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Today is the most fun day of the tournament. You have four teams that are definite locks in the NCAA Tournament in Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, and Michigan State. You have a bubble team in need of a good win in Michigan, who happens to play the league champ to start. Finally, you have three teams that probably need the auto bid (Ohio State might get in if it makes it to Sunday) here to wreck shit.
By the end of the day you could have complete chaos, chalk, or something in between. Here is your schedule:
#1 Indiana (25-6, 15-3) vs. #8 Michigan (20-11, 10-8) Noon, ESPN
Purdue gets the winner of this one (assuming we beat Illinois), and we lost to both on the road. As much as I would like to face Indiana again, Michigan is a better matchup and that loss stings more after blowing it late. I expect Indiana to win though. The Hoosiers were a lot better during the season and completely smoked the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. They also are playing a virtual home game against a team that had to go overtime to beat Northwestern. It will be potential fatigue vs. fighting for your NCAA Tournament lives for Michigan.
#4 Purdue (24-7, 12-6) vs. #12 Illinois (15-18, 5-13) 25 minutes after, ESPN
Speaking of fatigue, Illinois is a jump shooting team that has hit 24 threes in two days, but has had to played 80 minutes of basketball while Purdue has been resting. Their Wednesday game against Minnesota was easy, but Thursday's win over Iowa was a fight. I am concerned because Purdue could not contain Nunn and Hill back in January. They played extremely well while Purdue was awful on both ends of the floor. Purdue needs to avoid another dreaded bad loss. I was hoping to play up for a 3 seed here in Indy, but that was partially contingent on beating a good Iowa team, not a sub-150 team in Illinois.
#2 Michigan State (26-5, 13-5) vs. #7 Ohio State (20-12, 11-7) winner 6:30pm, BTN
For the third time in five games we get an Ohio State-Michigan State game, and this will probably be the biggest blowout of the day. The Spartans had little trouble in both previous games. Ohio State didn't look that good in beating Penn State last night, either. Ohio State has a small chance of learning an at large bid, but it has to beat Michigan State to do have any chance and probably win on Saturday too.
#3 Maryland (24-7, 12-6) vs. #11 Nebraska (16-17, 6-12) winner 25 minutes after, BTN
This game should be interesting. Nebraska played really well last night and Maryland has been struggling mightily away from College Park. The Terrapins should win this for the same reasons that Purdue should beat Illinois: They are rested and Nebraska is not. The Cornhuskers did play them close in Lincoln, however, and I would call Maryland one of the most disappointing teams in America. They should have been much better this year than they actually are.
