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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, March 5, 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 (3/5):
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Thoughts:
After a wild week of games, including an incredible finish in Evanston between Michigan and Northwestern, an upset win for Iowa on the road over Wisconsin, and a thriller between Maryland and Michigan State, things look pretty wild across the Big Ten standings. And there’s really no telling how the games will unfold this week.
But this bracket does provide an interesting look at how things sit right now.
At the top, Purdue has locked up the top spot in the bracket. With A 13-4 record, no team can close the two-game margin this weekend. Behind the Boilermakers, Maryland has a half game lead over Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, with the Badgers and Gophers facing off on Sunday, one of the two has to win. Since Minnesota and Wisconsin both have tiebreaker over Maryland, expect the Terps to drop later today.
The most interesting consequence of the Minnesota and Wisconsin matchup will be its overlap with the Northwestern and Purdue game. If Minnesota and Northwestern win, the Wildcats will jump the Badgers for the four seed.
Outside of the battle for the two and four seeds, the most significant battle will be to see who gets the 10 seed and avoids Wednesday’s games. Nebraska’s games will be the one to watch. If Nebraska wins, it gets the 10 seed. Otherwise, it’s Indiana.
All told, it remains a hectic race across the Big Ten.