B1G Conference Tournament Seeding

Submitted by ChiCityWolverine on

We all know that a win over Penn State and an Ohio win over Michigan State will result in a three-way tie for the regular season. In this situation, all 3 teams are 1-1 against each other so head-to-head won't solve the tiebraker. What other factors will detemine the seeding?

We really could use the 1 or 2 seed. A quick look at the B1G standings reveals the 5 and 6 teams are Indiana and Purdue (both teams we split with), who play Sunday in Bloomington to determine the order. It would obviously be preferable to have an easier first game against the likes of Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, or Minnesota.

bacon1431

March 2nd, 2012 at 11:59 AM ^

I believe the tie-breaker in a 3 way tie at the top of the standings is the winning % against the next best common opponent. In this case, it would be Wisconsin. OSU went 1-1 against Wisconsin so they would be the 3 seed. We were 1-0 against the Badgers but MSU was 2-0 so we would be a 2 seed.

coopfour24

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^

That link is for 2008 tie breaking procedures, the new rule says that 2-0 is the same as 1-0.

Michigan State is still locked into the 1 seed though. Michigan and Ohio State are locked into 2/3 or 3/2. Wisconsin is locked into the 4.

Purdue and Indiana are playing for 5/6. Iowa and Northwestern are playing for 7/8.

2012 rules

mgokev

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:08 PM ^

In your scenario, both MSU and Michigan have a winning percentage of 100%.  Does it matter how many times they played (won)?  Or given the fact that they are still tied after winning percentage, would it go further from there?

EDIT: Apparently I'm late to the party on this one...

Alton

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:01 PM ^

The next tiebreaker in a 3-way tie for first would be the winning percentage against the #4 team(s), followed by #5, etc.  No matter how you arrange it, Michigan State gets the #1 seed, Michigan #2 and Ohio State #3, assuming Michigan wins.

 

 

jmblue

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:03 PM ^

I'm not too worried.  Keep in mind that whomever we play will have tired legs from the previous day while we'll be well-rested. 

AmaizeingBlue

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:03 PM ^

MSU has the 1 seed no matter what. If we win Sunday or Ohio loses we get a 2 seed. If we lose Sunday AND Ohio wins we get a three seed. It looks like we will be playing either NW, Iowa, Minnesota, or Nebraska. The winner of the Iowa-NW game will have the 7 seed and the winner of the Minn-Neb game will have the 10 seed, so we will play whoever comes out of that scenario. Probably NW or Iowa.

MH20

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:36 PM ^

That was early in the season when Wisconsin went through some struggles offensively.  It is quite an accomplishment that they won at Kohl Center, but I still think that Iowa away from Carver-Hawkeye is a very average team.

jmblue said the same thing I have been saying for a while, and that is that Iowa feeds off their home crowd more than any other B1G team.  Indy ain't Iowa City.

BeatOSU52

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^

I figure we'll have to face either MSU or OSU in the sem-finals no matter what seed we get (assuming we win on Friday in round 2), so I am not too concerned about what seed we would get in an event of a tie-breaker.  I would really like a share of the conference regular season title, though, to get that monkey off our backs. 

swan flu

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^

If we win and Northwestern beats Iowa, we could see Northwestern in the quarterfinals.

 

I would be wary of a bubble team whom we have devestated with late comebacks TWICE this season.

WolvinLA2

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^

Agreed. If NW beats Iowa, then their tourney hopes are still alive with a deep BT tourney run, and I don't want to have to beat a fired up NW team for the third time this season.

Best case would be if Iowa beats NW this weekend so we don't have to face them.

joeyb

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^

We will be either a 2 or 3 seed at this point. In either case, that means we will get a team that we should beat in the second round, then, most likely, OSU.

davking1980

March 2nd, 2012 at 2:32 PM ^

There is a big difference in 1st round matchups between the 2 and 3 seed.  Assuming higher seed wins in 1st round of BTT, 2 seed gets winner of this weekend's Iowa/NW matchup where winner gets 7 seed.  The 3 seed gets loser of IU/Purdue matchup.  This of course assumes no upsets in Thursday 1st round BTT games.  HUGE difference in playing IU/Purdue vs. playing Iowa/NU

Fun Big Ten Tourney facts: In the 14 year history, the following matchups have never occurred:

Illinois/Iowa

Purdue/Wisconsin

Indiana/Michigan

MSU/Michigan

I'm sure everyone knows about MSU/Michigan never meeting. However, there has only been 1 year (2001, UM 10 seed, MSU 2) where they could have even met before the semifinals. Including this year where they can't meet until the finals, 11 of the 15 years of the BTT, the only way MSU/Michigan could have met was in the finals. That is crazy to me.

mjtobin

March 2nd, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^

 

Here are all the possible B1G Tournement seedings:
  1. MSU
  2. Michigan or OSU
  3. Michigan or OSU
  4. Wisconsin
  5. Indiana or Purdue
  6. Indiana or Purdue
  7. Iowa or Northwestern
  8. Iowa or Illinois or Northwestern
  9. Illinois or Northwestern
  10. Minnesota or Nebraska
  11. Minnesota or Nebraska
  12. PSU

Tiebreaking scenarios:

2/3: Michigan if win OR OSU loss, OSU if win AND Michigan loss

5/6: winner of Purdue at Indiana

7: winner of Northwestern at Iowa

8: Iowa if loss, Illinois if win AND Northwestern loss, Northwestern if loss AND Illinois loss

9: Illinois if loss, Northwestern if loss AND illinois win

10/11: winner of Nebraska at Minnesota

Picktown GoBlue

March 3rd, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^

MSU is #1 seed

If Michigan wins, they're #2 seed and osu is #3.  If the unthinkable happens, then if osu wins, osu would get #2 and Michigan the #3.  If both Michigan and osu lose, Michigan is #2 and osu is #3.

Wisconsin is #4 (so the top 4 teams in the two halves of the brackets are set)

Winner of Indiana-Purdue is #5; loser is #6.

If Northwestern wins over Iowa, they're #7, Illinois is #9, and Iowa is #8.

If NU loses to Iowa and if Illinois wins, NU is #9, Illinois is #8, and Iowa is #7.

If NU and Illinois both lose, NU is #8, Illinois is #9, and Iowa is #7.

If Minnesota beats Nebraska, Minnesota is #10, Penn State is #11, and Nebraska is #12 [edit] unless Penn State loses and Indiana wins, then Nebraska is #11 and Penn State is #12. 

If Nebraska beats Minnesota, Penn State is #12 but Penn State's result against Michigan determines others' seeding: If Penn State wins, Minnesota is #10 and Nebraska is #11 (due to 3 way tie for 10th place and head to head records); if Michigan wins; Nebraska is #10 and Minnesota is #11.

First round is 8 vs. 9, 5 vs. 12, 7 vs. 10, and 6 vs. 11 - none of these games will be rematches from the final weekend of the regular season.

As a #2 or #3 seed, Michigan will be playing the 6:30 game (7/10 winner) or the one that follows (6/11 winner) on Friday.