Big Ten Country

The Land of Missed Opportunity

Wisconsin and Michigan State each exited the tournament in the round of 16 on Friday night. Each team can look back on their defeat as a missed opportunity, both for different reasons.

If anyone had said prior to the season that Wisconsin would break the 30-win barrier, capture the Big Ten title, win the conference tournament and then survive the first weekend of the NCAA, they might have been fitted for a straitjacket. The Badgers were rebuilding after the loss of Alando Tucker, and an early blowout loss at Duke, followed by a home loss to archrival Marquette seemed to validate that belief. But UW turned it on and enjoyed an outstanding season. Had they lost to #2-seed Georgetown in a hard-fought game on Friday, there would have been no reason for regrets.

But even giving Davidson all the credit they deserve after their wins over the Hoyas & Badgers, followed up by a near-miss yesterday against Kansas, it's still a major disappointment when you play a 10th-seeded team from a non-BCS conference in a regional semifinal and don't cash it in. It's an opportunity that means the bracket is breaking your way. And Wisconsin not only missed the chance to do so, they didn't even show up. Davidson beat UW to loose balls and long rebounds from the outset, and even had Stephen Curry not shot the lights out with an unconscious performance from downtown, the Badgers did not look ready to step up and take this game. Michael Hunt of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that Davidson was simply better, but while such is gracious, it's not necessarily accurate.

When the dust settles on this season over the next couple weeks, Wisconsin's extraordinary achievments will be what ultimately shines forth. But at least for a little while, Badger fans can't be blamed if they suffer a little melancholy depression over the lost opportunity.

Michigan State had its doors blown off by Memphis. Getting beat up by a #1 seed that's lost only one game and who put another whipping on Texas yesterday, isn't cause for shame per se. What the Spartans have to be upset about is that no one around the country was particularly surprised that it happened. This was a year of great expectation in East Lansing, as they were the top-heavy favorite in the Big Ten and expected to compete for the national championship. And they didn't exactly collapse, winning big non-conference games and staying on the outskirts of the conference title race, including a huge thumping of Indiana when the Hoosiers were still a viable contender. But at every point when they could have fulfilled their legitimate expectations, they couldn't seal the deal. Bad losses at Iowa & Penn State cost them a conference title. They dropped a tough one to Wisconsin in the league tournament semis. And on Friday they completed the trifecta by missing a chance to oust a #1 seed and restore themselves to glory.

Drew Sharp of The Detroit Press says that by any reasonable measurement, Tom Izzo still has an elite program. And Sharp is right. MSU missed an opportunity for a big year this year, but it would be foolish to write them off for 2009, when the Final Four comes to The Motor City.

Regional Preview: Midwest & South

The Big Ten gets center stage--or at least close to center stage starting Friday night, when both Michigan State and Wisconsin look to move on to San Antonio. Wisconsin is at the Midwest regionals in Detroit's expansive Ford Field, while MSU is down in Houston where the South championship is being settled.

Wisconsin seems to have the sea opening up in front of them, as they get to play 10th-seeded Davidson in the 7EST time slot. When the Badgers made their 2005 run to a regional final they cashed in a similar break at this round of the tournament. Top-seeded Kansas awaits on the other side, but the Jayhawks have to deal with 12th-seeded Villanova first. The 'Cats are a team that's stronger then their seed, although I think UK should survive it. Kansas coach Bill Self has done an outstanding job here, and in his previous jobs at Illinois & Tulsa, but there is one common thread--he's lost regional finals at all three places and has yet to get to the Final Four. His team is not an overwhelming #1 seed to begin with, and if Bo Ryan's team turns a potential Sunday game into a bump-and-grind battle, it could add to the tension the Jayhawks may be feeling.

While the rest of us watch the games, the players still have to study. Mark Stewart of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel takes a look at how the kids are adapting to the twin pressures.

Michigan State is also looking to recapture the spirit of '05. That year saw the Spartans march all the way to the Final Four. They did it in the South bracket and they had to take out a #1 seed (Duke) in the Sweet 16, and a #2 seed (Kentucky) in the final to get there. A similar path awaits, as they face off with top-seeded Memphis in Friday's late time slot and a potential date with second-seeded Texas would lie ahead on Sunday. Don't sleep on Tom Izzo's team. Memphis is young and doesn't shoot its free throws well, and the Spartans have already beaten Texas this year. If MSU finds its December form, they will be returning to the Lone Star state next weekend. The Detroit Free Press has a brief transcript of radio comments from Izzo's on Friday's game.

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Congratluations to Ohio State! The Buckeyes beat Dayton last night and will advance to the semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden. Ohio State will play Ole Miss next Wednesday. And if they win? Then we can't seem to escape Ohio State-Florida championship showdowns. The Gators are in the other semi against UMass.

Regional Preview: East & West

Big Ten fans will wait until Friday for both Michigan State & Wisconsin to make their last push for the Final Four, but regional action will start tomorrow night in both the East and West brackets. Here's a brief look at the action in Charlotte & Phoenix. Regional finals are scheduled for Saturday in these regionals.

East
Two coaches with ties to the state of Wisconsin will be in Charlotte. Washington State coach Tony Bennett is the son of former Badger head man Dick Bennett. WSU plays the kind of defense their coach's father was renowned for, shutting down Notre Dame's heralded Luke Harangody in the second round. The Cougars will now play top-seeded North Carolina. With the Heels having rang up 100+ in both opening games, it will be a test like young Bennett hasn't seen before.

The other East semi will be will one of the best games of the entire Sweet 16. Tennessee-Louisville provides both a feisty geographic rivalry and a compelling basketball matchup. Volunteer coach Bruce Pearl made his reputation at UW-Milwaukee when he led the Panthers to a pair of NCAA wins back in 2005. Pearl also worked as an assistant at Iowa under Dr. Tom Davis.

I went with a chalk matchup in this regional, picking a Carolina-Tennessee final and the Heels cutting down the nets. No reason to change horses now.

West
Ticketholders in Phoenix are probably disappointed, as the dream of a Duke-UCLA battle on Saturday got upset when the Blue Devils were ousted. Fourth-seeded UConn also said goodbye, and this bracket now features #12 seed Villanova and #7 seed West Virginia. And the #3 team, Xavier, doesn't exactly scare anyone. If bracket breaks are the key to winning in March, as I believe they are, Ben Howland & UCLA have to be smelling the opportunity for an easy weekend ride.

This is a bracket that is sure to unlock emotions for hoops fans in my old hometown of Pittsburgh. Howland used to coach the Panthers. Xavier's Sean Miller played there. And Pitt's biggest rival is West Virginia. My own bracket here is pretty messed up, as I counted on the Dookies to coast through the first three games before falling to the Bruins. As it is, I will now take West Virginia to continue its upset run against Xavier before losing to Howland's team. UCLA makes the Final Four for the third straight year.

Wisconsin & Mich State Advance

Wisconsin & Michigan State will carry the banner of the Big Ten the rest of the way, as both schools put on impressive displays this past weekend to earn their way into the regional round. Michigan State took out both ends of the state of Pennsylvania. They got the tournament started with a 72-61 win over Philadelphia-based Temple. And they followed it up with another eleven-point win, this time over highly regarded Pittsburgh in the second round.

There was a different hero for Tom Izzo each night. Raymar Morgan led the way with 15 points in the opener, while Drew Neitzel opened up against Pitt and knocked down 21, including a 5-for-8 performance from treyland, an area the Spartans held a decisive edge. Kalin Lucas added 19 to key a backcourt-dominated win. But the MVP of the weekend may have been center Goran Suton. The big man quietly grabbed nine rebounds in each game and ensured that MSU had the rebounding edge both times. Suton was the constant, as the stars took turns in the spotlight.

Michigan State moves on to Houston, where the South regional championships get underway on Friday. They play top-seeded Memphis next. According to Shannon Shelton of The Detroit Free Press, Izzo is saying the Tigers remind him of Magic Johnson's Laker teams.

Wisconsin got a little scare from UC-Fullerton in the opening round, before asserting themselves in the final ten minutes and pulling away to a 71-56 win. Height was expected to be key in this game, and that proved to be the case. The UW frontline outrebounded their counterparts by a huge 30-13 margin, and blocked seven shots. The decisive edge up front was more then enough to overcome a noble effort by Fullerton's Josh Akognon, who poured in 31 points.

On Saturday, the Badgers ousted Kansas State and star freshman Michael Beasley. This time, Bo Ryan's team flipped gears and used the backcourt to win. In spite of the frontline being dominated in both points (43-13) and rebounds (21-9), the UW guards carried the day. Trevon Hughes scored 25 and Michael Flowers kicked in 15, and the Badgers had this game well in hand through most of the second half.

A sidenote on Wisconsin: Shortly before the tournament, this blog argued that the obsession over where one was seeded was an overrated issue, that in a tourney with no homecourt advantage and no re-seeding after rounds, it was impossible to tell where favorable bracket position would be. Perhaps the biggest seeding discussion surrounding Big Ten teams was whether Wisconsin could get a #2 spot. They did not, that honor going to Georgetown in the Midwest. What happened? The Hoyas were upset on Sunday, and UW now plays 10th-seeded Davidson in the coming regionals. And even had Georgetown won, the worse that would have happened is that the Badgers would have played using their road jerseys rather then their home ones. It's probably too much to think the media will notice this and stop the seeding obsession, but once again, this proved to be an irrelevant issue. Bill Glauber of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel takes a look at the unknown entity who stands in Wisconsin's way on Friday night.

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Ohio State kept moving forward in the NIT, ousting Cal and advancing to the quarterfinals on Wednesday night. The Buckeyes will meet Dayton in an in-state war to see who gets a ticket to Madison Square Garden next week. While it's not the stage Jamar Butler preferred to be in his final March, there are certainly worse ways for a college kid to leave the game then an all-expenses paid trip to New York. Bob Baptist of The Columbus Dispatch says the team is having fun.

Indiana & Purdue Exit

It was a reasonably successful first weekend for the Big Ten in NCAA play. Three of the four teams won their first-round games and Michigan State & Wisconsin are still preparing for next weekend. We'll have plenty of time the rest of the week to discuss the Spartans & Badgers, but first things first. A proper burial needs to be given to the seasons of Indiana & Purdue.

The Boilermakers turned in a solid tournament effort, outgunning Baylor in the first round 90-79, before dropping an 85-78 decision to Xavier on Saturday. Keaton Grant played well the entire weekend, knocking in a combined 36 points. Matt Painter also got good production out of his bench. Terrence Crump scored eleven in both games and JaJuan Johnson chipped in ten during the Baylor win. Overall, good three-point shooting triggered Thursday's win, while Saturday's defeat was driven by three Xavier players scoring 15-plus, and the Musketeers shooting 54 percent from the floor.

It was a season that ought to be looked on with great pride in West Lafayette, as a group that was too young and too inexperienced, contended for the Big Ten title to the very last weekend and then won an NCAA Tournament game for the second straight year. Painter is coach of the year in a league that had a number of deserving candidates for that honor. The future looks bright for this program and Jeff Washburn at Boiler Station writes that all they need is experience.

The obituary for  Purdue's downstate rival isn't going to be quite as upbeat. Indiana tanked in the first round against Arkansas, dropping an 86-72 decision. Kelvin Sampson may not have been good about monitoring his phone usage, but the man could coach defense. And when he left, the Hoosiers turned into a sieve. In the loss, Eric Gordon was a non-factor, scoring only eight points. The future of this program now stands in doubt. Gordon is likely leaving for the NBA, D.J. White will be gone, and the second coaching search in three years is about to get underway. Indiana continues to look for someone who can both win and do it cleanly. Of course one such candidate recently left his job at Texas Tech. But that's probably overestimating the capacity of the IU administration to admit a mistake, isn't it? Dan Dakich is making his pitch to return as head man.

Closing Remarks

March Madness starts in about six hours as this post goes online. All the brackets are broken down and everything's been talked to death. Here's closing remarks from the reporters who cover the four NCAA-bound teams:

Wisconsin opens with UC-Fullerton in the late time slot tonight. Mark Stewart of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that the Badgers hope to make use of their size advantage. A win means UW plays USC or Kansas State on Saturday.

Purdue plays high-scoring Baylor this afternoon. After playing all year in the grind-it-out Big Ten, Boiler Station's Jeff Washburn wonders how many points will be enough. The Boilermakers hope to advance and play either Xavier or Georgia on the weekend.

Michigan State's also in action today, against Temple. A 12:30 EST tip time is surprisingly early, given the game is in Denver. One wonders whom that will affect and how much. A win sends the Spartans on to a date with the Pitt-Oral Roberts winner. Michael Rosenberg of The Detroit Free Press says that after a tough year, Drew Neitzel is trying to prove that people's first impressions of him were the right ones.

Indiana is the one team that will wait until Friday to get started. A victory over Arkansas gives them a shot at North Carolina (the Tar Heels need only dispose of Mount St. Mary's). Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star analyzes that the team seems to have forgotten to get the ball to D.J. White.

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NIT play produced a split decision for the Big Ten. Minnesota's season ended with a tough home loss to Maryland. But a congratulations goes out to Tubby Smith and his players for their drastic improvement. Tubby looks to have the Gophers well on their way to being a perennial part of our March conversations.

Ohio State kept their season going with a thumping of UNC-Asheville. The Buckeyes will play Cal on Monday night, again in the friendly confines of Value City Arena. And that wasn't even the best news OSU had this week--on the gridiron, star prep quarterback Terrelle Pryor has committed to the program. The nationally recruited quarterback was also being sought by Rich Rodriguez, for whom he would have been an ideal fit, and by Penn State, for whom he could have given some badly needed juice. So for Jim Tressel, not only did he get a great player, but he denied two key rivals a chance to improve. For not being in the NCAAs, it wasn't a bad week to be a Buckeye fan.

Everybody have a good weekend and a happy Easter! We'll be back Monday to shake out the weekend's events.

Bracket Breakdown

Here's a brief breakdown of the NCAA Tournament bracket, including Big Ten Country's predictions for who will survive into the regionals and ultimately make it to San Antonio.

East
--Notre Dame has gotten attention as a darkhorse threat, but I think the ND's chances are overrated. They play no defense. I see no way they survive a regional semi date with North Carolina, and I'm not going to even bet on them to get there. On the opposite side of the bracket, Boise State gets a chance to prove its upset abilities don't stop at football. BSU plays Louisville on Friday. And if they spring the shocker? Then the next opponent up is probably #6 seed Oklahoma, as the 2006 Fiesta Bowl rematches on the hardwood. North Carolina and Tennessee are the region's favorites. I thought the Vols got a harsh draw, not only being dropped to a #2 seed, but being placed in UNC's bracket. If these two teams survive it will be a titanic regional final clash in Charlotte next week.

Weekend survivors: North Carolina, Washington State, Louisville, Tennessee
Final Four pick: North Carolina

Midwest
Top-seeded Kansas does not have an easy draw, with UNLV lying in wait in round two. The 4-5 quadrant is a very interesting one. Vanderbilt and Clemson are exceptionally strong for those seeds, and Villanova is a very tough sleeper at #12. Any of the three could survive to Detroit and the regionals. On the far side, Wisconsin will have to make it by an outstanding freshman in round two (Either O.J. Mayo of USC or Michael Beasley of Kansas State). But if your pool rewards you for picking lower seeds, the Badgers are a solid investment at a #3. If a team at that level can go all the way, they are worth taking a flyer on. And Georgetown is a vulnerable #2.

Weekend survivors: UNLV, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Georgetown
Final Four pick: Wisconsin

South
Remember when Illinois made the 2005 Final Four without ever having to get on a plane? The Illini went from Indy to Chicago to St. Louis. Texas has a similar airline-free docket in this bracket. The second-seeded Longhorns go from Little Rock to the regionals in Houston to the Final Four in San Antonio. At least they hope anyway. They likely face Miami in the second round, and the Hurricanes are the kind of up-and-down team that can either bait you into picking an upset and then tanking, or showing up to play and knocking out your national champ selection early. The 3-6 quadrant is very interesting, with a good Marquette-Kentucky game on Thursday and the winner moving on to face Stanford. The Pac-10 is one of the nation's best conferences and it will be interesting to see how much damage they can do. Oregon is another team that will get a chance. At #9, they are hoping for the chance to knock off Memphis. And as I mentioned in yesterday's post, Michigan State's #5 spot in this region is a good one, at least for the first weekend in Denver.

Weekend survivors: Memphis, Michigan State, Stanford, Texas
Final Four pick: Texas

West
The top seeds have fairly painless rides to the regional final. UCLA & Duke should be on a collision course to meet in Phoenix for a Final Four trip. In between, Purdue plays in the most fluid quadrant of them all. With SEC upstart Georgia slotted at #14, Xavier got no favors in being a #3 seed. That game will be the first of the tournament on Thursday afternoon in D.C., and the Boilermakers follow it up with a game against Baylor. Any of these four could be in the regionals. None however, have a realistic chance of stopping Duke when they get there. And UConn is the best bet to stop UCLA early, as the fourth-seeded Huskies have a mangeable weekend ahead that includes San Diego and then either Drake or Western Kentucky.

Weekend survivors: UCLA, UConn, Purdue, Duke
Final Four pick: UCLA

That brings us to San Antonio with a projected Final Four of North Carolina-Wisconsin on one side, and Texas-UCLA on the other. I'll be getting married that Saturday and will be otherwise preoccupied. During the nuptial festivities, I'll call North Carolina and Texas advancing to Monday night, with the Tar Heels cutting down the next. Roy Williams brings home his second title as UNC coach. This won't be the only place you'll hear that call, but in looking at Carolina, there seems little point in avoiding the favorite when they are this strong.

Four On The Floor

With only four teams making the Big Dance, the Big Ten will have to rely on quality rather then quantity if it wants to start getting some positive attention on the national stage. A sure sign that Ohio State was in trouble came early on Sunday's selection show. Indiana came up a #8 seed in the first sequence of brackets shown. I was stunned at how low the Hoosiers were seeded, and this seemed quite excessive for some mild struggles down the stretch. Some of this likely had to do with fallout from the Kelvin Sampson fiasco, but more ominously it was a sign that the Big Ten was not going to get respect and the Buckeyes didn't have any cushion to give. Phillip Wilson of The Indianapolis Star notes that Big Ten bashing is in vogue, regardless of the sport.

Indiana's draw pairs them up with Arkansas. It's an ironic matchup for this writer--In 1989 I was accepted to go to school at Arkansas, but was waiting on IU before making a final decision. As late as July, I thought I'd be Little Rock bound, where I'd have no doubt become a Clinton supporter and an apologist for Jerry Jones after he bought the Cowboys a year later. The Indiana admissions department saved me from such a fate. If the Hoosiers win this game, they draw North Carolina. This would be another ironic matchup, although for reasons actually known to people besides myself. IU stunned Carolina in a regional semi back in 1984. The hero of the game? Dan Dakich, who held Michael Jordan to 13 points. We can be sure to see the highlight clips of that '84 game in Atlanta if the Hoosiers & Heels play this weekend.

Wisconsin has a chance to make up for last year's disappointing second-round exit. In '07, the Badgers had a reasonable excuse--Brian Butch was out and UNLV was a very tough opponent. This time around, UW is healthy and on a roll going in. They'll still have a tough second-round fight, and will get one of two superfrosh---either O.J. Mayo at USC or Michael Beasley from Kansas State. The Badgers need better production from Trevon Hughes. Although Mark Stewart of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the point guard has been successful in cutting down his turnovers.

Michigan State is in the South bracket and matches up with Temple in the opening round, a rematch of  a regional final from 2001. Presuming the Spartans take care of this one, they would likely play Pitt in round two. This is a good draw for Tom Izzo's club. While Pitt is hot from winning the Big East tournament, playing four games in four days in a tough tournament like that is bound to drain you, and it's hard to see the Panthers having enough gas in the tank to survive this coming weekend. Shannon Shelton of The Detroit Free Press says MSU is ready to put the torments of Big Ten play behind them.

And Purdue ended up a #6 seed in the West. They'll have a lot of travel on their hands if they keep winning. The Boilers opening round "pod" is scheduled for Washington D.C., and if they win this weekend, they'd then go to Phoenix for the regionals. Baylor and then probably Xavier await them. Jeff Washburn at Boiler Station has a look.

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Two Big Ten teams open NIT action tonight. Ohio State hosts UNC-Asheville and Minnesota hosts Maryland. The NIT is seeded into four eight-team quads. The Buckeyes got a #1 seed, so they will have three home games on the way to Madison Square Garden. Intriguing matchups ahead include a possible second-round game with Steve Alford's New Mexico. And in the quarters, there is either a state showdown with Dayton or a battle with Illinois State, two teams that have the strongest argument for being in the NCAA.

The Gophs are a #4 seed, and surviving the Terps means a probable trip to the Carrier Dome to play Syracuse.

There is also a new tournament created, called the College Basketball Invitational. It's 16 teams and its unique twist is that the final round is best-of-three. It's mostly mid-majors with a few names like Virginia, Cincinnati and Washington mixed in. No Big Ten teams are playing in this event.

Make It A Double

For the second straight year the regular season champion solidified its standing at the conference tournament. Wisconsin got a relatively easy ride to the Big Ten tourney title, with Michigan State being the only winning team they had to play over the course of three days. As is usually the case, defense was the story of the day for Bo Ryan's team, as they held Michigan to 34 points on Friday, and then did not allow Illinois to reach the 50 barrier in yesterday's finale.

The Badgers now enter the NCAA Tournament as a hot team with ten wins in a row. They came up a #3 seed in the Midwest and are a good darkhorse bet to win it all. The three-seed is historically low for a team that wins both the Big Ten regular season and tourney crowns, although in reviewing the #2 seeds I'm not sure who you can argue UW should be seeded above. No matter, writes Mark Stewart of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Badgers are content.

The two teams fighting for postseason spots came up short. Ohio State's loss to Michigan State in Friday's quarterfinals knocked them out of the NCAA. It's a disappointing finish for the Buckeyes, as things had really been looking right for them after their closing rush in the last week. But both the 19-13 record and the RPI rating below 50th are the stuff bubbles are made of. While you can generally argue the case for the Big Ten getting a fifth team, the reality is that the ACC also got only four bids, and that's with a much higher conference RPI rating and a decisive victory in the Big Ten-ACC challenge back in November. Bob Hunter of The Columbus Dispatch says that it's hard to blame the selection committee. Penn State also came up short in its NIT quest, losing a 64-63 heartbreaker to Illinois on Thursday and finishing one game under .500.

Illinois really has to be asking themselves "what if?". What if Shawn Pruitt had played as consistently all year as he did these past four days in Indianapolis. The Illini post man scored 53 points and grabbed 36 rebounds in the tournament, all relatively evenly spaced out. I felt he deserved to be named Most Outstanding Player (the honor instead went to Wisconsin's Marcus Landry, primarily on the strength of his showing in the semis). Had Illinois gotten that type of consistency all year, they would almost surely still be playing basketball right now. As it was, the tournament run was a nice end to a rough season.

Also worthy of mention is the performance of Drew Neitzel. The Spartan guard also had an up-and-down regular season (though all struggles are relative, and he was still second-team All-Conference). But he scored 54 points in his team's two games. Michigan State has a nice draw in the NCAA Tournament and if Neitzel keeps playing that way, he's going to have the chance to play a lot more basketball this month.

We'll be back the rest of the week to break down the brackets in both the NCAA & NIT. In the meantime, congratulations to Bo Ryan's Badgers and good luck to all six conference teams heading to postseason play!

What's At Stake: MSU Has The Most

It's five hours and counting, as we get set to tip off the Big Ten tournament. In recent posts, I've talked about what's not at stake, as well as broken down the bubble ad nauseum (although one correction must be made--in the post below I neglected to include Steve Alford's New Mexico Lobos in the list of contenders. They are not only a contender, they're a good bet to get in). But now all that's done, and it's time to just look at who, besides Ohio State, needs the wins the most this weekend.

Penn State is at .500 and playing for an NIT bid the next couple days. They face Illinois this afternoon and a win would pair them up with Purdue tomorrow night. Technically, there is no selection criteria for the NIT, and sub-.500 teams can make it. Practically though, the Lions need to win today to have a realistic chance and to win Friday to eliminate any doubt. Jeff Rice at The Centre Daily Times writes that first-year players are propelling the Nittany Lions in the absence of Geary Claxton.

Presuming that one of the four NCAA locks--Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State--are most likely to be cutting down the nets late Sunday afternoon, which one needs it the most? I think you have to look at both the Hoosiers and Spartans. Wisconsin has already won the prime honor there is to win outside of going to the Final Four, when it clinched the regular season title. Purdue's season is unreal enough to stand on its own, even if they don't get a trophy in the deal. But both IU & Michigan State had expectations coming in, and the expectations were reasonable. In my view, winning the conference tourney doesn't negate the regular season crown, much less trump it, but it does constitute something. It's still a reason to hang a banner.

And narrowing it down further, I think you have to put the onus more on Michigan State. The Spartans had all five starters returning and were a consensus favorite, whereas IU was generally seen as second-place material to begin with, and that was before Kelvin Sampson imploded in the middle of the stretch drive. MSU played well in December and looked every bit the part of heavy favorite. But the consistency just hasn't been there since league play started, with road losses at Iowa & Penn State most notable. These coming days are a chance for them to get a little bit of swagger back. My personal prediction is that they will do just that.

Regarding expectations and the Spartans, Michael Rosenberg of The Detroit Free Press has a refreshing column asking fans to step back, look at the big picture and see how good this program really is. I concur completely, and any shortcomings MSU has had this season need to be kept in perspective. Tom Izzo's program is the most consistent and stable in the conference. Individual seasons may come and go as a little bit of downers, but the mere fact that we are talking about a 24-7 team with the scalp of potential #1 seed Texas on its mantle as a disappointment is strong testament to the work Izzo does every year.

As for Indiana, the internal problems won't go away. Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star reports that its uncertain if Jamarcus Ellis will play.

Everybody have a good weekend! We'll be back Monday to rehash the tournament and by then we'll have brackets to start breaking down.