Big 10 Tournament 2021: Bracket Predictions Before Final Regular-Season Games

With six teams in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball rankings, the Big Ten is once again one of the deepest and most competitive conferences in the NCAA.

That means that there's a lot of great basketball to watch next week as 14 teams vie for the Big Ten Tournament championship, which will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The final seeding is still up in the air, but Michigan and Illinois stand out as the favorites to take home the crown, with Purdue and Iowa right there as strong contenders.

Here's a look ahead at the tournament schedule, as well as a few bracket predictions.

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, March 10

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network)

No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (25 minutes after Game 1, BTN)

Thursday, March 11

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (11:30 a.m., BTN)

No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 vs. No. 13 winner (25 minutes after Game 3, BTN)

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

No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 vs. No. 14 winner (25 minutes after Game 5, BTN)

Friday, March 12

No. 1 seed vs. No. 8 vs. No. 9 winner (11:30 a.m., BTN)

No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 vs. No. 12/13 winner (25 minutes after Game 7, BTN)

No. 2 seed vs. No. 7 vs. No. 10 winner (6:30 p.m., BTN)

No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 vs. No. 11/14 winner (25 minutes after Game 9, BTN)

Saturday, March 13

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m., CBS)

Semifinal No. 2 (25 minutes after Game 11, CBS)

Sunday, March 14

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

All times ET.

Bracket Predictions

1. Michigan 

2. Illinois

3. Iowa

4. Wisconsin

5. Purdue

6. Ohio State

7. Wisconsin

8. Rutgers

9. Maryland

10. Michigan State

11. Indiana

12. Penn State

13. Northwestern

14. Nebraska

Michigan romped Michigan State 69-50 this past Thursday and there's no reason to doubt that the Wolverines won't win again when they face off again this Sunday, Mar. 7.

Led by Franz Wagner and Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 19 and 14 points, respectively, Michigan bounced back from its meltdown 76-53 loss to Illinois to roll past the Spartans in dominant fashion, securing themselves as Big Ten champions for the first time since 2014.

Meanwhile, Michigan State will be extremely motivated to either rebound from its blowout loss to Michigan or win the Big Ten Tournament outright.

Michigan State is the defending champion, since there was no tournament last season, and they've won it six times, more than any other program in the conference.

That makes Tom Izzo's team a threat to win the Big Ten whenever they set foot on the court.

The Spartans are firmly on the bubble, but with quality wins over Illinois and Ohio State, they are in a pretty good position for earning an NCAA Tournament Berth for the 23rd year in a row.

Luka Garza continues to have an outstanding season for Iowa, averaging 23.9 points per game, while shooting 55.3 percent from the floor.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

The Wooden Award front-runner has the Hawkeyes on a roll and ready for March Madness. 

Purdue is 12-6 in the conference and have won four straight games, so when they face Indiana to close out the regular season on Saturday, they'll likely hand them their fifth straight loss and a one-way ticket out of the NCAA tournament.

The Buckeyes have lost three straight, so they'll be trying to get a win over Illinois. The last time these two faced off, Ohio State won 87-81 on the road behind a game-high 26 points from E.J. Liddell.

If Liddell proves to be a tough matchup for the Fighting Illini again, they could notch another key win heading into the tournament.

Simply put, this is deep field of contenders in the same conference, but Michigan will rally behind second year head coach Juwan Howard to bring it home.