If the season ended right now, BTT bracket

Submitted by oriental andrew on

So if the season ended at this very moment, before the road tilt against NW, this is how the BTT bracket would shape up.  Tie breaker rules live here.  Bracket taken from wikipedia

Michigan would be a 2 seed, ahead of osu, by virtue of the 2nd tie-break rule.  First is head to head (split), 2nd is record against top team in the regular season standings (msu), against which UM is 1-1, while osu is currently 0-1.  Similarly, Illinois gets the nod over Minnesota for the 9th seed due to their crazy win against msu. 

Michigan would potentially have to play Northwestern again, which would be no cakewalk.  Then again, seeds 5-7 are all tough outs, and we've seen that even Iowa is capable of winning a game or two. 

Overall, regardless of how the final bracket shakes out, I'd say Michigan has a great shot at getting to the semifinals, and pretty decent odds at making the championship game.  Click the image for a bigger version.

Sambojangles

February 21st, 2012 at 11:54 AM ^

Consider the following scenario:

Michigan wins out, finishes 14-4

Ohio wins out, finishes 14-4

MSU goes 3-1, losing to Ohio, finishing 14-4.

Each team will be 1-1 against the other. How does the three-way tiebreaker work after that? Finishing 1st overall is huge in order to avoid playing Ohio/MSU until the championship game, and relying on them to take each other out.

jmblue

February 21st, 2012 at 12:04 PM ^

The first tiebreaker is the record against the other champions.  After that, it's the record against the next-best team, and so on. 

If MSU loses to OSU, then all the teams would be 2-2 against each other, so the tiebreaker would move on to the record against the 4th-place team (probably Wisconsin).  Right now all three teams are undefeated against UW, so it'd then go on to the record against the 5th-place team (probably Indiana).  MSU, in your scenario, would be 2-0 against the Hoosiers while we and OSU would be 1-1, so they'd get the top seed.   Michigan and OSU would keep on going down the line to decide the #2 seed. 

 

Mr. Yost

February 21st, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^

Even if it doesn't favor us...

And I think that's a very real scenario by the way.

As long as we win out and get a share of the B1G Regular Season Championship...I don't care what seed we get. I want to win the B1G Tournament, but if we gotta beat Ohio and State...so be it.

qbwaggle

February 21st, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^

If MSU's loss is to Indiana, then MSU would be the #3 seed due to their record against NW (1 loss compared to no losses for Mich and OSU). OSU would be the #1 seed, Mich #2 (thanks to the Iowa loss).

If MSU's loss is to any other team, MSU is the #1 seed by virtue of tie breaker (0 losses to Indiana, both Mich and OSU have 1 loss). Mich would be the #3 seed (again, thanks to Iowa).

EDIT: this was meant to be a reply to Sambojangles, assuming MSU loses 1 game and OSU/Mich go undefeated down the stretch.

qbwaggle

February 21st, 2012 at 12:15 PM ^

You're right. For some reason in my head I was assuming MSU/OSU/Mich were 1-1 against each other in both scenarios.

So in the event of all 3 teams at 14-4 at the end of the B10 season (tie-breaker in parenthesis):

MSU loses to OSU: #1 MSU (record vs IU), #2 OSU (record vs Iowa), #3 Mich

MSU loses to non-OSU: #1 MSU (record vs OSU), #2 Mich

EDIT: fixed 2nd scenario... if MSU doesn't lose to OSU then OSU would have 5 losses.

Sac Fly

February 21st, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^

I do not want to play Iowa, I don't think anybody does. With wins over Minnesota (Twice), Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana they are the perfect upset team.

Tater

February 21st, 2012 at 12:36 PM ^

The B1G is very well-balanced, and the champion is going to have to beat at least two very high-quality teams to get there.  Michigan, Sparty, Ohio, Indiana, and Wiscy are all potential champions/roadblocks for whoever plays them.  The second level has plenty of teams that you "don't want to play," too.  Illinois, Iowa, NW, and Purdue are all capable of springing upsets.  

The B1G doesn't have anyone who would be a consensus number one seed right now, but they do have a lot of teams who can beat anyone.  The B1G Tournament Champion is going to have earned it, no matter what draw they get, and anyone playing a B1G team in the NCAA Tournament is going to have their hands full.  

I really want to see the Wolverines get a share of the regular season championship and raise a banner.  If they can do that, they should at least get a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and have a very good chance of making it to the second week.

Either of those accomplishments would be a huge step in the rebuilding of the basketball program.  Both would be even better.  Anything else, including a B1G Tournament Championship, or even a Final Four appearance, would be a major bonus, and would put the rebuilding process even further ahead of schedule.

Wolverine Devotee

February 21st, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^

I want this B1G Regular Season Championship more than anything. I honestly think I would shed a few tears if Michigan does win it since, the ups and downs, the high points and darkness that we have seen in the past 20 years.

You could literally write a book called 20 Years of Michigan Basketball. There is so much that has happened. Barely getting over 7,000 at home games to having College Gameday at Crisler.

The dark, gloomy aura of Crisler Arena in the early 2000s to it's astonishing new look and now renamed, Crisler Center.

A program that many abandoned and left for dead when things were bad, to an undefeated home record and possible Top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan Basketball has risen from the ashes, and it's here to stay.

The endless night that Michigan Basketball fans lived, has come to an end. The sun is rising.

 

HenneGivenSunday

February 21st, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^

I've been running through this in between things at work, you just beat me to it.  I'm real excited about the tournament coming up seeing as I bought tickets a while back.  I'm actually more concerned at the moment about locking up a top 4 seed.  By my estimation we need to win 2 out of our last 4 to lock it up (without any help). 

That's huge for anyone who has tickets because it means you can offload your 1st day tickets (probably not for much $ but it means you don't have to wake up super early to head down there on Thursday morning). 

All that being said, I hope they go out and finish the season strong and either take home the B1G Regular Season Title or make MSU and/or OSU earn it.

EDIT: The two wins is without getting ourselves in some weird tie-break nebulous that makes my head asplode