Big Ten Tournament 2026 Schedule and Men's Conference Bracketology Predictions

The Michigan Wolverines have been the class of the Big Ten all season, but there's plenty of quality elsewhere in the conference.

Eight other programs enter the final week of regular-season play with 10 or more conference wins. That allows for plenty of variety when it comes to possible Big Ten tournament seeding.

Michigan is locked in as the top seed. The other three byes into the quarterfinals are up for grabs. Five teams have a realistic shot at joining Michigan in the top four.

The Michigan State Spartans, Illinois Fighting Illini and Nebraska Cornhuskers should fill out the top four, but in a league where there's so much parity, few things will be official until the end of play on Sunday.

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

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Tuesday, March 10

First Round (5 & 7:30 p.m. ET, Peacock/NBCSN)

Wednesday, March 11

Second Round (Noon, 2:30, 6:30, 9:00 p.m. ET, Peacock/NBCSN)

Thursday, March 12

Third Round (Noon, 2:30, 6:30, 9:00 p.m. ET, BTN)

Friday, March 13

Quarterfinals (Noon, 2:30, 6:30, 9:00 p.m. ET, BTN)

Saturday, March 14

Semifinals (1:00 & 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)

Sunday, March 15

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

Big Ten Tournament Bracket Prediction

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No. 1 Michigan

No. 2 Nebraska

No. 3 Michigan State

No. 4 Illinois

No. 5 Purdue

No. 6 Wisconsin

No. 7 UCLA

No. 8 Ohio State

No. 9 Iowa

No. 10 Indiana

No. 11 Washington

No. 12 Minnesota

No. 13 USC

No. 14 Rutgers

No. 15 Northwestern

No. 16 Oregon

No. 17 Maryland

No. 18 Penn State

Nebraska, Michigan State and Illinois will most likely round out the top four seeds.

Michigan State hits the road to face Michigan on Sunday. That will likely bring the Spartans down to a 15-5 conference record alongside Nebraska and Illinois.

Nebraska owns a 2-1 record against Michigan State and Illinois. The Huskers have the highest probability of landing the No. 2 seed if all three teams finish at 15-5.

Purdue and Wisconsin play each other on Saturday with the No. 5 seed most likely on the line.

Ohio State and UCLA are in line to earn the last two double byes into the third round.

Iowa faces Michigan on Thursday and Nebraska on Sunday, so it may finish at 10-10 in league play with no shot at the top eight.

At the bottom of the bracket, Indiana is locked into the No. 10 seed and Penn State will be the No. 18 seed.

The bottom four teams would have to win six times next week in Chicago to earn an unlikely Big Ten tournament crown.

There's a chance one of teams seeded No. 5-8 makes a run to the title game, but even that requires four wins in four days to earn the Big Ten's automatic bid.