Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions and NCAA Tournament Resumes

The wheels on the Hoosiers' bus have officially fallen off.  With another pathetic performance, this time at home against Iowa, IU has now lost 3 of its last 4 and is now firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble with an RPI above 50.  The Hoosiers' once-potent offense looks stagnant, and they will be lucky to win another game this season with the way they're playing.  Thanks for the false hope earlier this year, guys.

In other games, Northwestern continued its mini reign of terror, beating Michigan in double overtime for the Cats' fifth win in six games.  It's the injury-depleted Wolverines' seventh loss in eight games, and they will need a win against Rutgers on Saturday and at least two wins in the Big Ten Tournament to end up with a .500 record.  In the third game last night, Maryland beat Rutgers, which assures Maryland can do no worse than the 2-seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

On the slate tonight:

-Ohio State at Penn State (6:00 p.m. EST, BTN)

-Purdue at Michigan State (8:00 p.m. EST, BTN)

-Nebraska at Illinois (10:00 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 (13-4):  at Nebraska (W)

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

4.  Iowa (11-6):  Northwestern (W)

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

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

7.  Indiana (9-8):  MSU (L)

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

9.  Michigan (7-10):  Rutgers (W)

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

11.  Northwestern (6-11):  at Iowa (L)

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

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

14.  Rutgers (2-15):  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.  Michigan State (12-6) (would have tiebreaker over OSU, Iowa, and Purdue based on 3-0 record vs. other three teams, while Iowa and Purdue have 2-2 records against the other three teams, and OSU has 1-4 record against other three teams)

4.  Iowa (12-6) (has tiebreaker over Purdue based on better record vs. Maryland)

5.  Purdue (12-6)

6.  Ohio State (12-6) (loses tiebreaker with MSU, Iowa, and Purdue based on worse record vs. other three than the other three have against each other)

7.  Indiana (9-9) (has tiebreaker over Illinois based on 1-0 record vs. Illinois)

8.  Illinois (9-9)

9.  Michigan (8-10)

10.  Minnesota (7-11)

11.  Northwestern (6-12)

12.  Nebraska (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:  7 (Oklahoma* (19), Georgetown* (22), Boise State (29), Michigan State (30), Iowa (36), at Iowa (36), Buffalo (39))

Bad losses: 1 (at Rutgers (154))

2.  Maryland

RPI:  9

Overall record:  25-5

Good wins:  5 (Wisconsin (6), Iowa State* (14), Michigan State (30), at Michigan State (30), at Oklahoma State (44))

Bad losses:  None (at Illinois (59))

3.  Michigan State

RPI:  30

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  2 (Ohio State (32), at Iowa (36))

Bad losses:  2 (at Nebraska (123), Texas Southern (137))

4.  Ohio State

RPI:  32

Overall record:  21-8

Good wins:  1 (Maryland (19))

Bad losses:  None (at Michigan (84))

5.  Iowa

RPI:  36

Overall record:  20-10

Good wins:  4 (Maryland (9), at North Carolina (12), at Ohio State (32), Ohio State (32))

Bad losses:  1 (at Northwestern (110))

Bubble

6.  Indiana

RPI:  53

Overall record:  19-11

Good wins:  5 (Maryland (9), SMU (20), Butler* (25), Ohio State (32), Pittsburgh (49))

Bad losses:  1 (at Northwestern (110))

7.  Purdue

RPI:  58

Overall record:  19-10

Good wins:  4 (Ohio State (32), Iowa (36), BYU* (41), NC State (46))

Bad losses:  2 (Gardner-Webb (159), North Florida (176))

8.  Illinois

RPI:  60

Overall record:  18-11

Good wins:  3 (Maryland (9), Baylor* (10), at Michigan State (30))

Bad losses:  1 (at Nebraska (123))

Out

9.  Minnesota

RPI:  79

Overall record:  16-12

Good wins:  3 (at Michigan State (30), Georgia* (35), at Iowa (36))

Bad losses:  3 (Northwestern (110), at Penn State (117), at Nebraska (123))

10.  Michigan

RPI:  84

Overall record:  13-15

Good wins:  2 (Ohio State (32), Oregon* (33))

Bad losses:  2 (at Northwestern (110), Eastern Michigan (163), NJIT (173))

11.  Northwestern

RPI:  110

Overall record:  15-15

Good wins:  1 (Iowa (36))

Bad losses:  2 (at Nebraska (123), Georgia Tech (125))

12.  Penn State

RPI:  117

Overall record:  15-14

Good wins:  None (Minnesota (79))

Bad losses:  3 (at Northwestern (110), at Rutgers (154), Charlotte* (199))

13.  Nebraska

RPI:  123

Overall record:  13-15

Good wins:  2 (Michigan State (30), Cincinnati (50))

Bad losses:  4 (at Penn State (117), Creighton (124), Incarnate Word (140), at Hawaii (162))

14.  Rutgers

RPI:  154

Overall record:  10-20

Good wins:  1 (Wisconsin (6))

Bad losses:  5 (Northwestern (110), at Penn State (117), at Nebraska (123), St. Francis (PA) (200), St. Peter's (244))