Big Ten at Ten 3.7.13: A Chance At Chaos

So Michigan kinda sorta barely took care of business last night against a very feisty Purdue team that was a fumbled pass away from making magic happen last night. That sets up what should be a very entertaining last set of games in the B1G. The winner of tonight's game between MSU and Wisconsin will still have the right to be considered for the crazy tie-breaker system which we'll get to tonight and will join Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State for the chance to be the Number 1 seed (so long as Michigan beats Indiana on Sunday). According to the Big Ten website, here are the tiebreaker rules:

1. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.

• A. When comparing records against a single team or a group of teams, the higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1); in the case of tied percentages vs. the team or group of 1.000 or .000 the following shall apply: 2-0 is better than 1-0; 0-1 is better than 0-2.
• B. After the top team among the tied teams is determined, the second team is ranked by its record among the original tied teams, not the head-to-head record vs. the remaining team(s).

2. If the remaining teams are still tied, then each tied team's record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.

• A. When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team's record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tie-breaking procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
• B. When comparing records against a single team or a group of teams, the higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1); in the case of tied percentages vs. the team or group of 1.000 or .000 the following shall apply: 2-0 is better than 1-0; 0-1 is better than 0-2.

3. Won-loss percentage of all Division I opponents.
4. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.

So, let's see who is the winner of the conference depending on who wins tonight and so long as Michigan wins on Sunday.

If Sparty Wins Tonight...

This is actually a lot more cut and dry as Indiana is 4-2 against this group. Michigan and OSU are tied for second and since they both went 1-1 against the winner, Indiana, I believe it goes to overall record which is a nod to Michigan. Michigan State went 2-4 against this group unfortunately. They still get the fourth seed.

If Bucky Wins Tonight...

This is actually a lot more interesting as Michigan and Wisconsin tie for the lead at 3-2. If I am reading the rules correctly, since Wisconsin beat Michigan H2H, they get the top seed, then OSU gets the third seed with a 3-3 record against the group and Indiana drops to fourth with a 2-3 against this group.

What does any of this mean? Well, it means that Indiana is probably rooting for Michigan State tonight and will probably be ready to play on Sunday to avoid all of this mess. I'm hoping that the basketball gods smite them for cutting down the nets after a loss. I don't care if you clinched a share of the crown, it was still a little weird and now you will be the fourth seed. Congratulations.

If any of my predictions are wrong, please feel free to correct me (as if you need permission).

THE LINKS THE LINKS THE LINKS

• Welp, looks like Beckman has targeted another major coaching acquisition with the dynamite poaching from MTSU. Now we'll see if he can keep the guy in Champaign.
• The Crimson Quarry rehashes what went wrong against the Buckeyes.
• BHGP's running feature recapping games: Fran Graphs - Illinois
• MnB recaps what was kind of a horrific game for the Wolverines sans the win. Man that defense was ugly last night...
• ToC has a preview of the Spartan-Badger showdown.
• The Daily Gopher does not have a recap from that game last night, but their Q&A with Corn Nation has a lot of Harvey Perlman, which is something.
• Now, Corn Nation has some thoughts on the last game at the Bob and a win over Minnesota.
• SoP has a Never-Made-the-Tournament Club so that all Northwestern fans can raise a glass to those teams trying to break through that glass ceiling of making the tournament... or something. Actually, this is an impressive piece considering how hard it can be to get coverage of these teams.
• LGHL talks about how sneaky good the Buckeye's basketball team is. I think he's right.
• A really good feature to keep an eye on is BSD's conference recruiting updates. Good info for everyone here.
• H&R recaps last night's heartbreaker versus the Wolverines. He talks about the lower seed scenarios as well.
• B5Q talks about the importance of the Spartans-Badgers game tonight as it really is make or break at this point.