Big Ten Basketball Tournament Field Set

The Big Ten men's basketball regular season ended Sunday, and the Gophers slipped to the #8 seed, thanks to victories by Wisconsin and Ohio State. Minnesota will face Northwestern on Thursday to open the tournament.

The seedings are as follows, followed by overall and (conference) records:

1. Michigan State - 25-5 (15-3)
2. Illinois - 23-8 (11-7)
3. Purdue - 22-9 (11-7)
4. Wisconsin - 19-11 (10-8)
5. Ohio State - 20-9 (10-8)
6. Penn State - 21-10 (10-8)
7. Michigan - 19-12 (9-9)
8. Minnesota - 21-9 (9-9)
9. Northwestern - 17-12 (8-10)
10. Iowa - 15-16 (5-13)
11. Indiana - 6-24 (1-17)

The bracket is linked here. The Thursday match ups are previewed below:

• Minnesota vs. Northwestern - The Wildcats won in Evanston, while the Gophers won in Minneapolis
• Michigan vs. Iowa - The teams split their two games on the other team's floor
• Penn State vs. Indiana - The Nittany Lions won both meetings this season. It's still hard to see Indiana seeded 11th in the Big Ten Tournament and having only one conference win.

The Gophers absolutely need to defeat Northwestern to have any chance at all of snagging an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Slipping to the #8 slot was unfortunate for many reasons, not the least of which being if the Gophers beat Northwestern, they face Big Ten regular season Michigan State on Friday. The Spartans beat the Gophers twice in the regular season, the second time an embarrassing 29-point loss in East Lansing.

Later in the week, we'll have a more in-depth preview of Gophers/Northwestern. We'll also check in with ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi and see how the Gophers fare in his latest Bracketology analysis. They missed a huge opportunity against Michigan on Saturday - Lunardi had them seeded 9th in the big dance.

In the meantime, how do you see the Big Ten Tournament and/or the Gophers' NCAA chances?