Watching college basketball last night reminded me again just how wacky Big 10 basketball has been this season. I know the term "on any given night, any team can beat anyone" gets thrown around a lot in sports, but the Big 10 this season has truly lived up to that phrase. Last night in particular Penn State, who is tied for last place in the league with a 5-10 record, completed a season sweep of Ohio State. Also Indiana beat Iowa, which although it shouldn't be considered a huge upset, it was probably the most un-Big 10 basketball game I have seen in a while. When people think of Big 10 basketball they think of long possessions, i.e. Wisconsin, and tough physical play with games usually ending in the 50s. Last night's Indiana-Iowa game however blew that perception out of the water. I came home from my class last night, flipped on the game and saw it was 52-49 at the HALF, which absolutely stunned me, and the final score ended up being 93-86.
While everything in the Big 10 seems to have surprised me this year, it has finally come to the point where I will be surprised if I am not surprised. Basically whatever team you think will win the game, won't. Nebraska just won at Michigan State, Northwestern has won a game at Wisconsin, Ohio State had a stretch where they lost four games in a row in league play and Michigan, who lost stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr from last years Final Four runner up team along with center Mitch McGary due to injury for the season, is currently leading the Big 10. These are just a few examples of how nuts the Big 10 has been this year.
There appear to be currently seven Big 10 teams worthy of getting into the NCAA Tournament but I think only six will get in. Nebraska and Minnesota are my two fringe teams who have both played above expectations this season and I believe whichever squad does better in the Big 10 Tournament will be the team that earns their ticket to the dance. While the ACC and Big East Tournaments have always been the most talked about league tournaments in the past, if I am a fan of college basketball I would pay close attention to the Big 10 tournament this year just because anything can literally happen.
Enjoy the weekend of college basketball and be happy March is finally here come tomorrow.
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