Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions

March is upon us, and the Madness is here.  In national news, Wichita State routed Missouri State to finish the regular season 31-0 -- the first team since St. Joseph's in 2004 to finish the regular season undefeated.  Virginia clinched its first ACC title since Ralph Sampson was in Charlottesville.  Also, 11 ranked teams lost this weekend (#4 Syracuse, #5 Kansas, #7 Louisville, #9 Creighton, #10 St. Louis, #11 Cincinnati, #15 Iowa State, #17 Kentucky, #18 Michigan State, #22 Ohio State, and #24 Texas).  

Championship Week starts this week.  I just got goosebumps writing that sentence.  Predictions will be arriving soon.  I have a feeling this March -- both Championship Week and the NCAA Tournament -- are going to be insane.  No one is safe in college basketball this year, except maybe Wichita State.

In the Big Ten, two more ranked teams fell to unranked opponents this weekend.  Yesterday, Illinois went into East Lansing and beat #18 Michigan State.  The Spartans are now 4-6 in their last ten games.  The Illini, on the other hand, have won 3 in a row and 4 of their last 6, since losing 8 in a row.

Speaking of too little too late, today, IU -- without star freshman Noah Vonleh -- beat #22 Ohio State at home for the Hoosiers' second win in a row over a ranked team.  Those home losses to Northwestern and Penn State really hurt right now.

In other Big Ten news, yesterday, Nebraska beat Northwestern and Michigan beat Minnesota (clinching at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title), while today, Wisconsin beat Penn State and Iowa beat Purdue.

The next Big Ten game is Tuesday night, with Michigan traveling to Illinois (6 p.m. Central; ESPN).

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

1.  Michigan (13-3):  at Illinois (W), IU (W)

2.  Michigan State (11-5):  Iowa (W), at OSU (L)

3.  Wisconsin (11-5):  Purdue (W), Nebraska (W)

4.  Iowa (9-7):  at MSU (L), Illinois (W)

5.  Nebraska (9-7):  at IU (L), Wisconsin (L)

6.  Ohio State (9-8):  MSU (W)

7.  Indiana (7-9):  Nebraska (W), at Michigan (L)

8.  Minnesota (7-10):  PSU (W)

9.  Illinois (6-10):  Michigan (L), at Iowa (L)

10.  Purdue (5-11):  at Wisconsin (L), Northwestern (W)

11.  Northwestern (5-11):  PSU (W), at Purdue (L)

12.  Penn State (5-11):  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)

3.  Michigan State (12-6)

4.  Iowa (10-8) (Iowa has tiebreaker over OSU based on 1-1 record vs. Michigan, while OSU has 0-1 record vs. Michigan)

5.  Ohio State (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 (6-12) (loses three-way tie with Northwestern and Purdue based on 0-2 record vs. other two teams, while Northwestern and Purdue will have 2-1 record vs. other two teams)

12.  Penn State (5-13)

Here are my game-by-game predictions for the Big Ten Tournament, with 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) Indiana vs. (9) Northwestern (11 a.m., BTN).  Predicted winner:  Indiana

(5) Ohio State vs. (12) Penn State (1:30 p.m., BTN).  Predicted winner:  Ohio State

(7) Minnesota vs. (10) Purdue (5:30 p.m., ESPN2).  Predicted winner:  Minnesota

(6) Nebraska vs. (11) Illinois (8 p.m., ESPN2).  Predicted winner:  Illinois

Friday March 14 - Quarterfinals

(1) Michigan vs. (8) Indiana (11 a.m., ESPN/EPSN2).  Predicted winner:  Indiana

(4) Iowa vs. (5) Ohio State (1:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2).  Predicted winner:  Ohio State

(2) Wisconsin vs. (7) Minnesota (5:30 p.m., BTN).  Predicted winner:  Minnesota

(3) Michigan State vs. (11) Illinois (8 p.m., BTN).  Predicted winner:  Michigan State

Saturday March 15 - Semifinals

(8) Indiana vs. (5) Ohio State (12:40 p.m., CBS).  Predicted winner:  Indiana

(7) Minnesota vs. (3) Michigan State (3 p.m., CBS).  Predicted winner:  Michigan State

Sunday March 16 - Finals

(8) Indiana vs. (3) Michigan State (2:30 p.m., CBS).  Predicted winner:  Indiana