State are all tied at 6-10 in the standings and just one game back from Illinois and Nebraska. It’s going to be a dramatic finish to see if any of these three can do enough to earn a bye in this year’s Big Ten Tournament. Notably, whether Illinois and/or Indiana get a bye could determine their respective NCAA Tournament chances.