Maryland Basketball: Big Ten Tournament preview
![Feb 4, 2017; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports Feb 4, 2017; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/db7a3274eab848715ac87fa25be243a7309a63cf9cfeb67487d5d995b53f9cc7.jpg)
The Big Ten Tournament gets underway on Wednesday and it’s the most wide-open that the conference has been in quite some time.
The Big Ten was anything but predictable throughout the 2016-17 season. Wisconsin looked to be in the driver’s seat to win the conference, but they lost five of their last seven games and slipped into a second place finish.
Purdue won the Big Ten regular season title and the Boilermakers were the only team to finish with less than five conference losses. Seven teams finished with six to eight losses in Big Ten play, and five teams finished with 10 to 12 losses.
The tight race in the standings and unpredictable play makes for an interesting Big Ten Tournament.
Here’s a run-down of the seven teams on the top half of the bracket:
No. 1 Purdue No. 4 Minnesota No. 5 Michigan State No. 8 Michigan
No. 9 Illinois No. 12 Nebraska No. 13 Penn State
Here’s a run-down of the seven teams on the bottom half of the bracket:
No. 2 Wisconsin No. 3 Maryland No. 6 Northwestern No. 7 Iowa
No. 10 Indiana No. 11 Ohio State No. 14 Rutgers