Big 10 Tournament 2023: Schedule and Men's Conference Bracket Predictions

The parity across the Big Ten Conference should produce a wide-open Big Ten men's basketball tournament.

Entering Thursday, nine of the league's 14 teams had at least 10 conference victories. Three other squads have either eight or nine wins.

Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers have been the class of the conference, but they have five league losses, so they could be susceptible to an upset at the United Center in Chicago.

Top seeds have not fared well at the Big Ten tournament in recent seasons. The top team has one victory in the last six editions of the event.

Two No. 5 seeds and a No. 8 seed have cut down the nets during that span, and if this year's parity shines through in Chicago, the trend of top seeds not winning the event could continue.

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, March 8

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (6:30 p.m. ET)

No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (9 p.m. ET)

Thursday, March 9

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (noon ET)

No. 5 seed vs. No. 12/No. 13 winner (2:30 p.m. ET)

No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed (6:30 p.m. ET)

No. 6 seed vs. No. 11/No.14 winner (9 p.m. ET)

Friday, March 10

No. 1 seed vs. No.8/No. 9 winner (noon ET)

No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 vs. No. 12/13 winner (2:30 p.m. ET)

No. 2 seed vs. No. 7/No. 10 winner (6:30 p.m. ET)

No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 vs. No.11/14 winner (9 p.m. ET)

Saturday, March 11

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m. ET)

Semifinal No. 2 (3:30 p.m. ET)

Sunday, March 12

Championship Game (3:30 p.m. ET)

Games will be televised on BTN and CBS.

Bracket Predictions

1. Purdue

2. Iowa

3. Indiana

4. Rutgers

5. Illinois

6. Maryland

7. Michigan

8. Northwestern

9. Michigan State

10. Penn State

11. Wisconsin

12. Nebraska

13. Ohio State

14. Minnesota

The top and the bottom of the seeding list are the only things set for Chicago with one game left for a majority of Big Ten teams in the regular season.

Purdue has two fewer losses than its closest competition, the Michigan Wolverines. The Boilermakers will enter Chicago as the regular-season champion and No. 1 seed.

Matt Painter's team could be viewed as vulnerable because they lost four games in February, including both matchups with the Indiana Hoosiers.

Purdue would probably love to see Indiana in Chicago to enact some revenge on the way to a potential Big Ten tournament title.

If Edey and Co. play at their best, they are by far the best collection of players in the conference.

The neutral site in Chicago should also help Purdue deal with any challengers. Three of its four February losses came on the road.

A team like the Maryland Terrapins may have trouble winning away from home. Kevin Willard's side went 9-0 at the Xfinity Center in Big Ten play, but they've lost their last three road games.

Maryland's poor road record could cost them a top-four seed in Chicago. The Terps finish the regular season away at the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have the easiest path to a top-four seed, as they host the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday.

Indiana can beat the Michigan Wolverines at home on Sunday to put itself in the best position possible for the bye into the quarterfinals.

Getting into the top five seeds is vital based on the history of the Big Ten tournament.

Only twice in the event's history has a team seeded worse than fifth won the tournament. Iowa won as a No. 6 seed in 2001 and Michigan went on an incredible run as a No. 8 seed in 2017 in Washington D.C.

The top seeds have overwhelmingly underperformed in the tournament over the last six years, but Purdue may have the edge required to take over in Chicago.

Not only are the Boilermakers the best team in the Big Ten, but they have experience winning a neutral-site tournament from the PK85 in November.

Purdue beat the West Virginia Mountaineers, Gonzaga Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils in a four-day span to leave Portland with an unblemished mark.

All Purdue has to do in Chicago is win three games, and if they do that, they will render the regular season parity across the Big Ten meaningless.