Big Ten Tournament Seeds, Schedule Set

As the Big Ten regular season has mercifully limped to a close a week ahead of schedule, it’s time to set our sights in a decidedly eastern direction, as the conference’s fourteen teams head to New York City for the Big Ten Tournament.

With Madison Square Garden as the location, in case you’ve been living under a rock, the Big Ten had to play a condensed schedule in 2017-18 (including a forgettable two-game conference stretch in December, back when Minnesota was ranked and Northwestern was still had that NCAA Tournament glow). This was to accommodate a tournament a week ahead of time (the Big East traditionally plays its tournament at MSG the weekend leading up to Selection Sunday).

Seeds have been determined, the bracket is finalized, and now we watch as Michigan State and Purdue probably march to the finals or something.

All times here GTZ. Fuck the East Coast.

Wednesday, February 28

Game 1: [12] Iowa Hawkeyes vs. [13] Illinois Fighting Illini
4:30pm | BTN

Game 2: [11] Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. [14] rutger Scarlet Knights
7pm | BTN

Thursday, March 1

Game 3: [8] Maryland Terrapins vs. [9] wisconsin badgers
11am | BTN

Game 4: [5] Michigan Wolverines vs. [Winner Game 1]
1:30pm | BTN

Game 5: [7] Penn State Nittany Lions vs. [10] Northwestern Wildcats
5:30pm | BTN

Game 6: [6] Indiana Hoosiers vs. [Winner Game 2]
7pm | BTN

Friday, March 2

Game 7: [1] Michigan State Spartans vs. [Winner Game 3]
11am | BTN

Game 8: [4] Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. [Winner Game 4]
1:30pm | BTN

Game 9: [2] Ohio State Buckeyes vs. [7] Penn State Nittany Lions
5:30pm | BTN

Game 10: [3] Purdue Boilermakers vs. [Winner Game 6]
7pm | BTN

Saturday, March 3

Game 11: [Winner Game 7] vs. [Winner Game 8]
1pm | CBS

Game 12: [Winner Game 9] vs. [Winner Game 10]
3:30pm | CBS

Sunday, March 4

Championship: [Winner Game 11] vs. [Winner Game 12]
3:30pm | CBS

Random Assorted Thoughts:

Bottom-Four Team Most Likely to Play Friday: That’d be...Jesus, I guess the winner of rutger-Minnesota? As is their wont, Michigan will firebomb the hell out of whichever of Illinois and Iowa comes out of that matchup. That leaves the vulnerable Hoosiers.

Give me rutger.

Non-Top 4 Team Most Likely to Play Saturday: Following that same logic, it has to be Michigan unless Penn State gets Mike Watkins back at full speed and can work their magic against Ohio State again. I won’t count out the Lions, but the Wolverines against Nebrasketball is a pretty good matchup.

Give me Michigan.

Most Commonly-Picked Upset: By round:

1: rutger over Minnesota
2: wisconsin over Maryland
3: Michigan over Nebrasketball
4: Purdue over Ohio State
5: Purdue over Michigan State

My Winner: I don’t know. Probably Michigan State. Maybe Purdue. That sounds about right.

Give your thoughts on the brackets here. Who do you like as the dark horse of the Big Ten Tournament? Just how stupid is it that we’re going to be watching the Big Ten Tournament from Madison Square Garden? Pile on in the comments.

Stay tuned for our Big Ten Tournament 2018 coverage, including:

• A BTT Pick’em
• Daily Potluck articles
• Bracketology updates
• Team-specific previews (where...relevant?)

Thanks for making OTE your home for Big Ten basketball news, commentary, and conversation!