Michigan officially the 5th seed in the 2018 Big Ten Tournament

After the Nebraska Cornhuskers took care of business Sunday evening against Penn State, the Michigan Wolverines’ men’s basketball team officially locked in as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

John Beilein and company don’t know who their first opponent will be at this moment, but they will play either Illinois, Iowa or Rutgers, depending on how tonight’s Iowa/Northwestern game goes.

To make the scenario as simple as possible — Illinois will play Iowa in the opening round of the tournament if the Hawkeyes win tonight against Northwestern. However, if Iowa loses against Northwestern tonight, Rutgers will play the Fighting Illini. The winner of that game will then take on Michigan in the second round of the conference tournament.

Regardless of opponent, Michigan will play on Thursday in the second game of that day. Michigan’s tip-off time depends on when the first game (noon tip-off) ends.

The top four seeds in this year’s Big Ten Tournament are Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Nebraska. Because Michigan State is the No. 1 seed and Michigan is the No. 5 seed, a potential rematch could be seen between the two schools in the semifinals of the tournament. Michigan would have to defeat their opening opponent and Nebraska, while Michigan State would have to just defeat the winner of Maryland/Wisconsin.

The final game of the tournament will be next Sunday on CBS.