With the first round of the Big Ten Tournament finished in Indianapolis, eight teams are left vying for the championship and automatic berth into the Big Dance. Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin are locks to make the tournament, while Illinois is almost certainly in. Joe Lunardi has Michigan in as an 11 seed, but they may need to beat the Illini to give them a chance to dance. Michigan State scraped by Iowa in their first round game to enhance their bubble chances, while Penn State defeated Indiana in the nightcap to earn their place in the quarterfinals. Despite defeating Minnesota in their first round matchup, Northwestern will likely need to win the championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
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| Jared Sullinger leads the Buckeyes into March |
Ohio State is a lock for the NCAA Tournament and possibly a lock for a 1 seed going in to the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes will look to continue their hot shooting from the record-setting performance against Wisconsin into the postseason.
First up for the Buckeyes will be Michael Thompson and the Northwestern Wildcats. Thompson scored a Big Ten Tournament record 35 points to lead the Wildcats to a 75-65 victory over Minnesota. In their only meeting this season, Ohio State squeaked out a 58-57 victory in Evanston after a Jared Sullinger free throw gave the Buckeyes the lead with three seconds left and Drew Crawford’s desperation heave missed at the buzzer. Closing out on the Wildcats’ three-point shooters will be a point of emphasis for the Buckeyes on defense as Northwestern shot 31 threes against Minnesota. Barring a miraculous upset by the Wildcats, Ohio State should cruise into the Big Ten semis.
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| Northwestern's upset attempt fell short in Evanston |
Should the Buckeyes hold off the upset attempt by Northwestern, they will face either Illinois or Michigan in the semifinal. Both Illinois and Michigan are in according to Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, but both will want to win their quarterfinal matchup to secure their place in the field of 68.
Illinois’ early season victory over North Carolina may be enough to get them in despite bad losses to Indiana and Illinois-Chicago. Michigan’s resume is not as distinguished as the Illini’s as their best victories are a pair of victories over Michigan State and a December victory over Harvard. Like the Illini, the Wolverines also fell at Indiana. In the only meeting between these teams this season, Illinois got by the Wolverines 54-52 on Feb. 16 in Champaign.
In another quarterfinal matchup, Purdue will square off against Michigan State. Purdue is coming into the Big Ten Tournament on a low note after being upset at Iowa with a possible share of the Big Ten regular season title on the line. Despite the upset, the Boilermakers took home their share of the postseason awards. JaJuan Johnson was named player of the year by the coaches and the media, Matt Painter was named coach of the year by the coaches and the media and Johnson was also named defensive player of the year by the coaches. E’Twaun Moore joined Johnson as an all-Big Ten first-team selection.
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| Big Ten POY JaJuan Johnson will carry the Boilers this March |
Michigan State has been disappointing all season, and is on the bubble because of it. One of Lunardi’s “Last Four In,” the Spartans were down by as many as eight to Iowa in the second half before storming back to a five point victory. While the victory over the Hawkeyes did not put Michigan State into the tournament, a loss to the lowly Iowa squad surely would have dropped the Spartans into the NIT. Purdue won both matchups with the Spartans this season, winning by 10 in West Lafayette and by 20 in East Lansing.
In the final quarterfinal matchup, Wisconsin will take on Penn State. The Badgers are looking to deal with the beatdown they took in Columbus and get rolling towards the NCAA Tournament with a good showing in Indianapolis. Led by Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer, Wisconsin finished 3rd in the regular season in the Big Ten. However, their ability to win away from the Kohl Center has come in to question. The Badgers were just 5-6 on the road, going 4-5 in Big Ten play, with losses at Illinois, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State.
Penn State has played the role of giant killer several times already this season. The Nittany Lions defeated Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin while all were ranked in the top 25. They will be looking to do more of that this weekend in their attempt to make the NCAA Tournament. This Penn State team will go as far as Talor Battle takes them. Battle averaged more than 20 points per game during the regular season and scored 22 to lead Penn State to the upset victory over Wisconsin earlier this season.
Final Prediction: My prediction for the final is a rubber match between Ohio State and Purdue. The Buckeyes should have no trouble defeating Northwestern and then either Illinois or Michigan. Purdue, on the other hand, has a much tougher road to the final, facing off against Michigan State and potentially Wisconsin in the semi-final. Ohio State should be fresher than their opponent if they can take care of business early in their first two games and the Buckeyes will win another Big Ten title.
