Big Ten Basketball - February 25: BTN Triple Header!
Who, who, who is getting an at-large bid?
Last Night's Games
Washington Huskies 79, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 72
Kind of...: Washington dropped a spot in KenPom with this win. Rutgers hasn't beaten a non-bottom four B1G team all year. What more is there to say.
Northwestern Wildcats 72, Indiana Hoosiers 68
BoilerUp89: Oh boy! Northwestern trailed by as many as 13 but came storming back behind a long field goal drought late in the 2nd half for the Hoosiers. The Detective scored 28 points and Northwestern has their first six-game winning streak against Indiana in men's basketball. Here's to many more!
For the Hoosiers, this is a bad loss they really couldn't afford. The best thing about their resume was the lack of bad losses. They will need to make up for this loss with a victory over Michigan State on Sunday. Oh and congrats to OSU on their new Q1 win.
Kind of...: Rumor has it that Hoosier fans feel like the refs unjustly affected the outcome at the end. Brother, I've been there. So, tell me: would you rather have lost to Wisconsin at home and beaten Northwestern last night?
HoustonBoiler: I did get a laugh from the delay between contact and Connor Enright's neck snapping back in the tweet link Kind Of... shared. Sure looks like a block and flop on the part of Enright to my very untrained eye.
PerpetuallyAggrievedWildcat: Some sharp fellow over on an imperial website mentioned that this was a team Northwestern matched up better with, because the Hoosiers have no inside presence. The Hoosiers' letting The Detective just kind of go to work in the paint was...baffling.
Jake West is exciting, Meatballs remains a fun story, and I hope Indiana thrives in The Crown. Wonder which of the Hoosiers, Trojans, and Buckeyes the conference is going to have to hold at gunpoint until they agree to play.
Michigan Wolverines 77, Minnesota Golden Gophers 67
BoilerUp89: Michigan clinches a share of the Big Ten regular season. Congrats. Happy for you. Nice.
Minnesota's zone showed some things that smart coaches should apply when they play Michigan.
Kind of...: Yeah, as somebody who took Duke in our "writer's draft" I volunteered to take the 4 and 5 picks because I didn't want to feel obligated to take Michigan. They're dominant, but have visible weaknesses. Still, they are dominant. No idea how BoilerUp89 would handicap a matchup between them and '24 Purdue. I think I'd take '19 MSU over this year's Michigan, but this years Wolverines are one of the 3-5 best B1G teams of the last 10 years, I think.
BoilerUp89: Mara (like Kalkbrenner and Clingan) is probably big and strong enough to guard Edey 1 on 1 so that slows down Purdue's offense. On the other hand Michigan wouldn't score as much in the paint as they usually do because of Edey's rim protection. It would be an interesting game and largely come down to guard play which wasn't either teams focus...
UCLA Bruins 81, USC Trojans 62
MaximumSam: Donovan Dent has been a bit up and down for UCLA and hasn't been as impactful as expected. Last night was more like it: he dropped 30 to go along with 7 assists as the Mighty Cronins took out the Less than Mighty Musselmans.
Kind of...: Definitely a recipe for things to go sideways for UCLA last night, but the Bruins handled business. Might be able to play their way into an 8 or 9 seed. Would they want that?
Tonight's Games
#124 Maryland Terrapins (11-16, 4-12) at #11 Nebraska Cornhuskers (23-4, 12-4)
7 ET, BTN
Kind of...: Yawn. Handle your affairs, Huskers. That 2-seed it still within reach. (Both for the BTT and the NCAAs.)
#35 The Ohio State Buckeyes (17-10, 9-7) at #23 Iowa Hawkeyes (19-8, 9-7)
9 ET, BTN
BoilerUp89: The Buckeyes have not lost back to back games all season. They lack Quad 1 victories but this would qualify.
MaximumSam: The good thing about the late tip is that I'll probably fall asleep before the Buckeyes inevitably fade with eight minutes to go in the second half.
Kind of...: Huge game. Iowa has been leaking oil, but their only home losses have been to Purdue and Illinois (Michigan is coming up). Ohio State at 19-12/11-9 is a heck of an argument. Power conference teams with above .500 records don't typically get left out, but the Buckeyes won't be resting easy if that's where they're at heading into the BTT.
#24 Wisconsin Badgers (19-8, 11-5) at #94 Oregon Ducks (10-17, 3-13)
11 ET, BTN
MaximumSam: Midnight Badger Madness.
Kind of...: Wisconsin's bigs have been up-and-down, so I can see Nate Bittle going off. And it's a road game a ways away. But, honestly, Wisconsin should win this one. But they're certainly capable of losing it, too.
Non-B1G Games of Interest
#62 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (14-13, 5-9) at #136 Boston College Eagles (9-18, 2-12), 6 ET, ACCN
#19 St. John's Red Storm (22-5, 15-1) at #9 UConn Huskies (23-3, 15-2), 7 ET, NBCSN
#253 Wofford Terriers (18-11, 10-6) at #154 East Tennessee State Buccaneers (21-8, 13-3), 7 ET, ESPN+
#270 East Carolina Pirates (9-18, 4-10) at #343 UTSA Roadrunners (5-22, 1-14), 8 ET, ESPN+
#114 Pittsburgh Panthers (10-17, 3-11) at #75 Stanford Cardinal (16-11, 5-9), 8 ET, ACCN
#156 Central Arkansas Bears (18-11, 13-3) at #138 Austin Peay Governors (21-6, 15-1), 8:30 ET, ESPN+
#28 Santa Clara Broncos (23-6, 14-2) at #29 Saint Mary's Gaels (25-4, 14-2), 11 ET, CBSSN
#22 Utah State Aggies (23-4, 13-3) at #44 San Diego State Aztecs (18-8, 12-4), 11 ET, FS1
BoilerUp89: Some regular season titles will get decided tonight. St. John's and UConn battle for the Big East. East Tennessee State has already won the SoCon regular season title, but Wofford is the second place team in that conference so this may be a preview of that championship game. Austin Peay tries to clinch an outright title. Utah State and San Diego State will go at each other from the Mountain West with the Aztecs needing a big win for their resume.
In the WCC, we watch Santa Clara and Saint Mary's both try to improve their resume and show they belong in the NCAA Tournament.
I've also included a couple of games involving the ACC battle for 15th and what could be East Carolina's last stand for those tracking the countdown on their own.
Kind of...: Really a good night of hoops. Big East battle will feel gross, but it should be a great game. Some very good 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00 games. At 11:00 I'll be fighting fatigue trying to get through Wisconsin/Oregon, while probably mutiviewing Santa Clara/Saint Mary's and Utah State/SDSU. Those are two huge game! Look, it's basically March. Let's get it going!
HoustonBoiler: Agreed on there being some really great games tonight. The best might be after dark - Santa Clara at Saint Mary's - though I will asleep by then.
PAW: There is literally no difference between Illinois State and Northern Iowa: 18-11, 10-8 MVC, sucks in both towns, the whole nine.
Some Horizon intrigue, as the Mastodons take one last crack at reeling in the Wright State Raiders (6pm, ESPN+) on behalf of a glut of 11-7 teams, including Detroit Mercy-Bobby Morris, who play each other tonight (6pm, ESPN+).
But ECU-UTSA...man. That's some assy stuff. I can't wait.
