Well look at that—actions have consequences.

Fresh off a weekend slate of games that featured some intrigue, some drama, and some derping around—hi, Iowa and Northwestern!—let’s see how the Big Ten bracketology shakes out:

B1G Thoughts

• Dobbertean’s bracket was baffling this week—both Purdue and Michigan State fell a line after picking up wins over the weekend. Perhaps that’s just reacting to their NET ranking nudging slightly downwards...but I don’t buy it.
• Of course, that’s apparently to the benefit of wisconsin, who’s climbing as high as a 1-seed in Jerry Palm’s updated rankings. That’s right: he looked at the badgers scraping by Minnesota and thought “Yeah, that’s what a 1-seed looks like.”
• Illinois and Ohio State feel like 5-seeds I don’t want to see in my section of the bracket. Also, how is Stanford in the NCAA Tournament?
• How Joe Lunardi had time to watch Iowa lose at Penn State and decide “Yeah, that looks like a 7-seed” is beyond me.
• Look at Indiana, climbing all the way up to a 7-seed. (I would peg them for a team that’s going to yo-yo from 7 to 10 and back again.)
• Michigan is the highest-ranked Kenpom exclusion—that’s good for a 1-seed in the NIT, right?! hAiL!
• Soon Rutgers will need to start getting serious looks from the NIT if they can scrape a winning record in the Big Ten. That schedule gets tougher, but 6-4 is 6-4...
• Here’s what the NET Ranking Quadrants for the Big Ten look like now:

Big Ten Men’s Basketball Midweek Schedule

Tuesday, February 1

#13 Michigan State at Maryland

6pm | ESPN2 | MSU -3.5 | O/U 136

Sparty giving just 3.5 feels low for this one, but this is the kind of opponent the Terps could get up for. We’ll see how turnover-prone these two can be.

Rutgers at Northwestern

6pm | BTN | NU -5 | O/U 133.5

Rutgers is playing for the NIT, Northwestern is playing for pride and, hopefully, Chris Collins’ job. Will it be ugly? YOU BET YOUR ASS. Can’t wait to get airport drunk and watch this shitshow.

Nebraska at Michigan

8pm | BTN | Mich -14.5 | O/U 142

Poor Nebraska :(

Other Games of Note

Davidson Wildcats at St. Bonaventure Bonnies

6pm | CBSSN | SBU -3 | O/U 136

Bonnies have some work to do to get onto the bubble—a home win against the NET ranked #50 team would do them some favors.

#23 Texas Longhorns at #14 Texas Tech Red Raiders

8pm | ESPN2 | TTU -4.5 | O/U 123

Chris Beard comes home to Lubbock and the reception—well, you’re watching for that, because the basketball will be ugly as sin.

Nevada Wolf Pack at UNLV Runnin’ Rebels

9:30pm | FS1 | UNLV -1.4 | O/U 147

Late, dumb, fun, rivalry. Good enough for me.

Wednesday, February 2

#4 Purdue at Minnesota

6pm | BTN | Purdue -10.5 | O/U 140.5

Minnesota boasts some of the worst rebounding rates in the country. Little-used Treyton Thompson is the only Gopher over 6’9”.

I dunno, feels relevant against Purdue.

BoilerUp89: Purdue wisely avoided being ranked #3 for this game. Just stay healthy.

#11 Wisconsin at #18 Illinois

8pm | BTN | Illinois -7 | O/U 136.5

Game of the Week by default, really, I’m curious to see how well the Illini can put the clamps on Johnny Davis. This will be an interesting look, too, at the badger frontcourt—can they contend with the athleticism and size of Kofi Cockburn or, perhaps, stretch him beyond the paint on defense?

Thursday, February 3

Iowa at #16 Ohio State

7pm | FS1 | Line, Total TBD

I feel like I know less and less about Ohio State as the season goes on.

I know more and more about Iowa, though, and not much of it is good.

MaximumSam: The 10th and 11th ranked offenses on Torvik against the 109th and 113th ranked defenses? Set the nets on fire.

---

Here’s your open thread for the week’s basketball and for Big Ten bracketology-related chatter. Schedule of the games below. Go nuts.