Goodbye, Minnesota: Big Ten Bracketology at Week’s End

So...what’s changed in bracketology?

Not much, though the games of the midweek have provided us a little more insight at the three-quarters mark: Purdue’s hanging on, Indiana might have played their way back in, and Minnesota...oh, Minnesota.

NCAA Tournament Projections

B1G Talking Points

• Little to no movement for Maryland, who drop .01 in their Bracket Matrix average seed. Like, that’s it. Moving on.
• Ditto for Penn State, though Lunardi bumped them from a 3-seed for a 4-seed. Appears to be the strength of the teams around them, though (see: Villanova), not anything State did.
• Predictably, after I say mean things about Michigan State, they move up in Lunardi’s estimation onto a 5-line. Can’t figure out which I’d rather watch less, though—Sparty-Liberty, or Sparty-UVA.
• I believe it was RockyMtnBlue who said it’s no fair that Iowa has suddenly discovered a competent defense in crunch time, and I concur.
• Ohio State. That is the extent of my thoughts on them.
• Decent bump for Michigan after their win at the ARC—though I want to find that one bracket that still isn’t picking Michigan to go to the NCAA Tournament and take them out for a dinner or something. Doing the Lord’s work.
• Rutgers tumbles below Illinois after that loss. Will they sink farther? Palm’s been down on them lately—perhaps the luster is coming off the Knights at home as well as on the road.
• Yes, Indiana is ranked higher than Purdue in most polls—no, I won’t switch them, because rules are rules and it’s funnier this way.
• I like Minnesota to grab the coveted first-round home site in the CBI, and I’m tipping the Gophers to take down the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 2 games to 1, in the CBI finals. Go get ‘em, Gophers!

Let me know where you disagree in the comments. Here’s an open thread for the weekend’s basketball until we come up with some previews for tomorrrow.