Purdue and Wisconsin are locked in to the 1-2 seeds. Purdue probably will be the 1 as they hold the tiebreaker.
Minnesota and Maryland are most likely to be the 3-4. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker, but Maryland has @Rutgers and Sparty left, with Sparty at home, I think they finish 12-6 to get the 3 seed. Minnesota finishes at Wisconsin, so likely they finish 11-7. If Michigan wants that 5 spot they have to win Wednesday. That 5 spot is crucial, as it sets up to play the winner of the 12-13 game, likely to be ohio state, Penn state or Indiana. Then they would most likely get another crack at Minnesota which I am sure the team would relish.
A lot of basketball left, but Wednesday is huge.
5 through 7 is where it gets interesting. Sparty currently is 9-6, but will be underdogs in all 3 remaining games. I think they finish 10-8. NW and Michigan are 9-7 and play each other Wednesday. Both could finish 11-7 but lose the tiebreakers to MD and Minnesota.
In all seriousness, the way we’ve played the last 6 games, I’m good with playing any big ten team on a neutral court. As we all know, the only loss in that span is a screw job by the refs.
I’m trying to figure out if we have any realistic shot at the four seed right now. It doesn’t seem very likely since we would lose any 3+ team tiebreaker thanks to our 1-3 record vs Maryland, Minnesota, and State.
The only way I see it possible is if one of Minnesota (Neb, @ Wis) or Maryland (@ Rut, MSU) lose out. Assuming we win out we would need MSU to drop at least one game in their final 3 (Wis, @ ILL, @ MD). In that case we would hold the individual tiebreaker with MSU thanks to our win over Purdue.
Other than that scenario it’s looking like the 5 seed is the best we can hope for.