B1G Men’s Tournament Day 2

Yesterday was quite the day in B1G Tournament action!  All of the games were well fought battles by all involved, and it was sad to see a few teams’ seasons end.

To quickly recap the action:

Northwestern defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 75-65.  It’s probably not enough to finish off Minnesota’s season, as they’ll likely make the NIT, but it was a very disappointing end to an equally disappointing year.  Northwestern advanced to play the #1 seed Ohio State Buckeyes.

Michigan State miraculously came back from 7 down against the Iowa Hawkeyes.  The Spartans escaped with a 66-61 victory that should have been a whole lot closer in the end.  Give the Hawkeyes credit for fighting to the bitter end, but it simply wasn’t enough to get the job done.  You simply cannot let an Izzo coached team come back on you that way.  Michigan State now faces #2 seed Purdue.

Finally, Penn State managed to evade a surging Indiana in a functional home game for the Hoosiers.  The Nittany Lions pulled out the win 61-55, holding Indiana at arms length through most of the game.  This ends the Hoosier’s season with fewer Big Ten wins than last year with three.

For a look at today’s game,

Friday, March 11th

12:00 PM Eastern Time

#1 Ohio State Buckeyes (29-2, 16-2) – #8 Northwestern Wildcats (18-12, 8-11)

Jay already did a fantastic job breaking this game down, so I won’t spend long here.  While the Wildcats were easily the most difficult win the Buckeyes earned this season, they are going to have a much more difficult time in this one.  Now that the Bucks have some experience against the Wildcat’s unique offense and defense, and with Ohio State playing the way they have been the last couple games, it’s going to be a tough day for Northwestern.

Chance to win
Ohio State: 75%
Northwestern: 25%

2:30 PM Eastern Time

#4 Michigan Wolverines (19-12, 9-9) – #5 Illinois Fighting Illini (19-12, 9-9)

Both of these teams are fighting for their tournament lives in this one.  Michigan, currently, seems to be the better situated of the two teams going in, playing far hotter at the moment.  Illinois is in desperate need of a couple big tournament wins to guarantee themselves a seat at the NCAA table.

Right now, with Michigan’s youth, I have a hard time believing they’re going to handle the tournament pressure particularly well.  Especially considering McCamey and company desperately want to continue their seasons, Michigan is going to be in a tough position in this game.

Illinois will get the job done, barely.

Chance to win
Michigan: 45%
Illinois: 55%

6:30 PM Eastern Time

#2 Purdue Boilermakers (25-6, 14-4) – #7 Michigan State Spartans (18-13, 10-9)

Michigan State did the first half of what they desperately needed, though they didn’t do it quite as well as they probably needed.  If MSU can secure this game, they will guarantee themselves a spot in the tournament.  If they lose, there will be a lot of nailbiting going on in East Lansing on Sunday night.

Purdue, despite the loss to Iowa to close out the season, has been playing just as well as they possibly could.  It was only about a week and a half ago that they cleaned MSU’s clocks in East Lansing.  I don’t see a different result here.

Chance to win
Purdue: 70%
Michigan State: 30%

9:00 PM Eastern Time

#3 Wisconsin Badgers (23-7, 13-5) – #6 Penn State Nittany Lions (17-13, 10-9)

Penn State has done themselves a big favor with their win over Indiana.  If the Nits can put together a win against Wisconsin – which they did manage earlier in the season – they would put themselves in solid position in the NCAA Bubble talk.  However, they do have to beat Wisconsin for that to happen.

Wisconsin comes into the tournament off the worst loss in the Bo Ryan era, a 28 point shellacking to the Buckeyes.

Can you tell I’m still laughing about that?  Couldn’t have happened to a better bunch.

The Badgers want to try to redeem themselves in the tournament committee’s eyes and regain some momentum.  They shouldn’t have too much trouble with the Lions, but that doesn’t mean Talor Battle and company couldn’t make something surprising happen.

Chance to win
Wisconsin: 65%
Penn State: 35%

With the Buckeyes playing at noon, make certain to stop by for our LiveBlog at 11:30 AM Eastern Time!  You’ll be able to see the Buckeye game on ESPN.

Stop by again tomorrow morning for a rundown of today’s games and a preview of tomorrow’s action!