Big Ten Tournament, Day 3: Bracket and Schedule

PREVIEWS. OPEN THREAD. ETC. GO:

Big Ten Tournament: Men’s Quarterfinals

[8] Maryland Terrapins vs. [1] #4 Michigan Wolverines

10:30am | BTN | Mich -8.5 | O/U 132

RockyMtnBlue: So this is a pleasant surprise. I expected to face the Michigan State Spartans Presented By Rocket Mortgage, lose (because the universe is mean), and also lose 3 players to injury. Now only two of those things can happen and they feel less likely. Eat it, MortgageSparty. Morty. No one misses you.

Tonight we’ll learn a couple things about Michigan.

Were Hunter Dickinson’s late season struggles more mental (prolly still going on), or fatigue? (yay 4 days off!)

Can Michigan play for shit without Eli Brooks?

• Teams Michigan lost to in 20 games with Brooks: Illinois.
• Teams Michigan lost to in 2 games without Brooks: Minnesota, Michigan State

Could be rough. But even if it goes badly it’s a LOT less painful to lose to Maryland than Michigan State.

DJ: This entire game can be summed up as can Maryland play an intense defense that denies the post while also rotating effectively out of the double? And if they can do that, who scores besides Wiggins and Ayala?

It’s really that simple: If they can’t figure out both, it’s going to be ugly.

[5] #9 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. [4] #20 Purdue Boilermakers

1pm | BTN | OSU -1 | O/U 139.5

BoilerBettor: If I hear one more sports analyst talk about it being so damn tough to beat a team three times in a season, I’m going to lose my fucking mind. Simply put, it’s not tough to do so. In the last 10 seasons, the win percentage of the sweeping team is 72%. I think this line is wrong, I think it’s a joke that Ohio State is ranked and projected ahead of Purdue in the tournament, and fuck Ohio State. Give me the Boilers and money line.

[7] Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. [2] #3 Illinois Fighting Illini

5:30pm | BTN | Ill -7.5 | O/U 136.5

RU in VA: I don’t really care if Rutgers wins. They might, they might not. I’m just excited to watch. We know the players, headlining centers, and scoring guards/forwards.

The real chess match is going to be Pike versus Underwood. I’m not a believer in Pike’s gameplanning so far, but his in game adjustments eventually get better. I forsee a quick double digit lead for the Illinois then a slow hammering down.

It seems like the refs are swallowing the whistles in the Tournament. This is a good sign... but Rutgers’ horses aren’t hitting their stride like the Illini are. Anywhere from a 20-5 point win by Illinois would be expected, but we’ll see if Rutgers can make it a game.

DJ: Illinois should roll here. Rutgers is doing well this year but they are not anywhere close to the same class as this Illinois team. Ayo will score big and hopefully also get rest for tomorrow unless they let Harper and Baker go off.

Thump: There was a possession late in PSU-UW where it was an inbound pass and before it happened davison kept leaning on a dude and then recoiling off him like he was trying to either practice or just draw fouls. What I’m saying is that I’m sorry Illinois will prevent that dream matchup of Davison vs Mulcahy.

I’m curious to see if rugster actually tries to defend the paint legally or if they fully commit to the bit and make Kofi shoot 30 free throws. The latter is probably the better tactic for actually winning the game.

Since shooting has been bad all tournament, it kind of feels like ideal conditions for rustger, which is not a great shooting team. Nevertheless, Illinois does all the non-shooting basketball things at a high level as well. They’ll serve up a lot more of Grandison and Curbelo than they did in the regular season game. Illini by 10 or so.

[6] Wisconsin Badgers vs. [3] #5 Iowa Hawkeyes

8pm | BTN | Iowa -4.5 | O/U 142.5

Stew: Talking heads say it’s hard to beat the same team 3 times in a season. Actual facts say that 73% of the time, the team that’s won the first 2 games also wins the 3rd. wisconsin torched the nets for a long stretch of last night’s game. If they can do that, they’ll probably have a decent shot of winning. However, it seems like Joe Weiskamp might actually be able to go today, and my guess is that the team that couldn’t shoot all year probably can’t sustain what they did last night. Say it with me, now: Fuck wisconsin.

Beez: There is not a chance Wisconsin wins the game, for exactly the reasons Stew stated. Iowa is an insane offensive team. Wisconsin, even when shooting the lights out, can barely squeak by a team like Penn State. Wisconsin JUST lost to Iowa in a game that, tbh, wasn’t as close as the final score indicates. Sure, there’s always the Fran factor, but Wisconsin’s senior-laden team has done absolutely nothing to show that veteran leadership can carry them to any kind of success. Iowa wins easily and I continue to yearn to turn the page to the up and coming, kinda exciting, young group of players.

Big Ten Tournament: Women’s Semifinals

[5] Northwestern Wildcats vs. [1] #7 Maryland Terrapins

1pm | FS2

MNW: Nothing to lose for the NU women now. With the apparently-impressive stat of holding the Terps to their lowest point total of their year in their back pockets, the ‘Cats and McKeown’s Blizzard will take on the class of the conference.

They’ll need the same great defensive showing AND a huge afternoon from Lindsey Pulliam shooting the ball. It’s just got to be better than the 8/21 output from the quarterfinal upset of Michigan...and I’m really hoping the ‘Cats just have that mojo and momentum necessary to play their way higher in the NCAA Tournament seedings.

[7] Michigan State Spartans Presented By Rocket Mortgage vs. [6] Iowa Hawkeyes

3pm | FS2

Stew: That was a helluva fun game last night with Gabbie Marshall going off for 27 points with 7 made 3s. If she or McKenna Warnock can be a viable 3rd option this team is going to be tough to beat.

Here’s your open thread for the day. Probbbbbably no schedule (maybe one late tonight), as these archives already know I’m clearly not working on Tip O’Neill’s papers, I’ve got to apply for a job by 3pm, and I’ve still got bracketology to do.

But open thread! Big Ten Tourney hoops start NOW! Here you go! Behave.