The Minnesota Golden Gophers' hopes of going to the NCAA Tournament have been completely dashed, but the Big Ten could have as many as six teams going dancing here in a couple of weeks.
The folks at SB Nation have released their latest bracketology projections, and they have six teams in the NCAA Tournament from the Big Ten Conference. Here is where they have the teams seeded in their latest projection:
Ohio State Buckeyes - #1 seed in the East bracket
Purdue Boilermakers - #2 seed in the Southeast bracket
Wisconsin Badgers - #4 seed in the Southwest bracket
Illinois Fighting Illini - #9 seed in the West bracket
Michigan State Spartans - #11 seed in the East bracket
Michigan, as it stands right now, would have to play a play-in game as one of the #12 seeds. Right now, the bracket has them projected to play against Baylor out of the Big 12 for the right to be the #12 seed in the East bracket.
There will actually be four play-in games this year. There will be another game for the right to be the #12 seed in the West to go along with the match-up that was just mentioned. There will also be play-in games for the right to be the #16 seed in the Southeast, and the right to be the #16 seed in the Southwest.
With conference tournaments getting underway in the next week, there will be some shuffling done. . .but it appears that the Big Ten will be well-represented when March Madness comes around.