Updated Big Ten Tournament Seeding Predictions and NCAA Tournament Resumes

It was a pretty important last several days of games in the Big Ten.  On Thursday, IU beat Iowa at home to stay at the top of the Big Ten standings –- until yesterday when the Hoosiers got trounced by Michigan State in East Lansing, despite OG Anunoby's posterizing dunk in the first half (and Iowa squeaked by Minnesota at home).

On Saturday, Michigan beat Purdue, but the biggest upset was Wisconsin's win at Maryland.  This gives the Badgers seven straight wins and vastly improves their tournament resume.  It also gave the Terps a third Big Ten loss, which could end up hurting their chances of a Big Ten regular season title.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Ohio State took down Rutgers, Nebraska beat Penn State, and Northwestern held off Illinois.

Next games

The next games are tomorrow night (all times Eastern):

-Michigan at Ohio State (7 p.m.; ESPN)

-Northwestern at Purdue (7 p.m.; BTN)

-Rutgers at Illinois (9 p.m.; BTN)

Current Standings

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

1.  Iowa (11-2):  at Penn State (W); Wisconsin (W); at Ohio State (W); Indiana (W); at Michigan (L)

2 (tie).  Indiana (10-3):  Nebraska (W); Purdue (W); at Illinois (W); at Iowa (L); Maryland (W)

2 (tie).  Maryland (10-3):  at Minnesota (W); Michigan (W); at Purdue (L); Illinois (W); at Indiana (L)

4. Michigan (9-4):  at Ohio State (L); at Maryland (L); Northwestern (W); at Wisconsin (L); Iowa (W)

5.  Wisconsin (8-4):  at Michigan State (L); Illinois (W); at Iowa (L); Michigan (W); at Minnesota (W); at Purdue (L)

6 (tie).  Michigan State (8-5):  Wisconsin (W); at Ohio State (W); Penn State (W); at Rutgers (W); Ohio State (W)

6 (tie).  Purdue (8-5):   Northwestern (W); at Indiana (L); Maryland (W); at Nebraska (W); Wisconsin (W)

6 (tie).  Ohio State (8-5):  Michigan (W); at Nebraska (W); Michigan State (L); Iowa (L); at Michigan State (L)

9.  Nebraska (6-7):  at Indiana (L); Ohio State (L); at Penn State (W); Purdue (L); at Northwestern (L)

10.  Northwestern (5-8):  at Purdue (L); at Michigan (L); Rutgers (W); at Penn State (L); Nebraska (W)

11 (tie).  Illinois (3-9):  Rutgers (W); at Wisconsin (L); Indiana (L); Minnesota (W); at Maryland (L); at Penn State (L)

11 (tie).  Penn State (3-9):  Iowa (L); at Rutgers (L); Nebraska (L); at Michigan State (L); Northwestern (W); Illinois (W)

13.  Rutgers (0-12):  at Illinois (L); Penn State (W); at Minnesota (L); at Northwestern (L); Michigan State (L); Minnesota (W)

14.  Minnesota (0-13):  Maryland (L); Rutgers (W); at Illinois (L); Wisconsin (L); at Rutgers (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.  Iowa (15-3)

2.  Indiana (14-4)

3.  Michigan State (13-5) (has tiebreaker over Maryland based on 1-0 record vs. Maryland)

4.  Maryland (13-5)

5.  Purdue (12-6)

6.  Wisconsin (11-7) (would have tiebreaker over Michigan based on 1-0 record vs. Michigan)

7.  Michigan (11-7)

8.  Ohio State (10-8)

9.  Northwestern (7-11) (would have tiebreaker over Nebraska based on 2-0 record vs. Nebraska)

10.  Nebraska (7-11)

11.  Illinois (5-13)

12.  Penn State (4-14)

13.  Rutgers (2-16)

14.  Minnesota (1-17)

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

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 Eastern.

Wednesday March 9 – First Round

(12) vs. (13) (4:30 p.m. ESPN2)

(11) vs. (14) (7 p.m. BTN)

Thursday March 10 – Second Round

(8) vs. (9) (Noon, BTN)

(5) vs. (12)/(13) (2:30 p.m., BTN)

(7) vs. (10) (6:30 p.m., ESPN2)

(6) vs. (11)/(14) (9 p.m., ESPN2)

Friday March 11 – Quarterfinals

(1) vs. (8)/(9) (Noon, ESPN)

(4) vs. (5)/(12)/(13) (2:30 p.m., ESPN)

(2) vs. (7)/(10) (6:30 p.m., BTN)

(3) vs. (6)/(11)/(14) (9 p.m., BTN)

Saturday March 12 – Semifinals

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

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

Sunday March 13 – Finals

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

NCAA Tournament Resumes for All 14 Big Ten Teams

Here is each Big Ten team's NCAA Tournament resume, including each team's RPI (based on ESPN's daily RPI), overall record against D-1 opponents, "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.  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.  Maryland

RPI:  6

Overall record:  21-4

Good wins:  5 (Iowa (10), Purdue (20), Princeton* (42), Connecticut* (43), at Wisconsin (44))

Bad losses: None (at Michigan (52))

2.  Iowa

RPI:  10

Overall record:  20-5

Good wins:  4 (Michigan State (16), at Michigan State (16), Purdue (20), at Purdue (20))

Bad losses:  None (at Indiana (36))

3.  Michigan State

RPI:  16

Overall record:  21-5

Good wins:  6 (Kansas* (1), Maryland (6), Louisville (27), Florida (31), Indiana (36), Providence* (39))

Bad losses:  1 (Nebraska (152))

4.  Purdue

RPI:  20

Overall record:  20-6

Good wins:  4 (Michigan State (16), Florida* (31), at Pittsburgh (41), at Wisconsin (44))

Bad losses:  1 (at Illinois (121))

5.  Indiana

RPI:  36

Overall record:  20-6

Good wins:  3 (Iowa (10), Notre Dame* (19), Wisconsin (44))

Bad losses:  3 (Wake Forest* (110), at Penn State (117), UNLV* (133))

Bubble

6.  Wisconsin

RPI:  44

Overall record:  16-9

Good wins:  4 (at Maryland (6), Michigan State (16), Indiana (36), at Syracuse (38))

Bad losses:  4 (at Northwestern (104), Marquette (113), Milwaukee (151), Western Illinois (252))

7.  Michigan

RPI:  52

Overall record:  18-7

Good wins:  3 (Maryland (6), Purdue (20), Texas* (21))

Bad losses:  None (Connecticut* (43))

Out

8.  Ohio State

RPI:  83

Overall record:  16-10

Good wins:  1 (Kentucky* (13))

Bad losses:  3 (UT-Arlington (107), Louisiana Tech (109), Memphis* (134))

10.  Northwestern

RPI:  104

Overall record:  17-9

Good wins:  1 (Wisconsin (44))

Bad losses:  1 (Penn State (117))

9.  Penn State

RPI:  117

Overall record:  12-13

Good wins:  1 (Indiana (36))

Bad losses:  3 (Duquesne* (125), at Nebraska (152), Radford (164))

11.  Illinois

RPI:  121

Overall record:  11-14

Good wins:  1 (Purdue (20))

Bad losses:  3 (at Northwestern (104), Nebraska (152), North Florida* (179))

12.  Nebraska

RPI:  152

Overall record:  14-12

Good wins:  1 (at Michigan State (16))

Bad losses:  2 (Northwestern (104), Samford (254))

13.  Minnesota

RPI:  221

Overall record:  6-19

Good wins:  None (Clemson (87))

Bad losses:  8 (Northwestern (104), at Northwestern (104), at Penn State (117), Illinois (121), Oklahoma State* (142), Milwaukee (151), at Nebraska (152), South Dakota (175))

14.  Rutgers

RPI:  251

Overall record:  5-19

Good wins:  None (Farleigh Dickinson (234))

Bad losses:  5 (Wake Forest (110), Illinois (121), Nebraska (152), at Nebraska (152), at St. John's (200))