2023 Big Ten WBB Tournament Bracket Released
The 2022-23 Big Ten women's basketball regular season is in the books, but there's still one more event left before the 2023 NCAA Tournament gets underway: the 2023 Big Ten Tournament.
This year's Big Ten Tournament is taking place in Minneapolis, MN; the Target Center (home of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx) will be the site of all tournament games. The tournament is scheduled to take place from Wednesday, March 1 to Sunday, March 5.
A full bracket for the tournament has been released by the Big Ten:
Iowa earned the #2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which means the Hawkeyes also received a double-bye and will not play a game until the quarterfinal round on Friday. Iowa is scheduled to play the winner of Thursday's Purdue (#7 seed) versus Wisconsin (#10 seed) game on Friday, March 3 at 5:30 PM CT. BTN will broadcast the game.
The other teams in Iowa's half of the bracket are Maryland (#3 seed), Illinois (#6 seed), Rutgers (#11 seed), and Northwestern (#14 seed). If Iowa beats Purdue/Wisconsin on Friday, the Hawkeyes will play one of Maryland/Illinois/Rutgers/Northwestern in the semifinals on Saturday, March 4 at approximately 4 PM CT.
The Hawkeyes beat the Boilermakers in their only prior meeting this season, 83-68, back on December 29. Iowa led by 21 at halftime and rolled to an easy victory. Iowa went 2-0 against Wisconsin this season, beating Wisconsin 102-71 in Madison on December 4 and dispatching the Badgers 91-61 in Iowa City on February 15.
Iowa's most likely semifinal opponents would appear to be either Maryland or Illinois. Both the Terps and the Illini recorded wins over Iowa this season. Iowa split the season series with Maryland, winning 96-82 in Iowa City on February 2 but getting blasted 96-68 in College Park last week. Illinois was the only Big Ten opponent that Iowa wasn't able to beat at least once in the regular season -- the Illini edged the Hawkeyes 90-86 in Champaign on January 1, which was the teams' only meeting this season.
A chance to avenge that loss to Illinois would be an appealing option in the Big Ten Tournament semis, though based on current form, Maryland seems like the more likely opponent if Iowa advances to that game. Based on the two previous games between those teams this season, that could be game would likely be quite a shootout.
Full details on the 2023 Big Ten Tournament (including ticketing info) is available here.