2016 Big Ten women's basketball tournament

The 2016 Big Ten women's basketball tournament was a postseason tournament was held from March 2–6, 2016 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Maryland won their 2nd Big Ten Women's Tournament and earn an automatic trip to the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

2016 Big Ten women's basketball tournament
2016 Tournament logo
Classification	Division I
Season	2015–16
Teams	14
Site	Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
Champions	Maryland (2nd title)
Winning coach	Brenda Frese (2nd title)
MVP	Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (Maryland)
Attendance	33,837
Television	Big Ten Network, ESPN
Big Ten women's basketball tournaments

2015–16 Big Ten women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Maryland†	16	–	2		.889			31	–	4		.886
No. 9 Ohio State	15	–	3		.833			26	–	8		.765
No. 16 Michigan State	13	–	5		.722			25	–	9		.735
Indiana	12	–	6		.667			21	–	12		.636
Minnesota	11	–	7		.611			20	–	12		.625
Purdue	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Michigan	9	–	9		.500			21	–	14		.600
Nebraska	9	–	9		.500			18	–	13		.581
Iowa	8	–	10		.444			19	–	14		.576
Rutgers	8	–	10		.444			19	–	15		.559
Penn State	6	–	12		.333			12	–	19		.387
Northwestern	4	–	14		.222			18	–	17		.514
Wisconsin	3	–	15		.167			7	–	22		.241
Illinois	2	–	16		.111			9	–	21		.300
† 2016 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 31, 2016 Rankings from AP poll

Seeds

All 14 Big Ten schools participate in the tournament. Teams were seeded by 2015–16 Big Ten Conference season record. The top 10 teams received a first-round bye and the top 4 teams received a double bye.

Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season:

Seed	School	Conf	Tiebreak 1	Tiebreak 2
#1	Maryland	16–2
#2	Ohio State	15–3
#3	Michigan State	13–5
#4	Indiana	12–6
#5	Minnesota	11–7
#6	Purdue	10–8
#7	Nebraska	9–9	1–0 vs. Michigan
#8	Michigan	9–9	0–1 vs. Nebraska
#9	Iowa	8–10	1–0 vs. Rutgers
#10	Rutgers	8–10	0–1 vs. Iowa
#11	Penn State	6–12
#12	Northwestern	4–14
#13	Wisconsin	3–15
#14	Illinois	2–16

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup#	Television	Attendance
First round - Wednesday, March 2
1	1	1:30 pm	#13 Wisconsin vs. #12 Northwestern	BTN
	2	4:00 pm	#14 Illinois vs. #11 Penn State
Second round - Thursday, March 3
2	3	12:00 pm	#9 Iowa vs. #8 Michigan	BTN	4,783
	4	2:30 pm	#12 Northwestern vs. #5 Minnesota
3	5	6:30 pm	#10 Rutgers vs. #7 Nebraska		5,011
	6	9:00 pm	#11 Penn State vs. #6 Purdue
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 4
4	7	12:00 pm	#9 Iowa vs. #1 Maryland	BTN	6,606
	8	2:30 pm	#12 Northwestern vs. #4 Indiana
5	9	6:30 pm	#10 Rutgers vs. #2 Ohio State		6,043
	10	9:00 pm	#6 Purdue vs. #3 Michigan State
Semifinals - Saturday, March 5
6	11	3:00 pm	#1 Maryland vs. #12 Northwestern	BTN	6,285
	12	5:30 pm	#2 Ohio State vs. #3 Michigan State
Championship - Sunday, March 6
7	13	7:00 pm	#1 Maryland vs. #3 Michigan State	ESPN	5,109

*Game times in Eastern Time. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 2 BTN					Second round Thursday, March 3 BTN					Quarterfinals Friday, March 4 BTN					Semifinals Saturday, March 5 BTN					Championship Sunday, March 6 ESPN
											1	Maryland	75
						8	Michigan	85			9	Iowa	55
						9	Iowa	97								1	Maryland	83
																12	Northwestern	62
											4	Indiana	73
						5	Minnesota	74			12	Northwestern	79
	12	Northwestern	76OT			12	Northwestern	84													1	Maryland	60
	13	Wisconsin	72																		3	Michigan State	44
											2	Ohio State	73
						7	Nebraska	63			10	Rutgers	58
						10	Rutgers	66								2	Ohio State	63
																3	Michigan State	82
											3	Michigan State	65
						6	Purdue	70			6	Purdue	64
	11	Penn State	75			11	Penn State	59
	14	Illinois	66

See also

• 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament