Big Ten Basketball, February 28: Slouching Towards March

Yesterday

Michigan Wolverines 84, Illinois Fighting Illini 70

MaximumSam: Well this didn't deliver on the Big Friday at at all. The Wolverines mostly stuffed Illinois into a trash can and rolled them down a hill. The Big Ten race is done, Michigan has won, life is pain.

Kind of...: Michigan didn't have any huge statistical advantages to suggest a rout. Except that they made 62% from two-point range and Illinois made 50%. One team was just older/more mature/more physically developed/however you want to say it.

AlmaOtter: The Streak had to end at some point, I suppose. Damn.

Today

#22 Iowa Hawkeyes (20-8, 10-7) at #132 Penn State Nittany Lions (11-17, 2-15)

Noon, BTN

MaximumSam: Bracketology has Iowa on the 8 line, The Nits are, well, not on any brackets. I would guess Mike Rhoades feels safe, as why else would you play thirty freshmen? But man, they had better show something next year.

Kind of...: Iowa isn't a lock, but they are pretty safe. A loss might change that. But it would get them off the 8 line.

#90 Oregon Ducks (11-17, 4-13) at #62 Northwestern Wildcats (12-16, 4-13)

2 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: Big day for the Tuesday Shame Game. The winner at least temporarily escapes the Bottom Four.

Kind of...: As of right now, Oregon would indeed win the four-way tiebreaker at 4-13. Which means Northwestern is winning today, right? (And if Rutgers wins today, they'll at 14 no matter who wins this game because of H2H over both of these teams.)

#39 UCLA Bruins (19-9, 11-6) at #49 Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-15, 6-11)

2 pm, FS1

MaximumSam: Interesting game. The Bruins sit on the 9 line on Bracketology, but after this they host Nebraska and go to USC. Not an ideal time to have a three game losing streak.

Kind of...: I imagine Minnesota being 49 in Torvik and 70 in KenPom is one of the bigger discrepancies you're going to find, in the top 100 at least. FWIW, NET has Minnesota at 72. But that's not really that big of a different. Torvik predicts the Gophers to win by a point; KenPom predicts the Bruins to win by a point. Much more consequential game for the Bruins, obviously.

TRIVIA FACTOID: There are only two teams to have played UCLA more than once in the NCAA tournament and not lose: Florida (4-0), and Minnesota (2-0). Minnesota advanced to their lone Final Four in 1997 with an Elite Eight win over the Bruins in a flawed, but very compelling game. Then, in 2013, 11-seed (but 22 in KenPom) routed 6-seed (but 44 in KenPom) UCLA 83-63, as UCLA shot 32% from the floor. That was the last game of the Ben Howland era at UCLA.

Do note that '13 Minnesota wen 8-10 in B1G play. The conference was stacked that year. The Gophers clearly deserved a bid, and the "if you can't go .500 in your conference" is a totally arbitrary measure in an era of unbalanced conference schedules and not all major conferences being of equal strength in a given year.

#16 Nebraska Cornhuskers (24-4, 13-4) at #58 USC Trojans (18-10, 7-10)

4 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: USC is in the First Four Out on Bracketology. After this they go to Washington and host UCLA. They are going to need a win, and probably more than one.

Kind of...: Gotta think they need to go 2-1 to be on the right side of the bubble entering the BTT. This would be a big win, though. Right now, Nebraska is the 2-seed in the BTT, but could drop to the 5 with a loss (and a win by Purdue and Sparty). Maybe I'm traumatized, but you do NOT want to play 4 games in 4 days, so I am keeping track of who missed out on that triple bye.

#27 Wisconsin Badgers (19-9, 11-6) at #45 Washington Huskies (14-14, 6-11)

4 pm, FS1

Kind of...: Wisconsin was the last 6-seed in bracketology before the lost to Oregon. Still are listed as such, but that's probably because most of the brackets haven't updated since that game. I look and see Miami (OH) as an 11-seed, and I really want that matchup for the Badgers. And then I realize that I think Akron is winning the MAC and suddenly, I'm "oh, shit." So, maybe falling to a 7 isn't the worst thing. Still, would be nice to be staring at a losing streak to start March...

Kind of...: So...five B1G games today and the ALL start between noon and 4:00? WTF???