2019 Big Ten Tournament: Schedule, bracket and more

Michigan State’s Cassius Winston dribbles in front of Michigan’s Zavier Simpson. | AP Photo/Al Goldis

The Big Ten Tournament returns to the United Center this year with all 14 teams set to face off for the conference championship and an automatic bid to March Madness. The action starts Wednesday afternoon and runs for five consecutive days leading up to the title game on March 17, which will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

Michigan, the two-time defending champion, enters this year as the No. 3 seed after posting a 15-5 record in conference games. The Wolverines are one of four teams that earned an automatic bye to the quarterfinals along with No. 1 seed Michigan State, No. 2 seed Purdue and No. 4 seed Wisconsin. The teams seeded No. 6-10 received byes to the second round.

Only one of Illinois and Northwestern could reach the second round because they were matched up against each other in the first round. The Fighting Illini hung on in overtime to take down the Wildcats, 74-69.

For Illinois, and several others, pulling off a miracle by winning the conference championship is the only way they’ll reach the NCAAs.

Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland look like locks to reach March Madness this year. Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State and Indiana could be considered on the bubble, so what happens in Chicago could vault one or more of those teams into the Big Dance.

Here’s the full bracket and schedule for the 2019 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.