Despite closing the regular season with a home win over Michigan State on Senior Day, Thad Matta's Ohio State Buckeyes will open the Big Ten tournament as a five seed, thanks to Nebraska's upset of Wisconsin Sunday night in Lincoln.
The Buckeyes will face last place Purdue Thursday at 2:35 p.m.-ish (BTN). Ohio State went 2-0 against Purdue this season, winning 78-69 in West Lafayette on New Year's Eve and then 67-49 in Columbus last month.
Michigan, the Big Ten regular season champion, enters the tournament as the top seed, with Wisconsin earning the two, Michigan State the three and Nebraska of all teams, the four seed.
The Wolverines won their first outright Big Ten championship since 1986, going 15-3 and possibly earning coach John Belein his first conference Coach of the Year award.
Should Ohio State top Purdue Thursday, they will get another shot at Nebraska, a team they clobbered in Columbus, but lost to on the road.
Here's the full bracket for the 2014 Big Ten men's basketball tournament.
