The Big Ten regular season crown is still up in the air
after Indiana was unable to protect home court last night against Ohio
State. It looks like the race will come
down to the final day of the season to finally determine which team wins
America’s toughest basketball conference.
This brings up the confusing question of Big Ten Tournament seeding
positions. While there are so many
different results in the next 5 days, hopefully I can shed light on the current
situation and maybe give some rooting interests for you. It is pretty
straightforward if Indiana wins their last remaining game at Michigan. The Hoosiers would clinch the number one seed
as they would win the conference outright for the first time since 1993. Let’s take a look at the battle of the 2-5
seeds and if Indiana happens to lose in Ann Arbor.
Let’s start with our dear Wolverines. If Michigan finishes the season 0-2 they will
almost be guaranteed the 5 seed. Their
only hope of snagging the 4 seed would be if Michigan State also loses both of
their final games (against Wisconsin and Northwestern), and the Wolverines
would own the tiebreaker with their win over Minnesota and Michigan State going
1-1 against the Gophers. Ok, so that’s the
most depressing news. After the maize
and blue lost to Penn State last week, I am not going to take any game for
granted, but I do not have a problem doing it for other teams. So I am going to say it is say to assume that
both Michigan State and Wisconsin will win their weekend games (Northwestern
and @ Penn State). If Michigan manages
to go 1-1 in this stretch with a win over Purdue and a loss to the Hoosiers,
the 5 seed will again be waiting the Wolverines unless Michigan State loses to
Wisconsin on their home floor. Now, the
more fun part, if Michigan finds a way to win both games this week they cannot
be any worse than the 4 seed, and most likely would be the 3 seed. The Wolverines only shot at sliding all the
way up to the number 2 seed would be if Wisconsin loses in East Lansing and
Ohio State loses against Illinois.
Wisconsin is the only team outside of Indiana that has a
chance at the number 1 seed still. The Badgers
will, of course, need to win their remaining two games and have Michigan take
care of business at home on Sunday. If
Indiana closes out with a win, the best the Badgers can be is the 2 seed. However, if Wisconsin loses in East Lansing
tomorrow night they most likely would slide down to the 4 or 5 seed regardless
of what happens in Ann Arbor. Their best
case scenario if they lose against Michigan State would be a 3 seed if both OSU
and Michigan also lose games this week.
Ohio State will wrap up the 2 seed if there is a 4-way tie
on top of the standings. The Buckeyes
will likely fall to the 4 or 5 with a loss against Illinois over the
weekend. Their worst case scenario, if
they finish with a win, would be a 3 seed.
Their best case scenario, if they finish with a loss, will be a 3
seed. Ohio State would need both Michigan
State and Michigan to lose again though.
If Michigan State shares the championship, the best seed
they could grab would be the 3 seed.
However, if the cards fall right for the Spartans, they would wind up
the 2 seed if Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan all lose again. The best case scenario, if they lose, would
be the 4 seed if Michigan loses twice or both Michigan and Ohio State lose over
the weekend. The worst case scenario, if
they win out, would be the 4 seed.
At this point, it still too early to really tell where your
team will end up without making some big assumptions. This year’s Big Ten is so difficult that I don’t
think there is much advantage over being any of the 2-4 seeds, and even playing
Iowa on Friday could present some problems for most teams. I am just hoping that Michigan can find a way
to win out, and let the seeding be sorted out as it may.
No comments:
Post a Comment