The latest bracketology has 10 B1G teams in the tournament with another in the "next four out". By seed:
- #1 Michigan
- #2 Michigan State
- #3 Wisconsin
- #4 Ohio State
- #5 Nebraska, Indiana
- #6 Purdue
- #8 Iowa, Maryland
- #11 (last four in / play-in game) Minnesota
- Next four out, Northwestern
In starting to compile our tier-based projection spreadsheet I noticed that Michigan has an EXTREMELY favorable B1G schedule. The three road games that they do NOT play this year are all against tier-2 teams that could plausibly beat them. So that got me thinking, could the Wolverines be the first team since Indiana in 1976 to go all the way undefeated?
The Wolverines are currently 10-0 with three remaining OOC games. According to the worldwide leader they have at least a 96.5% chance of winning each of their remaining OOC games so they should obviously get back into conference play in January at 13-0. Then, as mentioned above, they do not have to travel to Columbus, Lincoln, or West Lafayette so their only projected conference losses would be in Madison and East Lansing. If they can manage to win those two and avoid upsets they would head into the B1G Tournament in Chicago at 20-0/31-0.
Assuming that Michigan wins the road games in Madison and East Lansing and all the other games go as projected (I know they won't, but just for entertainment), the B1G Tournament seedings would be:
- 20-0 Michigan
- 15-5 Nebraska
- 14-6 Ohio State (wins tiebreaker over UW based on H2H, no game in Madison)
- 14-6 Wisconsin
- 13-7 Michigan State (wins tiebreaker over PU based on record against UMD)
- 13-7 Purdue
- 12-8 Indiana
- 11-9 Maryland
- 7-13 Northwestern
- 6-14 Penn State
- 5-15 Iowa
- 4-16 Rutgers (wins tiebreaker over MN based on record against NU)
- 4-16 Minnesota
- 2-18 Illinois
Thus, Michigan's B1G Tournament match-ups would be:
Friday, March 15:
The Wolverines would play the #8/9 winner of Maryland/Northwestern at 12:30 on BTN.
Saturday, March 16:
Assuming that they won on Friday, the Wolverines would play the winner of Friday's game between Wisconsin and the MSU/RU/MN winner at 1pm on CBS.
Sunday, March 17:
Assuming they won on Saturday, the Wolverines would play in the CG against UNL/tOSU/PU/IU/PSU/IA/IL at 3:30 on CBS.