A couple Thursday games brought some clarity to Indiana’s Big Ten Tournament seeding possibilities.
But with seven teams immediately behind first place Purdue with eight losses, there is still a wide range of scenarios.
Going into the final weekend of the regular season, IU can still finish anywhere from the No. 2 seed to the No. 9 seed for next week’s event at the United Center in Chicago. If the Hoosiers beat Michigan they can fall in the No. 2-5 range, and a loss would leave them somewhere in the No. 6-9 spots.
When it comes to earning a coveted double-bye (i.e. one of the top four seeds), the four games that matter this weekend to Indiana are as follows:
(all games on Sunday)
- Maryland at Penn State (Noon ET, BTN)
- Nebraska at Iowa (2 p.m. ET, BTN)
- Michigan at Indiana (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS)
- Northwestern at Rutgers (7:30 p.m. ET, BTN)
The double-bye scenario is fairly simple: Indiana must defeat Michigan, and any of Maryland, Iowa or Northwestern must lose. With Penn State and Rutgers both playing at home on their Senior days and fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives, Maryland and Northwestern should be in for tough games. And Nebraska has won five of seven and beat Iowa earlier this season.
The dream scenario to earn the No. 2 seed must include an IU win and all of Maryland, Iowa and Northwestern losing.
There are double-bye scenarios in between where IU could end up as the No. 3 seed, but the No. 4 seed is the most likely double-bye spot for the Hoosiers. One win in the No. 4 spot would likely lead to a Saturday game against Purdue.
If IU wins and the aforementioned three all win as well, then the Hoosiers would end up as the No. 5 seed.
The worst case scenario No. 9 seed includes an IU loss to Michigan, and wins by Rutgers, Michigan State and Illinois. With a loss to Michigan, IU could also still end up in the No. 6-8 spots as well.
In case you missed it yesterday, here again are the Big Ten standings and tournament seeding tiebreaker rules:
TIEBREAKER RULES
A. Ties Involving Two Teams:
1. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
2. Each team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season
standings (or in the case of a tie for the championship, the next highest position in the regular season standings), continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
a. When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s
record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tiebreaking
procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
b. When comparing records against a single team or a group of teams, the higher winning
percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group
are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1, but 2-0 is not better than 1-0 or 0-0).
3. Won-loss percentage of all Division I opponents.
4. Coin toss conducted by Commissioner or designee.
B. Ties Involving more than Two Teams:
1. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
a. When comparing records against the tied teams, teams will be seeded based on winning
percentage among the group, even if the number of games played against the team or
group are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1, but 2-0 is not better than 1-0 or 0-0). If all
teams among the group are separated based on winning percentage, all ties are broken.
If winning percentage among the group for any tied teams is equal, move to step b with
those specific tied teams only (e.g. if there is a four-team tie, one team is 4-0, another is
3-1 and the last two are 2-2 among the group, the two teams that are 2-2 move to step
b and the teams that are 4-0 and 3-1 assume the next two available highest seeds).
Note: Teams can be separated from the top, middle or bottom.
b. If a team or teams are separated from the group based on step a, seeding for remaining
teams among the group is not determined by head-to-head record vs. the remaining
teams, but rather by taking all remaining teams to next tiebreaker.
2. If the remaining teams are still tied, then each tied team’s record shall be compared to the team
occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through
the standings until one team gains an advantage.
a. When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s
record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tiebreaking
procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
b. When comparing records against a single team or group of teams, the higher winning
percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group
are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1, but 2-0 is not better than 1-0 or 0-0).
3. Won-loss percentage of Division I opponents.
4. Coin toss conducted by Commissioner or designee.
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