With the season winding down, the Illinois basketball team’s Big Ten Tournament seeding possibilities are getting narrower and narrower.
At one time this season, I thought the Illini had a chance at snagging the Big Ten regular season title. Those chances are now gone with just two games left of the 2022-23 campaign.
But there are chances for the Orange and Blue to move up or down in the Big Ten standings before everything is official.
Here is the Illinois basketball best, worst, & most likely seeding for the Big Ten Tournament
Best seeding
It will be a difficult task that requires a lot to happen down the stretch, but the Illinois basketball team can still technically reach the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
To get the best seeding possible, it all starts with Illinois winning the final two games of the season. That means knocking off Michigan at home and then capping off the 2022-23 campaign with a win on the road against a top-10 Purdue program.
That is a difficult task in itself. But things have to go the way of the Illini in other games as well. Maryland has to lose both of their final two games – at Ohio State and at Penn State – and Indiana would have to lose their final two games – vs Iowa and vs Michigan – for Illinois to have a chance to get to the No. 2 seed.
The Illini are going to lose the two-way or three-way or more tiebreaker if Indiana or Maryland is involved. They both need to lose their final two games.
Northwestern can then split their final two games, and it doesn’t matter which one they win or lose. Michigan would then need to lose to Illinois and beat Indiana. Both are on the road, so that will be extremely difficult.
Lastly, Iowa has to go to Indiana and take down the Hoosiers. The Hawkeyes then need to drop a home game against Nebraska. If Iowa is tied with Illinois in any form or fashion, then they will take the tiebreaker.