Big Ten basketball power rankings entering NCAA Tournament bracket

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The 2025 NCAA Tournament field is set. After Sunday’s conclusion of the Big Ten Tournament, a narrow Michigan win over Wisconsin, eight Big Ten teams made the official March Madness field.

Those teams, with their seed and region, are as follows: Michigan State (South, No. 2), Wisconsin (East, No. 3), Maryland (West, No. 4), Purdue (Midwest, No. 4), Michigan (South, No. 5), Oregon (East, No. 5), Illinois (Midwest, No. 6) and UCLA (Midwest, No. 7).

Wisconsin and Michigan each enter with major momentum after deep conference tournament runs. For Michigan, its string of victories halted a significant end-of-season losing skid and capped off a remarkable first-year turnaround under head coach Dusty May. For Wisconsin, despite the final loss, it returned the team to the top form it flashed during the regular season. The Badgers should be a popular pick to make a deep run. If that comes to fruition, it would be the program’s first in a decade.

Meanwhile, Big Ten teams Washington (13-18), USC (16-17), Minnesota (15-17), Rutgers (15-17), Penn State (16-15), Northwestern (17-16), Iowa (17-16), Ohio State (17-15), Nebraska (17-14) and Indiana (19-13) all missed the 68-team field. Nebraska’s fate is especially noteworthy. The team was 16-8 on Feb. 9 after a big home win over Ohio State. It then went 1-6 to close the season, capped off by five consecutive losses. Its late-season collapse dropped it from a tournament lock to several steps below the bubble. Both Indiana and Ohio State, meanwhile, missed the field after early Big Ten Tournament exits.

With eight Big Ten teams in the big dance, it’s time for a fresh look at our weekly power rankings. Michigan State is already the conference regular-season champion and Michigan is the tournament victor. Given that those races are decided, these updated power rankings are ordered solely on which teams have the best chance to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.

8. Oregon Ducks (24-9)

Big Ten Tournament Result: Second-round win over Indiana,…

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Publish date : 2025-03-17 11:52:00

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