Busting Brackets
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Bracketology 2021: Early observations heading into 2020-21 season

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: Led by committee chairman Mark Hollis (3rd from L), the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: Led by committee chairman Mark Hollis (3rd from L), the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /
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Big Ten Basketball
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 12: Big Ten logo on the floor before the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Final (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Potential number of Big Ten bids for NCAA Tournament

Last season, one of the biggest Bracketology storylines was the Big Ten and the potential historic number of bids they could get. Outside of Nebraska and Northwestern, the other 12 programs had a legit shot at one point to get an at-large bid. We’ll ultimately never know but it still doesn’t take away how good the league was as a while in 2019-20.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats and Cornhuskers, their futures look to be the same for this season. But the other 12 have some hope at least of a successful season. Teams such as Minnesota, Purdue, and Indiana have revamped rosters, while Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State should be competitive as well.

What separates the Big Ten from the other conferences at the moment is the projected strength at the top. There’s a consensus view that there are four teams in the preseason top-15 (Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois), with Rutgers around the 20-30 range. That kind of strength will have a big impact in the middle of the conference, with a bunch of games against top-10 caliber programs available for them.

With the Big Ten staying at 20 conference games, there will be 5-7 matchups in the non-conference for the 14 programs. If the middle tier can handler their business and sneak a couple of upsets, this league could very well get 8-10 bids for the 2021 NCAA Tournament. However, there could be a penalty for those who end up going under .500 in the regular season in league play. How the unbalanced schedules play out could be a big determining factor this time around.

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