2012 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2012 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held from March 8 through March 11 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.[1] This was the first tournament to feature 12 teams of the expanded Big Ten, with Nebraska making its debut. The tournament was the 14th annual Big Ten Tournament. The championship was won by Michigan State who defeated Ohio State in the championships game. As a result, Michigan State received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The win marked Michigan State's third tournament championship and first since 2000.

2012 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2011–12
Teams	12
Site	Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana
Champions	Michigan State (3rd title)
Winning coach	Tom Izzo (3rd title)
MVP	Draymond Green (Michigan State)
Attendance	107,737
Television	BTN, ESPN, ESPN2, and CBS
Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournaments

2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan State†	13	–	5		.722			29	–	8		.784
No. 13 Michigan	13	–	5		.722			24	–	10		.706
No. 7 Ohio State	13	–	5		.722			31	–	8		.795
No. 14 Wisconsin	12	–	6		.667			26	–	10		.722
No. 16 Indiana	11	–	7		.611			27	–	9		.750
Purdue	10	–	8		.556			22	–	13		.629
Northwestern	8	–	10		.444			19	–	14		.576
Iowa	8	–	10		.444			18	–	17		.514
Illinois	6	–	12		.333			17	–	15		.531
Minnesota	6	–	12		.333			23	–	15		.605
Nebraska	4	–	14		.222			12	–	18		.400
Penn State	4	–	14		.222			12	–	20		.375
† 2012 Big Ten Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Seeds

All Big Ten schools played in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season. A new tie-breaking procedure was announced for the 2012 tournament for teams with identical conference records.[2] The top 4 teams received a first-round bye.

Seed	School	Conf	Tiebreaker 1	Tiebreaker 2	Tiebreaker 3	Tiebreaker 4
1	Michigan St.	13–5	2–2 vs Mich, OSU	2–0 vs Wis	1–1 vs Ind	2–0 vs Pur
2	Michigan	13–5	2–2 vs MSU, OSU	1–0 vs Wis	1–1 vs Ind	1–1 vs Pur
3	Ohio St.	13–5	2–2 vs MSU, Mich	1–1 vs Wis
4	Wisconsin	12–6
5	Indiana	11–7
6	Purdue	10–8
7	Northwestern	8–10	2–0 vs Iowa
8	Iowa	8–10	0–2 vs NW
9	Illinois	6–12	1–1 vs Minn	2–3 vs MSU, Mich, OSU
10	Minnesota	6–12	1–1 vs Ill	0–4 vs MSU, Mich, OSU
11	Nebraska	4–14	1–1 vs PSU	0–5 vs MSU, Mich, OSU	0–2 vs Wis	1–0 vs Ind
12	Penn St.	4–14	1–1 vs Neb	0–4 vs MSU, Mich, OSU	0–2 vs Wis	0–2 vs Ind

Schedule

Source[3]

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Television	Score	attendance
First round - Thursday, March 8
1	1	11:30am	No. 8 Iowa vs. No. 9 Illinois	BTN	64–61	17,936
	2	2:00pm	No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 12 Penn State	BTN	75–58	17,936
2	3	5:30pm	No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Minnesota	ESPN2	75–68 OT	17,257
	4	8:00pm	No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 11 Nebraska	ESPN2	79–61	17,257
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 9
3	5	12:00pm	No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 8 Iowa	ESPN	92–75	18,484
	6	2:30pm	No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Indiana	ESPN	79–71	18,484
4	7	6:30pm	No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 10 Minnesota	BTN	73–69 OT	18,484
	8	9:00pm	No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 6 Purdue	BTN	88–71	18,484
Semifinals - Saturday, March 10
5	9	1:40pm	No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 4 Wisconsin	CBS	65–52	18,451
	10	4:05pm	No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Ohio State	CBS	77–55	18,451
Championship - Sunday, March 11
6	11	3:30pm	No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 3 Ohio State	CBS	68–64	17,125
*Game times in Eastern Time. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Attendance figures;[4][5][6][7][8] Total Tournament Attendance:107,737[8]

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 8 ESPN2/BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 9 ESPN/BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 10 CBS					Championship Sunday, March 11 CBS
						1	#8 Michigan State	92
						8	Iowa	75
	8	Iowa	64
	9	Illinois	61
											1	#8 Michigan State	65
										4	#14 Wisconsin	52
						4	#14 Wisconsin	79
						5	#15 Indiana	71
	5	Indiana	75
	12	Penn State	58
																1	#8 Michigan State	68
																3	#7 Ohio State	64
						2	#10 Michigan	73^OT
						10	Minnesota	69
	7	Northwestern	68
	10	Minnesota	75^OT
											2	#10 Michigan	55
										3	#7 Ohio State	77
						3	#7 Ohio State	88
						6	Purdue	71
	6	Purdue	79
	11	Nebraska	61

Honors

All-Tournament Team

• Draymond Green, Michigan State – Most Outstanding Player
• Brandon Wood, Michigan State
• Andre Hollins, Minnesota
• Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
• Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State

[9]

Tournament notes

• For the third year in a row, the No. 1 seed won the Big Ten Tournament, but this would be the last time for years to come.
• There were only two upsets in this tournament, the biggest being No. 10 seed, Minnesota, over No. 7 seed, Northwestern.

References

1. "Big Ten 2011-2012 Championship/Tournament Schedule". Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original on November 11, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
2. "2012 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Tiebreaking Procedures". Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
3. "2012 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Schedule". Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original on January 23, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
4. "Friday Evening Session of Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Now Sold Out: Tickets remain for Sunday's championship game; Saturday's semifinals previously sold out". Big Ten Conference. March 9, 2012. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
5. Hutchens, Terry; Cavin, Curt (March 10, 2012). "Big Ten Tournament 2012 notebook: Torn ACL ends Jones' IU career". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
6. "Ohio State-Purdue Game Notes". Big Ten Conference. March 10, 2012. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
7. "Ohio State-Michigan Postgame Notes". Big Ten Conference. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
8. "A New Tourney Attendance Record". Big Ten Conference. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
9. "Michigan State-Ohio State Postgame Notes". Big Ten Conference. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2012.