Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions and NCAA Tournament Resumes

The weekend came and went without any real shockers in the Big Ten.  On Saturday, Maryland beat Michigan, Illinois ended Northwestern's four-game winning streak, and Iowa needed OT to get past Penn State.  Yesterday, Wisconsin held off Michigan State, and Ohio State came from behind to beat Purdue.  With the win, the Badgers clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title.  One more win (or a Maryland loss) would mean the Badgers clinch the outright title and the 1-seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

With two more games for each team, no seed has been clinched.

On the slate next (Tuesday):

-Iowa at Indiana (7:00 p.m. EST, ESPN)

-Maryland at Rutgers (7:00 p.m. EST, BTN)

-Michigan at Northwestern (9:00 p.m. EST, BTN)

Current Standings

Here are the current standings, with the conference record, each team's remaining games, and my predictions.  I will try to update these after every day or every couple days of games.

1.  Wisconsin (14-2):  at Minnesota (W), at OSU (L)

2 (tie).  Maryland (12-4):  at Rutgers (W), at Nebraska (W)

2 (tie).  Purdue (11-5):  at MSU (L), Illinois (W)

4.  Michigan State (10-6):  Purdue (W), at IU (L)

5 (tie).  Iowa (10-6):  at IU (L), Northwestern (W)

5 (tie).  Ohio State (10-6):  at PSU (W), Wisconsin (W)

7.  Indiana (9-7):  Iowa (W), MSU (W)

8.  Illinois (8-8):  Nebraska (W), at Purdue (L)

9.  Michigan (7-9):  at Northwestern (W), Rutgers (W)

10.  Minnesota (6-10):  Wisconsin (L), PSU (W)

11.  Northwestern (5-11):  Michigan (L), at Iowa (L)

12.  Nebraska (5-11):  at Illinois (L), Maryland (L)

13.  Penn State (3-13):  OSU (L), at Minnesota (L)

14.  Rutgers (2-14):  Maryland (L), at Michigan (L)

Projected Big Ten Tournament Seeding

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

1.  Wisconsin (15-3)

2.  Maryland (14-4)

3.  Ohio State (12-6) (would have tiebreaker over Purdue based on better record vs. Wisconsin)

4.  Purdue (12-6)

5.  Indiana (11-7) (IU would have tiebreaker over MSU based on better record vs. Maryland)

6.  Michigan State (11-7)

7.  Iowa (11-7) (would lose three-way tie with IU and MSU based on 0-2 record vs. other two schools, while IU and MSU have 2-1 vs. other two schools)

8.  Illinois (9-9) (would have tiebreaker over Michigan based on better record vs. Maryland)

9.  Michigan (9-9)

10.  Minnesota (7-11)

11.  Nebraska (5-13) (has tiebreaker over Northwestern based on 1-0 record vs. Northwestern)

12.  Northwestern (5-13)

13.  Penn State (3-15)

14.  Rutgers (2-16)

Big Ten Tournament Schecule

Here are the dates/times/TV schedule for the Big Ten Tournament (and a link to the bracket), which will be in Chicago.  All times are Central.

Wednesday March 11 – First Round

(12) vs. (13) (3:30 p.m. ESPN2)

(11) vs. (14) (6 p.m. BTN)

Thursday March 12 – Second Round

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

(5) vs. (12)/(13) (1:30 p.m., BTN)

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

(6) vs. (11)/(14) (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Friday March 13 – Quarterfinals

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

(4) vs. (5)/(12)/(13) (1:30 p.m., ESPN)

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

(3) vs. (6)/(11)/(14) (8 p.m., BTN)

Saturday March 14 – Semifinals

(1)/(8)/(9) vs. (4)/(5)/(12)/(13) (12 p.m., CBS)

(2)/(7)/(10) vs. (3)/(6)/(11)/(14) (2:30 p.m., CBS)

Sunday March 15 – Finals

(1)/(4)/(5)/(8)/(9)/(12)/(13) vs. (2)/(3)/(6)/(7)/(10)/(11)/(14) (2:30 p.m., CBS)

NCAA Tournament Resumes for All 14 Big Ten Teams

Here is each Big Ten team's updated NCAA Tournament resume.  From top to bottom, I will list each team's RPI (based on ESPN's daily RPI), "good" wins (wins against RPI Top 50 teams or, if none, the team's best win), "bad" losses (losses against teams with an RPI of 101+ or, if none, the team's worst loss).  An * means the game was played on a neutral court, and for the "good" wins and "bad" losses, the team's current RPI is identified.  Also, I have categorized the teams by "In," "Bubble," or "Out," which is my best guess, based on what I know right now, as to whether each team is a lock for the NCAA Tournament, is on the bubble, or is out.

In

1.  Wisconsin

RPI:  6

Overall record:  26-3

Good wins:  8 (Oklahoma* (14), Georgetown* (24), Boise State (30), Michigan State (31), Buffalo (34), Indiana (42), Iowa (48), at Iowa (48))

Bad losses: 1 (at Rutgers (152))

2.  Maryland

RPI:  10

Overall record:  24-5

Good wins:  6 (Wisconsin (6), Iowa State* (17), Michigan State (31), at Michigan State (31), Indiana (42), at Oklahoma State (43))

Bad losses:  None (at Illinois (59))

3.  Michigan State

RPI:  31

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  3 (Ohio State (33), Indiana (42), at Iowa (48))

Bad losses:  2 (at Nebraska (124), Texas Southern (141))

4.  Ohio State

RPI:  33

Overall record:  21-8

Good wins:  2 (Maryland (10), Indiana (42))

Bad losses:  None (at Michigan (79))

5.  Indiana

RPI:  42

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  5 (Maryland (10), SMU (20), Butler* (23), Ohio State (33), Pittsburgh (49))

Bad losses:  1 (at Northwestern (113))

Bubble

6.  Iowa

RPI:  48

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  4 (Maryland (10), at North Carolina (12), at Ohio State (33), Ohio State (33))

Bad losses:  1 (at Northwestern (113))

7.  Purdue

RPI:  58

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  6 (Ohio State (33), BYU* (39), Indiana (42), at Indiana (42), Iowa (48), NC State (50))

Bad losses:  2 (Gardner-Webb (157), North Florida (175))

8.  Illinois

RPI:  59

Overall record:  18-11

Good wins:  3 (Baylor* (8), Maryland (10), at Michigan State (31))

Bad losses:  1 (at Nebraska (124))

Out

9.  Minnesota

RPI:  78

Overall record:  16-12

Good wins:  3 (at Michigan State (31), Georgia* (32), at Iowa (48))

Bad losses:  3 (Northwestern (113), at Penn State (118), at Nebraska (124))

10.  Michigan

RPI:  79

Overall record:  13-14

Good wins:  2 (Ohio State (33), Oregon* (35))

Bad losses:  2 (Eastern Michigan (169), NJIT (173))

11.  Northwestern

RPI:  113

Overall record:  14-15

Good wins:  2 (Indiana (42), Iowa (48))

Bad losses:  2 (Georgia Tech (117), at Nebraska (124))

12.  Penn State

RPI:  118

Overall record:  15-14

Good wins:  None (Minnesota (78))

Bad losses:  3 (at Northwestern (113), at Rutgers (152), Charlotte* (200))

13.  Nebraska

RPI:  124

Overall record:  13-15

Good wins:  1 (Michigan State (31))

Bad losses:  4 (at Penn State (118), Creighton (125), Incarnate Word (155), at Hawaii (164))

14.  Rutgers

RPI:  152

Overall record:  10-19

Good wins:  1 (Wisconsin (6))

Bad losses:  5 (Northwestern (113), at Penn State (118), at Nebraska (124), St. Francis (PA) (202), St. Peter's (243))