For college basketball fans, months of anticipation are days away from ending. The NCAA Tournament starts on Thursday, and the Big Ten will be well represented. As teams around the country prepare for a national title run, the Big Ten teams competing in the madness are Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.
On that list, Purdue is the highest-ranked seed. They will enter the tournament as the No.1 seed in the Midwest region after posting a 17-3 record in the regular season. The Boilermakers will begin their tournament run against the winner of the Montana State and Grambling State game on Wednesday.
After adding another Big Ten championship to their trophy case, Illinois will be the No.3 seed in the East region. The Fighting Illini posted a 14-6 record in the regular season and beat Wisconsin 93-87 in the Big Ten title game on Sunday. Their first game of the tournament will be against No.14 Morehead State.
The only other Big Ten team to earn a top-five seed is Wisconsin, which will be the No.5 seed in the South Region. During the regular season, the Badgers posted an 11-9 record, which included one win over Purdue. Their first opponent in March Madness will be No.12 James Madison.
Rounding out the list are Nebraska and Northwestern. Nebraska is the No.8 seed in the South Region, and its first matchup will be with Texas A&M. Northwestern is the No.9 seed in the East Region, and it will take on FAU.
