Michigan State helps Maryland...

[keithbooth22]

Michigan State helps Maryland as the grapple in Big Ten basketball standings, double-bye chase hits final week​

Where does Maryland stand in the chase to finish in the top four of the Big Ten standings and earn that crucial double-bye?​

Just one week remains in the Big Ten men's basketball season, and the conference picture is starting to get clearer.

Michigan State daggered Maryland's title chances Wednesday on Tre Holloman's buzzer-beater from beyond half court, but the Spartans provided some help to Maryland on Sunday.

The Spartans beat Wisconsin, 71-62, in East Lansing on Sunday afternoon, sending Wisconsin into a three-way tie with Maryland and Purdue for third place in the conference. If the Terps and the Badgers finish with the same conference record in a two-way tie, Maryland has the tiebreaker thanks to its 76-68 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 29. If the Terps and Purdue were to find themselves in a two-way tie, the Boilermakers would have the tiebreaker because of their 83-78 win over Maryland on Dec. 8.

Illinois also potentially gave the Terps a helping hand Sunday, destroying Michigan, 93-73, on the road. The Fighting Illini are still two games behind Maryland with two games to go – Maryland would have the hypothetical head-to-head, two-way tiebreaker if it lost its last two games – but Michigan is now only two games ahead of Maryland. If the Terps beat Michigan on Wednesday and Michigan State beats Michigan at home in Sunday's regular-season finale, the Terps can climb to as high as the No. 2 seed in the conference.

Here's a refreshed look at the top half of the conference, as well as the Big Ten's tiebreakers.

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Michigan State 15-3

Michigan 14-4


Wisconsin 12-6

Maryland 12-6

Purdue 12-6

UCLA 11-7

Illinois 11-8

Oregon 10-8


Indiana 9-9

1. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.

• a. When comparing records against the tied teams, teams will be seeded based on winning percentage head-to-head among the group, even if the number of games played against the team or group are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1, but 2-0 is not better than 1-0 or 0-0). If all teams among the group are separated based on winning percentage, all ties are broken. Ties shall be considered separated when a team(s) emerges from the top, middle or bottom of the group and is awarded a seed(s).
• b. Once a seed is awarded, all remaining tied teams shall restart the tiebreak process at the first criteria (e.g. if there is a four-team tie, one team is 4-0, another is 3-1 and the last two are 2-2 among the group, the two teams that are 2-2 move to step a (head-to-head) and the teams that are 4-0 and 3-1 assume the next two available highest seeds).

2. If the remaining teams are still tied, then each tied team's record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.

• a. When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team's record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tiebreaking procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
• b. When comparing records against a single team or group of teams, the higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1, but 2-0 is not better than 1-0 or 0-0).

3. Won-loss percentage of Division I opponents.
4. Highest NET ranking of the teams. NET rankings that are released on the last Friday of the regular season will be utilized.

Michigan State can secure at least a share of the Big Ten title with a win at Iowa on Thursday, and they can clinch it outright with another win over Michigan on Sunday. If the Terps can beat Michigan on Wednesday, Michigan State will have clinched a share before the Iowa game, and it could claim the title outright with a win. Michigan finishes the regular season with Wednesday's game against the Terps and Sunday's rivalry game.

Wisconsin is favored to win its final two games, at Minnesota on Wednesday and against Penn State at home on Saturday.

Purdue is favored to beat Rutgers at home on Tuesday, though it is a projected underdog at Illinois on Friday.

Maryland is set to control its own destiny for a double bye. The tiebreakers between teams with multiple ties could get murky – different scenarios can be played out on mred's 2025 Big 10 MBB Tournament Tiebreaker – but the Terps can carve their own path with wins. If Maryland loses at Michigan on Wednesday, the road to a double bye shrinks. The loss to Michigan State hurt, but the Terps took care of business at Penn State. A road win at Michigan would not only elevate Maryland's double-bye odds, but it would be another significant Quadrant 1 win to add to its resume.

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