Big Ten Tournament 2017: Live scores, bracket updates, and schedule

It’s been a weird, down year in the Big Ten. The conference’s strength is usually its depth, and it still does have a handful of decent teams. It should place seven or eight in the NCAA Tournament, a respectable total. But nobody in the Big Ten is all that scary, and the league doesn’t have a single great team. At least not so far.

All of that meant this year’s conference tournament will be a good time, filled with unpredictability and drama. Sure enough, No. 8 Michigan won it all and grabbed the conference’s automatic bid. It’s an incredible finish to a wild week for the Wolverines, whose plane slid off the runway and forced them to play a game in their practice jerseys.

Purdue is (probably?) the Big Ten’s best team, and the Boilermakers entered the tournament as a narrow favorite. But they lost their first game to eighth-seeded Michigan, who rode that wave of three wins into the tournament final.

Wisconsin’s next, and they beat a pair of upset-minded teams in No. 10 Indiana and No. 6 Northwestern before falling to Michigan in the tournament final.

This is the Big Ten’s big debut in Washington, D.C., where it’s holding its tournament for the first time. Establishing a presence in the D.C. area was a key reason the conference moved to add Maryland four years ago, and having the tournament there is a means toward the same end. Any home court advantage the No. 3 Terps might have received didn’t do them any good in their quarterfinal loss to Northwestern.

All 14 teams in the Big Ten qualify. The top four seeds get double-byes into the quarterfinals, and the next six get a single bye into the round before that. The bottom four seeds have to play on the first day and, to win the tournament, need to win a brutal five games in a row. (That’s not happening.) It’s a straight-up, single-elimination race to the finish, with the top two seeds on opposite sides of the bracket.

See the full Big Ten bracket here.

Wednesday, March 8 (First Round)

Game 1: No. 13 Penn State 76, No. 12 Nebraska 67 (OT)
Game 2: No. 14 Rutgers 66, No. 11 Ohio State 57

Thursday, March 9 (Second Round)

Game 3: No. 8 Michigan 75, No. 9 Illinois 55
Game 4: No. 5 Michigan State 78, No. 13 Penn State 51
Game 5: No. 10 Indiana 95, No. 7 Iowa 73
Game 6: No. 6 Northwestern 83, No. 14 Rutgers 61

Friday, March 10 (Quarterfinals)

Game 7: No. 8 Michigan,74, No. 1 Purdue 70
Game 8: No. 4 Minnesota 63, No. 5 Michigan State 58
Game 9: No. 2 Wisconsin 70, No. 10 Indiana 60
Game 10: No. 6 Northwestern 72, No. 3 Maryland 64

Saturday, March 11 (Semifinals)

Game 11: No. 8 Michigan 84, No. 4 Minnesota 77
Game 12: No. 2 Wisconsin 76, No. 6 Northwestern 48

Sunday, March 12 (Semifinals)

Game 13: No. 8 Michigan 71, No. 2 Wisconsin 56