Let’s talk about Big Ten basketball tournament scenarios

As the regular season winds down, teams throughout the country are starting to jockey not only for conference titles, but seeds in the conference tournament. Seeding can be crucial, as it can pave the way for a late-season run or a brief stay in the postseason. While both Maryland teams will most likely be in the NCAA Tournament, a run in the conference tournament would be an extra boost heading into March Madness.

With the men’s basketball standings currently one giant mess, we’ll start on the women’s side to make things easier.

Maryland has already clinched a double bye since it won its only regular season matchup against Michigan, and can clinch at least the No. 2 seed with a win over Minnesota on Thursday night. Although the Terps and Iowa are tied atop the conference standings and would share the regular-season title if both win out, the Hawkeyes would be the top seed in the conference tournament thanks to their win over Maryland yesterday.

Neither team looks like they’ll lose again in the regular season, and should be on a collision course to meet in the Big Ten Tournament final in Indianapolis next month. The same thing was supposed to happen between Maryland and Ohio State the past three seasons, but only happened last year, a 79-69 win for the Buckeyes.

Who Maryland plays is still really up in the air. There are currently four teams with an 8-7 record in fifth-eighth place, and with the middle of the league beating up on each other, the standings are definitely fluid.

While the women’s race is pretty easy to decipher at the top with chaos below, the men’s race has chaos throughout.

Right now, Maryland can be no worse than a No. 9 seed, but realistically won’t drop lower than sixth. With Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue in a race for the top spot, the Terps are fighting with Wisconsin and Iowa for the final double bye. Unfortunately for Maryland, only the Wolverines have a tougher schedule to close out the regular season. Here’s a chart from The Washington Post’s Emily Giambalvo to compare (Michigan State beat Ohio State yesterday, but the rest of the games are still to come).

Although Maryland’s opponents are the toughest in terms of quality, the Terps can take solace in the fact that they finish the regular season with three of four games at home. Of the six teams still fighting for a double bye, only Michigan State has as many games at home the rest of the way. Still, with Wisconsin and Iowa both having easier remaining schedules, Maryland faces a tough road ahead to stay in the top four.

In other news

It was a rough weekend for both basketball teams. The men’s team lost at No. 6 Michigan, while the women’s team came up short at No. 14 Iowa.

Thomas has the good, the bad and the ugly from the game in Ann Arbor.

Maryland baseball struggled this weekend as well, losing to Campbell and No. 21 Coastal Carolina before beating VCU to end the opening weekend on a high note.

It wasn’t all bad for Maryland sports this weekend, though.

Maryland softball went 4-1, its best tournament finish under Julie Wright.

Men’s lacrosse overcame a rough day at the faceoff X to beat Penn in overtime.

Maryland women’s tennis split a weekend doubleheader against Old Dominion and Delaware.

Even Maryland wrestling won its first dual of the season (although it got crushed by No. 4 Michigan on Friday.)

Maryland gymnastics scored over 195 points for the third straight week, even though it came up short against No. 16 Minnesota.

In non-game results, Maryland football added JuCo linebacker Mitchell Agude to its 2019 recruiting class.

Our friends at Behind the Steel Curtain (which feels weird to say as a Ravens fan) sat down with Tre Watson.

After beating No. 4 Florida, Maryland women’s lacrosse spent the weekend soaking up the sun at Universal Studios and Disney World.