The Big Ten is looking to fill a good number of spots in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, but it first must crown a conference champion. The Big Ten men’s basketball tournament returns to Chicago’s United Center this week for a multi-day extravaganza with the purpose of determining who will get the conference’s automatic spot in the big dance, but there should be plenty on the line for a number of schools that will not be holding the Big Ten trophy at the end of the weekend.
Penn State and Michigan are two teams floating in bubble conversation as the Big Ten tournament gets underway, and picking up a couple of wins in Chicago would go a long way toward helping the cause of getting into the NCAA tournament.
Purdue is the top seed in the tournament, but the Boilermakers suffered all five of their losses this season in conference play, so they know nothing is guaranteed this week. Northwestern, Indiana, and Michigan State also have a double-bye and will not have to step on the court for a game until Friday. There could be a lot of drama in the days leading up to then.
Penn State is a double-digit seed in the Big Ten tournament, but they are matched up with an Illinois team the Nittany Lions have beaten twice this season. Michigan and Rutgers are each looking to make a final push for a spot in the tournament, and they’ll open the Big Ten tournament facing each other on Thursday.
The fun will officially begin with two games on Wednesday as Ohio State and Wisconsin play in the first game of the Big Ten tournament, a bit of an oddity given where these two programs have typically been in recent seasons. And Nebraska and Minnesota will close the first day with the second game on Wednesday evening.
Here is the updated Big Ten Men’s Basketball tournament schedule with updated matchups, start times, and how to watch each game on TV. The entire tournament will air on Big Ten Network until the conference semifinal round and championship game over the weekend. CBS will air the conference semifinals and the conference championship game.
Updated Big Ten tournament championship odds can be found here.