Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, March 5, 2013

It?s time to take the temperature of the Big Ten. How do the various mock brackets rate the conference entering the final week of the regular season?

Indiana remains a consensus No. 1 seed in the four brackets I checked. The Hoosiers also are the consensus No. 1 overall seed, being placed in the cozy Midwest Region.

Michigan and Michigan State are Nos. 2 or 3 seeds in the brackets. Joe Lunardi has the Wolverines as a No. 2; everyone else has Michigan as a No. 3. Patrick Stevens of USAToday has Michigan State as a No. 2; everyone else has the Spartans as a No. 3.

Wisconsin is a No. 6 by each expert but Lunardi, who has the Badgers as a No. 5.

After those four, the opinions vary widely on the final three teams-Ohio State, Minnesota, Illinois–projected for the NCAA field.

Ohio State is all over the map, being seeded as high as a No. 4 and as low as a No. 7. Same goes for Illinois, which is as high as a No. 6 and as low as a No. 9. But Minnesota has the most range of any Big Ten school, being as high as a No. 5 and as low as a No. 10.

Jerry Palm, CBSSports.com
No. 1 Indiana (Midwest) vs. No. 16 play-in team
No. 3 Michigan State (South) vs. No. 14 Davidson
No. 3 Michigan (East) vs. South Dakota State
No. 6 Wisconsin (West) vs. No. 11 Wichita State
No. 7 Ohio State (Midwest) vs. No. 10 Colorado
No. 7 Minnesota (West) vs. No. 10 Temple
No. 8 Illinois (South) vs. No. 9 North Carolina

Joe Lunardi, ESPN.com
No. 1 Indiana (Midwest) vs. No. 16 Charleston Southern/Southern
No. 2 Michigan (West) vs. No. 15 Montana
No. 3 Michigan State (East) vs. No. 14 Stony Brook
No. 4 Ohio State (West) vs. No. 13 Valparaiso
No. 5 Wisconsin (South) vs. No. 12 Boise State
No. 9 Illinois (East) vs. No. 8 Memphis
No. 10 Minnesota (Midwest) vs. No. 7 Butler

Ryan Fagan, Sporting News
No. 1 Indiana
No. 3 Michigan
No. 3 Michigan State
No. 5 Ohio State
No. 6 Wisconsin
No. 6 Illinois
No. 7 Minnesota

Patrick Stevens, USAToday
No. 1 Indiana (Midwest) vs. No. 16 Southern/Northeastern
No. 2 Michigan State (East) vs. No. 15 Princeton
No. 3 Michigan (South) vs. No. 14 Davidson
No. 5 Minnesota (East) vs. No. 12 Saint Mary?s
No. 5 Ohio State (South) vs. No. 12 Belmont
No. 6 Wisconsin (West) vs. No. 11 Middle Tennessee
No. 6 Illinois (Midwest) vs. No. 11 UMass/Villanova

About Tom Dienhart BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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