Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions

Well, my prediction that IU would beat Iowa Tuesday night didn't come through, as an 8-foot chunk of metal fell from Assembly Hall's ceiling Tuesday afternoon, causing the game to be postponed to an as-yet-undetermined make-up date.  The ceiling is literally caving in on the Hoosiers' season.  As my friend Ryan said, "The only way this could be a better metaphor is if all 4 wheels of the team bus simultaneously fell off their axles."

In other news, last night Ohio State dismantled Northwestern, while Illinois stole a win over Minnesota at The Barn, dealing a blow to the Gophers' NCAA Tournament hopes.

Here are the current standings, with the conference record, each team's remaining games, and my predictions.

1 (tie).  Michigan (10-3):  MSU (W), at Purdue (W), Minnesota (W), at Illinois (W), IU (W)

1 (tie).  Michigan State (10-3):  at Purdue (W), at Michigan (L), Illinois (W), Iowa (W), at OSU (L)

3.  Iowa (8-4):  at IU (L), Wisconsin (W), at Minnesota (L), Purdue (W), at MSU (L), Illinois (W)

4.  Wisconsin (8-5):  at Iowa (L), IU (W), at PSU (W), Purdue (W), Nebraska (W)

5.  Ohio State (8-6):  Minnesota (W), at PSU (W), at IU (L), MSU (W)

6.  Nebraska (6-6):  PSU (W), Purdue (W), at Illinois (L), Northwestern (W), at IU (L), Wisconsin (L)

7.  Minnesota (6-8):  Illinois (W), at OSU (L), Iowa (W), at Michigan (W), PSU (W)

8.  Purdue (5-7):  MSU (L), at Nebraska (L), Michigan (L), at Iowa (L), at Wisconsin (L), Northwestern (W)

9.  Northwestern (5-9):  IU (L), at Nebraska (L), PSU (W), at Purdue (L)

10.  Indiana (4-8):  Iowa (W), at Northwestern (W), at Wisconsin (L), OSU (W), Nebraska (W), at Michigan (L)

11.  Penn State (4-9):  at Nebraska (L), OSU (L), Wisconsin (L), at Northwestern (L), at Minnesota (L)

12.  Illinois (4-10):  Nebraska (W), at MSU (L), Michigan (L), at Iowa (L)

Given my predictions and Big Ten tiebreaking rules, here is how the Big Ten Tournament seeds should fall into place:

1.  Michigan (15-3)

2.  Michigan State (13-5)

3.  Wisconsin (12-6)

4.  Iowa (11-7) (Iowa will have tiebreaker over Ohio State based on 1-1 record vs. Michigan, while OSU has 0-1 record vs. Michigan)

5.  Ohio State (11-7)

6.  Nebraska (9-9) (Nebraska has tiebreaker over Minnesota based on 1-0 head-to-head record)

7.  Minnesota (9-9)

8.  Indiana (8-10)

9.  Northwestern (6-12) (Northwestern will have tiebreaker over Purdue based on 1-1 record vs. Wisconsin, while Purdue will have 0-2 record vs. Wisconsin)

10.  Purdue (6-12)

11.  Illinois (5-13)

12.  Penn State (4-14)

I usually also include far-too-premature predictions for every game of the Big Ten Tournament, but I'm not even going to try to do that this year until the seeds are announced, since it would be an even more futile exercise than usual.  However, here are the dates/times/TV schedule for the Big Ten Tournament (and a link to the bracket), which will be in Indianapolis.  All times are Central because that's the time zone in which I reside.

Thursday March 13 – First Round

(8) vs. (9) (11 a.m., BTN)

(5) vs. (12) (1:30 p.m., BTN)

(7) vs. (10) (5:30 p.m., ESPN2)

(6) vs. (11) (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Friday March 14 - Quarterfinals

(1) vs. (8)/(9) (11 a.m., ESPN/EPSN2)

(4) vs. (5)/(12) (1:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2)

(2) vs. (7)/(10) (5:30 p.m., BTN)

(3) vs. (6)/(11) (8 p.m., BTN)

Saturday March 15 - Semifinals

(1)/(8)/(9) vs. (4)/(5)/(12) (12:40 p.m., CBS)

(2)/(7)/(10) vs. (3)/(6)/(11) (3 p.m., CBS)

Sunday March 16 - Finals

(1)/(4)/(5)/(8)/(9)/(12) vs. (2)/(3)/(6)/(7)/(10)/(11) (2:30 p.m., CBS)