Big Ten Hypothetical

Without actually mining the history of Big Ten volleyball -- or even asking someone who might know -- I'm going to venture to guess that there has never been a tighter race for third place in the conference, this late in the season. Just take a gander at the conference standings as of Tuesday 11/13.

Standings

Penn State 816-0
Wisconsin 814-2
Michigan 88-8
Minnesota 88-8
Purdue 88-8
Northwestern 87-9
Illinois 87-9
Michigan State 87-9
Indiana 86-10
Ohio State 86-10
Iowa 81-15



There are a few things we know already, and I don’t mean the obvious points such as Penn State’s continual success really becoming annoying or Iowa’s lack of success becoming one of Life’s certainties, right up there with Death, Taxes and GameTracker freezing up. Nope, not those. These:


4There will not be a tie for third with EIGHT teams finishing 10-10. The wins and losses will not add up. There are 22 matches left and even if Wisconsin and PSU both went 0-4, we would still only have 21 losses. It can’t happen.

4There COULD be an eight-way tie for third with all the teams finishing 9-11, however.

4Penn State and Wisconsin need to learn to share.


So how do we get to this eight-way tie for third? Well, as long as we’re taking ganders, let’s grab another one, this time at the remaining schedules for those eight teams (bye-bye, Lions, Badgers and Hawkeyes!):


Remaining matches

Michigan: @ Purdue, @ Indiana, OSU, PSU
Minnesota: MSU, Northwestern, @ Illinois, @ Wisconsin
Purdue: Indiana, Michigan, @ MSU, @ Northwestern
Northwestern: @ Iowa, @ Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue
Illinois: @ OSU, @ PSU, Minnesota, Iowa
Michigan State: @ Minnesota, @ Iowa, Purdue, Indiana
Indiana: @ Purdue, Michigan, @ Northwestern, @ MSU
Ohio State: Illinois, Wisconsin, PSU, @ Michigan


Next, what is the most likely scenario for this to happen? There may be other ways to have each team finish at 9-11, but this is what I came up with (bold type represents a WIN):

Most likely of the unlikely scenarios?

Michigan: @ Purdue, @ Indiana, OSU, PSU
Minnesota: MSU, Northwestern, @ Illinois, @ Wisconsin
Purdue: Indiana, Michigan, @ MSU, @ Northwestern
Northwestern: @ Iowa, @ Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue
Illinois: @ OSU, @ PSU, Minnesota, Iowa
Michigan State: @ Minnesota, @ Iowa, Purdue, Indiana
Indiana: @ Purdue, Michigan, @ Northwestern, @ MSU
Ohio State: Illinois, Wisconsin, PSU, @ Michigan


A few disclaimers:

4Obviously, I want Minnesota to finish 12-8. This is purely hypothetical (see Blog title), done solely for the odd aesthetics of an eight-way tie. No hate comments, please!

4Ohio State needs to beat either Wisconsin or Penn State for this to happen. They will be playing at home, however. They also have to win at Michigan. Simply put, the Buckeyes are the shakiest playing card in our house of trembling cards.

4Northwestern has been given the assignment of losing in Iowa City. Good luck, Wildcats, with that bit of bad luck.

4Eye damage caused by the intensity of the color in this blog is your own responsibility.