Big Ten basketball standings: Tournament seeding up for grabs over final weekend of season

The Big Ten basketball standings are still in flux heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

With a 3-game lead and just one game left on the schedule, Purdue has wrapped up the outright league title with a 14-5 mark in B1G play. However, everything behind the Boilermakers is a mess.

There are currently 6 teams tied at 11-8 in conference records and 3 other teams with records ranging from 9-10 to 10-8. That means seeding for next week’s B1G Tournament is still up in the air, along with a double-bye in reach for a number of programs.

Here are the full standings heading into the start of play on Saturday:

• 1. Purdue (14-5 B1G record)
• tie-2. Iowa (11-8)
• tie-2. Maryland (11-8)
• tie-2. Indiana (11-8)
• tie-2. Illinois (11-8)
• tie-2. Michigan (11-8)
• tie-2. Northwestern (11-8)
• 8. Michigan State (10-8)
• 9. Rutgers (10-9)
• 10. Penn State (9-10)
• tie-11. Nebraska (8-11)
• tie-11. Wisconsin (8-11)
• 13. Ohio State (5-14)
• 14. Minnesota (2-16)

Key games to watch

With Michigan State and Minnesota unable to remake a previously postponed game, the Spartans get a chance to help their seeding case Saturday in a game against Ohio State. Should Michigan State win and improve to 11-8 in league play, the Spartans would hold a slight edge in percentage points over teams that finish 11-9 in the conference.

On Sunday, Michigan and Indiana are a pair of teams tied in the logjam facing off with direct seeding ramifications. A win by either team will ensure no worse than finishing tied for 2nd in the B1G.

Maryland — a recent addition to the AP Top 25 — is in the fight for seeding Sunday, but Penn State could be playing for a bit more. The Nittany Lions were the last team in for Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology outlook and will need a win to stay there.