Maryland's 83-70 win over Michigan on Sunday earned the Terrapins a share of their first-ever Big Ten title. But it clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for Wisconsin, even after Michigan State made it a three-way tie at the top with a win over Ohio State.
Wisconsin won the tiebreaker over Maryland and Michigan State because of its 2-1 combined record against them in the regular season. Michigan State was 2-2 against the group and Maryland was 1-2. It's the first time since 2012 that three teams have shared the Big Ten title. That year, it was Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State who split the championship.
The trio of of co-champions are assured double-byes to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, which begins Wednesday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The final weekend of the regular season began with a fourth team, Illinois, in contention to share the title. But that possibility evaporated Saturday, when Wisconsin beat Indiana 60-56 for its eight consecutive win. The Badgers would have won the Big Ten outright if Maryland and Michigan State had each lost Saturday. But even a share of the league crown is impressive for Wisconsin, considering it started 6-6 in conference play.
Wisconsin (14-6)
- vs. Michigan State 1-1
- vs. Maryland 1-0
Michigan State (14-6)
- vs. Maryland 1-1
- vs. Wisconsin 1-1
Maryland (14-6)
- vs. Michigan State 1-1
- vs. Wisconsin 0-1
Big Ten tiebreaking procedures
Per the Big Ten, here are the full tiebreaker procedures for conference tournament seeding:
A. Two-team tie:
1. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
2. Each team's record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings (or in the case of a tie for the championship, the next highest position in the 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 tie-breaking procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
b. When comparing records against a single team or a 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).
3. Won-loss percentage of all Division I opponents.
4. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.
B. Multiple-team tie:
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 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). If all teams among the group are separated based on winning percentage, all ties are broken. If winning percentage among the group for any tied teams is equal, move to step b with those specific tied teams only (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 b and the teams that are 4-0 and 3-1 assume the next two available highest seeds).
Note: Teams can be separated from the top, middle or bottom.
b. If a team or teams are separated from the group based on step a, seeding for remaining teams among the group is not determined by head-to-head record vs. the remaining teams, but rather by taking all remaining teams to next tie breaker.
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 tie-breaking 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).
3. Won-loss percentage of Division I opponents.
4. Coin toss conducted by Commissioner or designee.
