Big 10 standings, RPI's, and tourney seeds

All data are courtesy of www.kenpom.com -- Ken Pomeroy's indispensable bastion of basketball knowledge and statistics.

Teams are listed in order of regular season finish, with RPI listed in parentheses after the team record. Invitees are listed in bold. For purposes of simplicity, only teams with a winning record, at least 6 BT wins, and an RPI under 90 are listed. It's safe to say you can't be a serious contender without all 3 conditions.

2006:

1. #2 Ohio State (25-5, 12-4) (5)
2. #3 Iowa (25-8, 11-5) (7)
3. #4 Illinois (25-6, 11-5) (14)
4. #9 Wisconsin (19-11, 9-7) (23)
5. #6 Indiana (18-11, 9-7) (34)
6. #6 Michigan State (21-11, 8-8) (18)
7. Michigan (18-10, 8-8) (47)

2005:

1. #1 Illinois (32-1, 15-1) (1)
2. #5 Michigan State (22-6, 13-3) (21)
3. #6 Wisconsin (22-8, 11-5) (14)
4. #8 Minnesota (21-10, 10-6) (39)
5. Indiana (15-13, 10-6) (61)
6. Ohio State (20-12, 8-8) (51) (ineligible for postseason play)
7. #10 Iowa (21-11, 7-9) (42)

2004:

1. #5 Illinois (24-6, 13-3) (23)
2. #6 Wisconsin (24-6, 12-4) (12)
3. #7 Michigan State (18-11, 12-4) (39)
4. Iowa (16-12, 9-7) (86)
5. Michigan (18-11, 8-8) (55)

2003:

1. #5 Wisconsin (22-7, 12-4) (25)
2. #4 Illinois (24-6, 11-5) (18)
3. #9 Purdue (18-10, 10-6) (30)
4. #7 Michigan State (19-12, 10-6) (31)
5. Michigan (17-13, 10-6) (65) (ineligible for postseason play)
6. #7 Indiana (20-12, 8-8) (47)
7. Minnesota (16-12, 8-8) (71)
8. Ohio State (17-14, 7-9) (54)

2002:

1. #4 Illinois (24-7, 11-5) (9)
2. #5 Indiana (19-10, 11-5) (13)
3. #4 Ohio State (21-7, 11-5) (23)
4. #8 Wisconsin (17-12, 11-5) (54)
5. #10 Michigan State (18-11, 10-6) (34)
6. Minnesota (17-12, 9-7) (68)

2001:

1. #1 Michigan State (24-4, 13-3) (3)
2. #1 Illinois (24-7, 13-3) (6)
3. #5 Ohio State (20-10, 11-5) (34)
4. #4 Indiana (21-12, 10-6) (16)
5. #6 Wisconsin (18-10, 9-7) (19)
6. #7 Penn State (19-11, 7-9) (24)
7. #7 Iowa (22-11, 7-9) (26)

2000:

1. #1 Michigan State (26-7, 13-3) (13)
2. #3 Ohio State (22-6, 13-3) (24)
3. #6 Purdue (20-9, 12-4) (31)
4. #4 Illinois (21-9, 11-5) (23)
5. #6 Indiana (20-8, 10-6) (20)
6. #8 Wisconsin (18-13, 8-8) (32)

1999:

1. #1 Michigan State (28-4, 15-1) (2)
2. #4 Ohio State (22-8, 12-4) (20)
3. #5 Iowa (18-9, 9-7) (12)
4. #5 Wisconsin (22-9, 9-7) (14)
5. #6 Indiana (22-10, 9-7) (16)
6. #7 Minnesota (17-10, 8-8) (24)
7. #10 Purdue (19-12, 7-9) (25)

AVERAGE SEED, RECORD, AND RPI OF 3RD PLACE TEAM:

3. #6 Average State (20-9, 11-5) (23)

So, well, of course the 3rd place team will be in. They'll be in without breaking a sweat on Selection Sunday. Using that as precedent for Iowa getting in with, optimistically, a (19-13, 10-6) (68) resume is absurd.

I think we were a bit, for lack of a better term, cheated by Michigan's ineligibility in '03. That would be about the best parallel for Iowa's current scenario. For what it's worth, Michigan would have been about the 7th team out based on RPI alone that year--they were #65, and the last team in on RPI was NC State at #53. 5 teams between them received automatic bids.