| Year: | 1998 |
| Conference: | Big Ten |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 11 |
| Arena: | United Center |
| City: | Chicago, Illinois |
| Champions: | Michigan (Vacated) |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Coach: | Brian Ellerbe |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mvp: | Robert Traylor |
| Mvpteam: | Michigan |
| Firsttournamentever: | Yes |
The 1998 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was the inaugural postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference and was played from March 5 through March 8, 1998 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The championship was won by Michigan who defeated Purdue in the championship game.[1] As a result, Michigan received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Due to the Michigan basketball scandal, Michigan has vacated the records from this tournament.[2] Similarly, due to the Minnesota academic scandal, Minnesota's appearance in this tournament was vacated.[3]
All 11 Big Ten schools participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season. The top five teams received a first round bye.
| Seed | School | Conference | 1st Tiebreaker | 2nd Tiebreaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan State | 13–3 | 1–1 vs. Ill. | 1–1 vs. Pur | |
| 2 | Illinois | 13–3 | 1–1 vs. MSU | 0–2 vs. Pur | |
| 3 | Purdue | 12–4 | |||
| 4 | Michigan | 11–5 | |||
| 5 | Iowa | 9–7 | 2–0 vs. Ind | ||
| 6 | Indiana | 9–7 | 0–2 vs. Iowa | ||
| 7 | Penn State | 8–8 | |||
| 8 | Minnesota | 6–10 | |||
| 9 | Northwestern | 3–13 | 1–1 vs. Wisc | 0–1 vs. MSU | |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 3–13 | 1–1 vs. NW | 0–2 vs. MSU | |
| 11 | Ohio State | 1–15 |
Source:[4]