Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions

I told you they were trap games.  Michigan barely escaped Purdue in overtime, with a buzzer beater by Glenn Robinson III, which must have been a double dagger for Purdue fans.  Then again, with all of the toxic fumes in West Lafayette, I'm sure most people's memories of Glenn Robinson are faint at best.  What's another guy who didn't lead Purdue to a Final Four in a list of hundreds?

And then in Champaign, the Illini stopped Nebraska's five-game winning streak, putting a hurt on the Cornhuskers' NCAA tournament chances.  In case you're wondering, yes, I did predict that.  With the win, Illinois guarantees itself a .500 regular season record and a likely trip to the NIT, barring an unexpected Big Ten Tournament title run.

Tonight, IU welcomes #20 Iowa to Assembly Hall (8 p.m. Central; ESPN), in a makeup game of the game that was cancelled last week after a metal beam fell from Assembly Hall's ceiling.  It has been repaired, and structural engineers have said the Hall is safe again –- except for the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team.  BOOM!

Also tonight, Ohio State travels to Penn State (6 p.m. Central; ESPN2) in what should be an easy victory for the Buckeyes.  Then again, there haven't been many easy victories for anyone this year in the Big Ten, especially on the road.

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

1.  Michigan (12-3):  Minnesota (W), at Illinois (W), IU (W)

2.  Michigan State (11-4):  Illinois (W), Iowa (W), at OSU (L)

3.  Wisconsin (10-5):  at PSU (W), Purdue (W), Nebraska (W)

4.  Ohio State (9-6):  at PSU (W), at IU (L), MSU (W)

5.  Iowa (8-6):  at IU (L), Purdue (W), at MSU (L), Illinois (W)

6.  Nebraska (8-7):  Northwestern (W), at IU (L), Wisconsin (L)

7.  Minnesota (7-9):  at Michigan (L), PSU (W)

8.  Indiana (5-9):  Iowa (W), OSU (W), Nebraska (W), at Michigan (L)

9.  Purdue (5-10):  at Iowa (L), at Wisconsin (L), Northwestern (W)

10.  Northwestern (5-10):  at Nebraska (L), PSU (W), at Purdue (L)

11.  Illinois (5-10):  at MSU (L), Michigan (L), at Iowa (L)

12.  Penn State (4-10):  OSU (L), Wisconsin (L), at Northwestern (L), at Minnesota (L)

Given my predictions and Big Ten tiebreaking rules, here is how the Big Ten Tournament seeds should fall into place and how the Big Ten Tournament will play out (all times are Central):

1.  Michigan (15-3)

2.  Wisconsin (13-5) (Wisconsin has tiebreaker over MSU based on 1-0 head-to-head record)

3.  Michigan State (13-5)

4.  Ohio State (11-7)

5.  Iowa (10-8)

6.  Nebraska (9-9)

7.  Minnesota (8-10) (Minnesota has tiebreaker over IU based on 1-0 head-to-head record)

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 (or maybe a week or two out), 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.

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)