Tournament tickets could be punched with key wins

By John Williams

At this time of year, all major sports seem to be at a lull.

The NFL is in its off-season, the NBA is three-quarters of the way through the regular season and spring training is underway for professional baseball.

What makes the sports calendar in March much more bearable and interesting, in my mind, is the Big Ten tournament, Selection Sunday and the looming NCAA tournament.

With key losses by bubble teams Nebraska and Baylor, spaces have opened up for Big Ten teams currently on-the-fence.

What should help these bubble teams in the Big Ten is their “Strength of Schedule” ranking. Penn State is at 6, Michigan State is at 8, Illinois is at 16 and Michigan comes in at 20. What doesn’t make it much easier for the committee is their mutual 9-9 conference record.

Michigan’s best wins on the season are against conference foe Michigan State – who they beat twice – and a home game early in the season against Ivy-League contender, Harvard. Are they worthy of a tournament bid? With that being said, Michigan will play Friday versus Illinois. The difference will be whether Michigan’s superior guard play will neutralize one of the Big Ten’s leading scorers, Demetri McCamey.

Michigan State is in dire straits. Iowa is coming off a huge win versus Purdue and has a legitimate chance to upset the Spartans. If the Spartans lose, their hopes of earning an at-large bid are slim-to-none.

Penn State is taking on high water right now. They must beat Indiana, Wisconsin and possibly Purdue to punch their ticket to the tournament. Wisconsin is a winnable game. The Nittany Lions outplayed the Badgers on Jan. 29 at the Bryce Jordan Center and received much buzz from ESPN insiders and bracketologists concerning possible NCAA tournament consideration.

Originally published on Thursday, March 10 at 12:20 p.m.