Big Ten Tournament Picks, Odds to Win & Watch Schedule for 2026

• The Big Ten Tournament will be held from Tuesday, March 10 to Sunday, March 16
• All games will be played at the United Center in Chicago
• See the 2026 Big Ten Tournament odds, seeds, bracket, and full tournament preview below

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After winning the regular season crown, the Michigan Wolverines have earned the top seed at the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, and will be looking for back-to-back tournament wins for the first time since they turned the trick in 2017 and 2018.

There are a ton of contenders for the crown though, most notably Nebraska, Michigan State, and Illinois, who, along with the Wolverines, grabbed a triple-bye into the quarterfinals, which start Friday.

The rest of the 14 teams in the field will play down starting on Tuesday, and will be whittled down to the final eight for the weekend.

Let’s have a look at the tournament odds, bracket and full preview below.

2026 Big Ten Tournament Odds

Michigan enters the Big Ten Tournament as the team with the current best March Madness odds, with Illinois and Michigan State in the Top 10, and Purdue sitting just outside in 11th.

You’ll notice that Nebraska, seeded second in the tournament, has only the fifth-best odds of winning (+1000), with Illinois jumping up to second at +460, followed closely by 7th-seeded Purdue, vaulting to the 3rd-best odds at +600.

Odds as of March 9 at FanDuel. New customers can claim a FanDuel promo code to get a bonus to bet on college basketball.

Big Ten Tournament Schedule 2026 & How to Watch

Action starts Tuesday with two games, kicking off with the 17th-seeded Maryland Terrapins taking on the no. 16 Oregon Ducks at 4pm ET. That will be followed by the 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions battling the Northwestern Wildcats. You can catch those games on Peacock.

Seeds 9 through 14 wills see Day 2 action, with the 9th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes catching the winner of Maryland/Oregon at 11am ET, followed by the 13th-ranked USC Trojans squaring off with the 12th-ranked Washington Huskies. Both of those games are on Peacock.

The Big Ten Network carries games the rest of the day, starting with no. 10 Indiana taking on the winner of Penn State/Northwestern at 5:30pm ET, with 14th-ranked Rutgers taking on Minnesota, the 11th seed.

The #B1GMBBT bracket is set!

Get your tickets ➡️ https://t.co/fS9jDWQSva pic.twitter.com/zseMXebMIE

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) March 9, 2026

Day 3 action is all on the Big Ten Network. Results will dictate who plays who, but we do know no. 8 Ohio State will play first at 11am, followed by the 5th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Seventh-ranked Purdue kicks off the night session at 6:30pm ET, followed by the UCLA Bruins, the 6th seed.

Quarterfinal Friday, and finally all teams will have seen the court. Top seed Michigan plays its game first at 11am, with no. 4 Illinois to follow. The 6:30pm game features no. 2 Nebraska, and 3rd-seeded Michigan State closes it out.

The four that emerge will play Saturday, and can be seen live on CBS.

The Big Ten Tournament Final is slated for Sunday, March 16 at 2:30pm ET, and will be live on CBS.

2026 Big Ten Tournament Prediction

Does Michigan take its foot off the gas? Regardless of how they play at the Big Ten Tournament, it feels like a foregone conclusion the Wolverines are a top-seed lock for the NCAA Tournament.

If they didn’t have the caveat of winning back-to-back Big Ten tourney crowns, I would be thinking upset, but any sort of letdown and an upset can happen — the conference features five of the top-15 ranked teams in the nation.

Newest addition to the Crisler rafters 🏆 pic.twitter.com/sFF8Ot6obz

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 8, 2026

Illinois ranks fifth in KenPom’s overall ranking, so a tournament win could strengthen their case for a 1-seed, but it likely just add a little variance on the selection committee. They do boast the conference’s second-highest ranked player in the Wooden Award odds in Keaton Wagler, who check in at +4000.

He’s one place back of Purdue’s Braden Smith, with the third-best player of the year odds. Smith’s Boilermakers should have an easy time into the quarters, and could absolutely knock off Nebraska, a team it has already beat in the regular season, potentially setting up a Final Four showdown with Michigan State, who they lost to in a close 2-point decision.

In the end, however, it’s hard to bet against the chalk. Michigan averages 88.4 points per game while allowing just 68.7, one of the best scoring differentials in the nation.

They’ve been so good, so consistent and battle tested: according to KenPom’s strength of schedule metric, Michicagn has played the fourth-toughest schedule in college basketball. That will go a long way in Chicago.

• Pick: Michigan (-105 at FanDuel)