Big 10 conference tournament

This is part 24 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament.  These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.

The standings:
Michigan 15-3
Wisconsin 12-6
Michigan St 12-6
Nebraska 11-7
Ohio St 10-8
Iowa 9-9
Minnesota 8-10
Indiana 7-11
Illinois 7-11
Penn St 6-12
Northwestern 6-12
Purdue 5-13

Tournament format:
Indianapolis is your neutral site hosts.  This shindig runs from March 13-16, with the championship final ending a half hour before the brackets are out.  Can we please force the B1G to do something about this, please?  This is annoying.

The matchups:
8) Indiana (17-14) vs. 9) Illinois (18-13)
5) Ohio St (23-8) vs. 12) Purdue (15-16)
7) Minnesota (19-12) vs. 10) Penn St (15-16)
6) Iowa (20-11) vs. 11) Northwestern (13-18)

1) Michigan (23-7) vs. 8/9 winner
4) Nebraska (19-11) vs. 5/12 winner
2) Wisconsin (25-6) vs. 7/10 winner
3) Michigan St (23-8) vs. 6/11 winner

The stakes:
Wisconsin is plenty alive for a 1 seed.  So is Michigan.  I do think both would require this title plus a little bit of help, but it's out there.  The scenarios are in play.  Wisconsin still has the #2 SoS and wins of Florida, @Virginia, @Michigan in their hip pocket.  Michigan's wins are a little less valuable, but note the road wins at Wisky, OSU, and Michigan St.  Committees love that sort of thing.

Michigan St is a weird team to try and seed.  After having them as a 2 for the longest time, I'm thinking of making them a 5 without a title here.  There's plenty of depth and quality, but maybe not the high-end results you'd expect from them.  Them and Ohio State will be neck-and-neck in the S-Curve.

Is Iowa in danger?  The record slipped and the RPI is hovering around 50.  They have 4 wins over probably tourney teams, which would suggest they're in, but not all the way in.  I think they'll be fine, but just don't lose to Northwestern and make us look.

Nebraska!  Just the 3 signature B1G wins to prop up the resume, so they're not as safe as everyone assumes.  The good news is they're probably not absorbing a bad loss.  The bad news is the first game will likely be OSU.  I'd much like to see them get that to feel safe.  Minnesota doesn't have such luxuries.  They need a pair of wins probably, which would mean a signature win over Wisconsin.

Illinois/Indiana is a cute little game.  Could be a NIT elimination game, the way automatic bids to the NIT are getting handed out.  Loser could go to the CBI.  Actually, any of the bottom 5 teams could wind up there if they wanted them.