Big Ten Tournament, Day 4: Here Come the Bigs
It's March, It's B1G, Welcome to Fraud Friday
Yesterday's Games
Ohio State 72, Iowa 69
MaximumSam: The Buckeyes made up for an earlier thumping to grab another good win. Have to think they are completely off the bubble even if they lose by a billion to Auburn North.
Kind of...: Not only is OSU off the bubble, I think there's virtually no chance they could land in Dayton either. That was a Quad 1 win that essentially moved them to 13-8 in conference play. Bracketmatrix has them as a 9 (Iowa too), which seems right.
As for Iowa, once more with feeling, this is a high floor, low ceiling team. The talent just isn't there other than Stirtz. The 9-seed will be two lines better than what McCollum got with Drake last year. Seems about right.
AlmaOtter: You're not going to believe this, but Ohio State had a lead late and nearly squandered it again!
Wisconsin 85, Washington 82
MaximumSam: Boyd and Blackwell combined for 57 and Wisconsin got it done despite a hard charge from the Huskies at the end. Washington is off trying to collect funds to keep Hannes Steinbach around.
Kind of...: Wisconsin is lacking depth with Nolan Winter out, so to stay fresh, the Badgers got their rest on the court over the last 6 minutes of game time. Huge day for Blackwell, who has been uneven this year, but deserves big time credit for letting Boyd run the show and not creating a team chemistry crisis. Dude has been a great Badger.
Purdue 81, Northwestern 68
PerpetuallyAggrievedWildcat: Purdue read the brief and got the memo – jump on the fatigued Wildcats early and never let them make a game of it. That's exactly what the Boilermakers did, moving the ball quickly out of Northwestern's trapping defense and getting easy looks – as well as making the tough ones in a 45-21 first frame.
From there, it was all academic. And that's likely it for the Northwestern Wildcats and Nick Martinelli. Thanks for everything, Meatballs. Sorry you weren't able to stop the Great Train Bandits.
MaximumSam: It's the End of Watch for Detective Martinelli. A round of Malort to everyone today.
Kind of...: I'm not giving up on the Detective being able to take one last case: the Case of the Missing CROWN!
Purdue did what they were supposed to. Given how things had been going, this qualifies as a return to form. This is a team whose NCAA chances are dependent on the draw. But they'll present as many problems to most teams who haven't already played them as they'll face.
HoustonBoiler: Purdue really showed some great ball movement early to get some great shots and basically runaway from Northwestern. Nice to see the focus and intensity.
BoilerUp89: Braden Smith racked up 16 assists to move into 2nd place on thr all time list. They took advantage of the size discrepancy early and came out focused on defense to open up a sizable lead by the half and then coasted from there. It would be nice to see the defensive intensity last an entire game but a double digit victory is nothing complain about.
UCLA 72, Rutgers 59
Kind of...: Nothing like settling the East Coast/West Coast rivalry in Chicago. Unfortunately, it was like the West Coast sent Dre and the East Coast sent U-God.
Previews
Ohio State v Michigan
Noon, BTN
MaximumSam: What's the worst that can happen, really? I took the day off work, so that's cool. Daytime basketball is fun, despite what happens to your team.
Kind of...: Injuries. Injuries are definitely the worst that can happen. You've waited this long, Bruce Thornton. Be safe out there today.
HoustonBoiler: Darty anyone?
Wisconsin v Illinois
2:30 pm, BTN
MaximumSam: If the nets aren't completely ashen by the end of this one, I'll be disappointed.
Kind of...: No idea what to expect from Team Variance today, but Illinois is big and Nolan Winter probably isn't playing. Illini are only 28% from 3 (37/131) over the last four games. If that continues, Wisconsin might have a chance. But not if the Tomici are grabbing every board in sight. Given the Illinois is #3 in the nation in offensive rebounds %, that's a distinct possibility.
Only six power conference teams took over 50% of the FG attempts from 3 point range. These are two of them. Buckle up.
AlmaOtter: Well, we technically could shoot worse from 3 than we did in our last game, but it's pretty dang hard to win going worse than 5/24. What's it going to be? NBA Jam ON FIRE!!, or CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK?
Purdue v Nebraska
6:30 pm, BTN
Kind of...: Winner probably locks up no worse than a 3-seed. Loser could fall to the 4 line. Both teams finished the regular season 6-4. Winner is feeling better; loser is waiting for the anvil to fall on their head. Should be a fun game if you don't have a rooting interest.
HoustonBoiler: The regular season game was a banger so we'll see if these teams can deliver another one. As usual, Purdue needs to rebound, limit their turnovers, contain the dribble, and make some shots. Nebraska is very well coached team and generally doesn't beat themselves.
BoilerUp89: In the regular season matchup, Purdue benefitted from a cold Sandfort performance and had a good sized lead before passing it away late. I'm not sure Sandfort will be that quiet again so the Boilermakers will need to be more composed and hit their free throws.
UCLA v Michigan State
9 pm, BTN
Kind of...: Bracketmatrix currently has the Spartans as the last 2-seed. But to keep that, especially after Iowa State dominated Texas Tech, MSU likely has to win today (and maybe tomorrow). Upset win today would probably get UCLA out of the 8/9 part of the bracket. Not ready to declare the Bruins "dangerous" or a "team you don't want to play," but the whole:sum of parts ratio seems to be moving in the right direction.
I'll watch, but if Coen Carr doesn't get a ridiculous dunk, AND there's no reaction shot of Mick, I'm going to be disappointed.
