Big Ten tournament 2019: Bracket, schedule, scores, teams, and more

Can Michigan repeat as Big Ten champs, or will top seed Michigan State take the title?

In-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State will meet in the Big Ten Tournament championship game on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS, fuboTV), a battle between the top-seed Spartans and the Wolverines looking for a third consecutive conference tournament title.

Both cruised to victories in Saturday’s semifinals, with Michigan State dispatching Wisconsin followed by Michigan blowing out Minnesota.

Sunday will mark the third meeting between these two rivals in 22 days. Michigan State won both previous matchups, a 77-70 victory in Ann Arbor on Feb. 24 and a 75-63 win in East Lansing on Mar. 9

Tournament preview

After a one-year stint at Madison Square Garden, the Big Ten tourney returns to America’s heartland. If you remember last year’s tourney, the Big Ten went a week early (February 28 - March 4) and had an extra week of waiting before Selection Sunday. It didn’t seem to hurt the tournament champion, Michigan, which went on to the NCAA tournament finals.

This year, games will run March 13 - March 17 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Michigan State Spartans are the top seed and looking to improve their seeding in the Big Dance, but they’ll have their hands full with the other three top seeds in Purdue, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Outside the top four sits No. 5 seed Maryland, one of the more dangerous teams in the country, let alone the conference. Can the Terps put together a run? Can Penn State string together some wins? From top to bottom, the Big Ten is tight, so this one should be fun.

The Stakes

At least one No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament is still up for grabs, and there’s a chance that a Big Ten squad that runs the tournament could snag it. MSU is the favorite in that regard, but Michigan could have an outside shot at it. Indiana has an opportunity to pick up more wins to potentially play its way into the NCAA tournament. The Hoosiers have an interesting resume, to say the least, with two wins over Michigan State and no losses to any team worse than No. 77 in KenPom.

The Format

The top nine teams receive first-round byes and the top four teams receive double-byes to the quarterfinals. Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

The Bracket & Schedule

Here is the full tournament bracket and day-by-day schedule. Game times subject to change, and the second game in each session will start 25 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game. We’ll be updating it with results along the way.

Round 1: Wednesday, March 13 (All times ET)

Game 1: No. 13 Nebraska 68, No. 12 Rutgers 61

Game 2: No. 11 Illinois 74, No. 14 Northwestern 69 (OT)

Round 2: Thursday, March 14

Game 3: No. 8 Ohio State 79, No. 9 Indiana 75

Game 4: No. 13 Nebraska 69, No. 5 Maryland 61

Game 5: No. 7 Minnesota 77, No. 10 Penn State 72 (OT)

Game 6: No. 6 Iowa 83, No. 11 Illinois 62

Quarterfinals: Friday, March 15

Game 7: No. 1 Michigan State 77, No. 8 Ohio State 70

Game 8: No. 4 Wisconsin 66, No. 13 Nebraska 62

Game 9: No. 7 Minnesota 75, No. 2 Purdue 73

Game 10: No. 3 Michigan 74, No. 6 Iowa 53

Semifinals: Saturday, March 16

Game 11: No. 1 Michigan State 67, No. 4 Wisconsin 55

Game 12: No. 3 Michigan 76, No. 7 Minnesota 49

Championship—Sunday, March 17

Game 13: No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 3 Michigan, 3:30 p.m. (fuboTV, CBS)