Big Ten women's basketball tournament schedule

Where: Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates, Ill.

When: Wednesday through Sunday

Format: Top-seeded Maryland (27-2, 18-0 Big Ten), No. 2 seed Iowa (23-6, 14-4), No. 3 Ohio State (21-9, 13-5) and No. 4 Northwestern (22-7, 12-6) earned double byes and advance directly to Friday's quarterfinals. The fifth through 10th seeds received first-round byes and start play in Thursday's second round. The tournament opens Wednesday with two first-round games featuring the 11th through 14th seeds.

The Gophers: The No. 6 seed, the Gophers (22-8, 11-7) open play Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 11 seed Wisconsin (9-19, 5-13) and No. 14 seed Purdue (10-19, 3-15). Thursday's winner faces Ohio State in Friday's quarterfinals.

TV/radio: BTN Plus (Wednesday); BTN (Thursday, Friday, Saturday); and ESPN (Sunday). Thursday's Gophers game will be broadcast on 1500-AM.

Up next: The women's NCAA tournament field will be revealed on March 16 at 6 p.m., a full week after the Big Ten tournament ends.

TOday • First round

Game 2: No. 11 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Purdue, approx. 7:30 p.m.

Thursday • Second round

Game 3: No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 9 Michigan State, 11:30 a.m.

Game 4: No. 5 Rutgers vs. G1 winner, approx. 2 p.m.

Game 5: No. 7 Nebraska vs. No. 10 Illinois, 6 p.m.

Friday • Quarterfinals

Game 7: No. 1 Maryland vs. G3 winner, 11:30 a.m.

Game 8: No. 4 Northwestern vs. G4 winner, approx. 2 p.m.

Game 9: No. 2 Iowa vs. G5 winner, 6 p.m.

Game 10: No. 3 Ohio State vs. G6 winner, approx. 8:30 p.m.

Game 11: G7 winner vs. G8 winner, 6 p.m.

Game 12: G9 winner vs. G10 winner, approx. 8:30 p.m.

Sunday • Championship