The Big Ten announced today that Ohio State and Purdue, by virtue of their respective 12-2 and 11-3 conference records, have clinched first-round byes in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, to be held at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis from Mar. 10-13.
↵↵It still remains to be seen who will get the No. 1 seed and who will get the No. 2, with each team having four conference games remaining before the tournament. Wisconsin has the inside track to the No. 3 seed (they'll get a first-round bye the next time they win) and Michigan State, with its win over Illinois over the weekend, probably headed for No. 4, with the Illini at No. 5. The top five seeds all get first-round byes.
↵↵The Big Ten is tied for the lead among all conferences with three teams ranked in the top 12 of the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches poll -– No. 3 Ohio State, No. 8 Purdue and No. 12 Wisconsin. The final Big Ten tournament bracket will be announced after games of Sunday. Mar. 6.