March 6, 2011
Champaign, Ill. -
2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket in PDF Format 
The Big Ten announced on Sunday the bracket for the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be played Thursday through Sunday, March 10-13, at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
After finishing in fourth place in the conference with a 9-9 record, Illinois has earned a first-round bye and the No. 5 seed. The Illini will face No. 4 seed Michigan (9-9) in quarterfinal action on Friday at 1:30 pm CT on ESPN.
Ohio State is the No. 1 seed after winning the Big Ten with a 16-2 record. Purdue earns the No. 2 seed with a 14-4 record, while Wisconsin is the No. 3 seed at 13-5.
The tournament will tip off at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, as No. 8 Northwestern (7-11) takes on No. 9 Minnesota (6-12) on ESPN2. The second game will feature No. 7 Michigan State (9-9) vs. No. 10 Iowa (4-14) on ESPN2. The final game of the day will be between No. 6 Penn State (9-9) and No. 11 Indiana (3-15) on BTN.
Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State all tied for fourth in the conference standings, but the Wolverines earned the No. 4 seed in the tiebreaker with a 4-1 record against the other three teams tied for fourth. Illinois had the second-best winning percentage in the group, going 3-2, while Michigan State and Penn State each had 2-4 records among the other tied teams. Penn State earned the No. 6 seed by virtue of its 1-0 record against Iowa.
The second day of the tournament begins with Ohio State taking on the winner of the Northwestern-Minnesota matchup at 11 am on ESPN. The Illinois-Michigan game follows on ESPN. The second session of the day matches No. 2 Purdue with the winner of the Michigan State-Iowa game at 5:30 p.m. on BTN. Friday's games conclude with No. 3 Wisconsin facing the winner of the Penn State-Indiana game, also on BTN.
Big Ten Tournament semifinal games will be played on Saturday, beginning at 12:40 p.m. on CBS. The championship game tips off at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and will also be broadcast by CBS.
Since the first Big Ten Tournament in 1998, six teams have captured the event's title with Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin each owning two tournament trophies. Purdue also has one tournament title. Tournament championship games have featured teams seeded as high as first, second and third and as low as eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th. Eight different schools have advanced to the tournament's championship game.
All-session and single-session tickets to the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament can be purchased through the Conseco Fieldhouse box office, Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.
