OTR's Big Ten Tournament Bracket Breakdown

Well, the regular season is over. All that we have left is consequential, big time basketball (and also the Tuesday Shame Games). Some teams in the bracket below will get one more shot to find some hardware or improve their seed line. Others are hoping to get on the right side of the bubble. And some probably just want to end this damn thing, eat some pizza, and go home.

Let's break it down.

How do we feel about this new format?

Perpetually Aggrieved Wildcat: You mean with a named fucking AI sponsor? I hate it, thanks for asking. Fuck you, Big Ten. Also, the lines on this bracket aren't clear at all, and I have to keep double-checking it to see who's playing who in the next round. It's terrible, dumb, bad, and everyone involved should feel bad.

As far as formats go, though. I like seeing everyone in the tournament, no matter how stupid or longshot. I'm not sure where you arbitrarily cut things off otherwise.

MaximumSam: If we have to get rid of the Race to 15th, I do like we get the Tuesday Shame Games. Then we move to Worthless Wednesday. Then to Third Rate Thursday. Still workshopping Friday's games check back soon.

Kind of...: Agreed with pretty much everything the two-esteemed folks said above. If you gotta do all 18, this is probably the best way (though I'd be fine keeping the shame games, losing the byes and having a 16 team tournament where the top four seeds play Wednesday and the other four round-of-16 games get played Thursday, then quarters on Friday like normal)

AlmaOtter: PAW, you aren't a fan of our little down-home Midwestern sports league taking vast sums of money from a Swedish Giant Plagiarism Machine company? Yeah, me neither.

The Race to 15 was pretty entertaining last year, but I do feel that one of the delights of conference tourneys is that everyone has a shot, regardless of how unlikely. The Tuesday Shame Games should be a wonderfully atrocious day of basketball!

Best Draw?

PAW: Anyone who's not on Michigan's or Illinois's side. Michigan State, I guess, since Rutgers-Minnesota is gonna stink to high heaven, UCLA's toast, and that's basically an auto-bid to the semis right there.

Kind of...: I like Wisconsin's draw. They are very unlikely to beat Illinois again. And really unlikely to beat Michigan in the semis, so their streak of 1) Play four games in four days; 2) lose in the finals; 3) looked fatigued in the NCAA tournament and lose to a worse seed; should end at two.

Otherwise, if Purdue feels like saving its season at all, Indiana/Nebraska/Michigan State is a tough, but winnable stretch of games that could probably push the Boilers up to a 2-seed in the NCAA. None of them are in Mackey, so Purdue should have a chance.

AlmaOtter: Purdue is either going to dicktrip in their first game to Indiana or make the title game. If they can put it together for the first time in a month, I like their slate.

Worst Draw?

PAW: I dunno, probably Maryland or some shit.

Of actual teams that matter here? Illinois. Having wisconsin – hot or cold on the best of days – and then Michigan as your 1-2 is pretty brutal.

Kind of...: See above. If I defined "worst" in the way that I am probably expected to, then it's Wisconsin. "You can make the title game of your conference tournament if you can manage to beat an NCAA 2-seed and an NCAA 1-seed in the preceding rounds" sounds like a tough draw.

AlmaOtter: Yeah, it's Sconnie. Or Ohio State. "Congrats, you beat Iowa, now you get to take on the leviathan that already beat your ass twice this year. And whom you despise."

Any realistic chance of a sleeper making the semis?

PAW: If "plays on Wednesday" defines a sleeper, I guess Indiana is the team I have to take here – beating Purdue and then Nebraska feels as doable as anything else, though the Huskers' size could handle the Hoosiers.

My goodness, what a fucking bizarre sentence to write.

Thursday teams? Probably Purdue. Maybe UCLA, but I haven't been drinking.

Kind of...: Okay, maybe not the semis, but if you fell into a coma for a week, awoke, and I was there to tell you that Northwestern--3-2 in their last 5 with close losses to Purdue and at Minnesota--managed to beat Penn State, Indiana, and Purdue to reach the quarters, would you be that surprised? Or that Nate Bittle was able to carry Oregon past Maryland, Iowa, and Ohio State?

In terms of the semis, Minnesota closed 4-2 and already beat both UCLA and MSU in Williams Arena. They probably won't make the semis, but they could. I could also see Iowa getting to the semis if they get by Ohio State (who may feel satisfied knowing they're pretty much an NCAA lock) and Michigan were to come out a bit slow on Friday morning.

AlmaOtter: If I fell into a coma for a week and you were there to greet me when I awoke, I suspect that I would be surprised about a lot of things. But once we sifted through the news, yeah. I'd still be pretty shocked if Detective Martinelli dragged the Wildcats to the quarter-finals.