Don’t get me wrong, I love watching great defensive basketball.\u00a0 I also really like hard, physical styles of play.\u00a0 Hell, I grew up rooting for John Chaney defenses and, well, John Chaney offenses, so I am no stranger to slow, ugly, methodical basketball.\u00a0 But, this Big Ten is, at times, nearly unwatchable.\u00a0 We’ll see how the atmosphere of the conference tournament affects what was a great, but ugly Big Ten season.<\/p>\n
A testament to the depth of this conference is that there are 5 different championship choices.<\/p>\n
Championship Picks Biggest Upsets Previous CTC Champions #8 Iowa vs. #9 Illinois The majority of the field (12) have Illinois in this mild upset, as only 8 took Iowa (Alexi, Doogan, Gersh, KA, Lil Lohse, Lohse, Scoot, Teddy).\u00a0 No one has either of these teams beating MSU next round.<\/p>\n #5 Indiana vs. #12 Penn St. This is a pretty huge CTC game.\u00a0 Bry and Waters are the only two to take PSU in this huge upset.\u00a0 15 people actually have Indiana beating Wisconsin next round, so the 5 that don’t (Bry, Gross, Rikey, RDoc, and Waters) might be rooting for PSU here.\u00a0 7 people have IU in the finals (Dave, Doogan, Lil Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Primm, RSmith).\u00a0 Lynch and RSmith have the Hoosiers cutting down the nets.<\/p>\n #7 Northwestern vs. #10 Minnesota This is another huge CTC game.\u00a0 9 people actually have Minnesota in this upset (Bry, Gersh, Lil Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Rikey, RDoc, Scoot). J has the Gophers in the semis.\u00a0 6 people have NW winning again tomorrow (Alexi, Dave, Gross, Lohse, RSmith, Waters).<\/p>\n #6 Purdue vs. #11 Nebraska Primm is the only one that took Nebraska here, so he’ll get a quick 60 points if they can pull off the upset.\u00a0 Stri and KA are the only two that have Purdue winning again tomorrow, and they actually both have Purdue going to the finals.\u00a0 KA has them winning it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t get me wrong, I love watching great defensive basketball.\u00a0 I also really like hard, physical styles of play.\u00a0 Hell, I grew up rooting for John Chaney defenses and, well, John Chaney offenses, so I am no stranger to slow, … Continue reading
\n<\/em>4 for #1 Michigan St. (Gersh, Scoot, Stri, Waters)
\n1 for #2 Michigan (Lil Lohse)
\n12 for #3 Ohio St.
\n0 for #4 Wisconsin
\n2 for #5 Indiana (Lynch, RSmith)
\n1 for #6 Purdue (KA)<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>R1 – #12 Penn St. (Bry, Waters)
\nQF – #10 Minnesota (J)
\nSF – #6 Purdue (KA, Stri)<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>2011 – Primm
\n2010 – Waters
\n2009 – Bry
\n2008 – Bry<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>The Bruce Weber swan song begins today at 11:30 am.\u00a0 As for the other side of this one, can we please start talking about how great of a coach Fran McCaffery is?\u00a0 With all due respect to Tom Izzo (who, I have always said is clearly the second-best coach in the country), who did another great job, why can’t the coach of the 8th-place team win the Coach of the Year?\u00a0 Considering what was expected of this Hawkeye team, I think McCaffery did, clearly, the best job in the conference.\u00a0 There is even some at-large talk surrounding the Hawkeyes.\u00a0 Incredible!\u00a0 The winner of this game will get #1 Michigan St. in the quarters.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>College basketball is a coach’s game, and Tom Crean can flat-out coach, so the only surprise about this Indiana resurgence is how deep the Kelvin Sampson problems ran and how long it took one of the nation’s best head men to return this team to prominence.\u00a0 Now, they are heading for the Dance and a probable protected seed.\u00a0 If you haven’t heard of Tim Frazier, it might be a good idea to tune into this one because he’s the real deal.\u00a0 #4 Wisconsin awaits the winner of this one.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>A lot has been written about the long history of Northwestern without a tournament appearance.\u00a0 Well, this might be their best chance, but they cannot afford to lose this game or they’re probably NIT-bound again.\u00a0 The Gophers have had a decent season, considering they weren’t immensely talented to begin with and they lost their best player, Trevor Mbakwe in November.\u00a0 They shouldn’t be taken lightly.\u00a0 The winner here gets #2 Ohio St. in the quarters.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>It was a tough first season in the Big Ten for the ‘Huskers, as they went 4-14 in their inaugural season here.\u00a0 Purdue finally gets Robbie Hummel through a full season and should go on to another tournament, thanks in most part to Hummel himself.\u00a0 Now, we’ll see what they’ve got.\u00a0 The winner here gets Michigan tomorrow.<\/p>\n