Big Ten Bracketology, NCAA Tournament Projections

Good morning. It’s time for your bracketology roundup.

You all can just go to hell.

Big Ten Bracketology

B1G Thoughts

• Jerry Palm kept Purdue at the overall 1-seed — popular responses, though, trending much more in the “here we go again” or “this is why Purdue won’t win the big game again”: we’ve been burned by this before. Which Purdue shows up in the NCAA Tournament, first-half Purdue or second-half Purdue? Feels like if you have to ask that question, you should stick to hotel rooms, rather than an apartment rental.
• Isn’t that right, Frank?
• Indiana up to what’s dangerously close to a deserved 4-seed, moving from “dangerous mid-major opponent” territory into “flawed mid-major champion” stomping grounds. After all, what kind of 4 would lose to a 13?
• Speaking of that sweet spot from some really wacky upset potential, I’m loving where Illinois is at right now—the North Carolina-West Virginia matchup would be delightful either way, but a matchup with Oral Bob’s House of Learning or Charleston, where everything’s just going to be a a frenetic pace? Hell. Yes.
• Iowa playing one of those teams from a really jam-packed Mountain West would be interesting just on the face of it, particularly because teams like San Diego State and Boise State play really hard-nosed, defensive basketball that will lead to Iowa fans crying for days about the way the game is officiated. I can’t wait to see Stew’s mental gymnastics already.
• Oh, and triple-bonus-through-the-roof points if it’s against Steve Alford and Nevada. The internet will glow with the nuclear-level rage and takes we’ll see. Cannot wait.
• Is Rutgers a 6-seed or a 9-seed? When you play a style of basketball that’s likely going to come down to who can accidentally reach 60 points, it frankly just doesn’t matter, there’s a 50-50 shot they lose.
• Some outlets are projecting Northwestern will make the NCAA Tournament.
• Same goes, I guess, for wisconsin? I’m not sure what changed that would vault them into the Dance—looking at you, Palm—after a week in which they beat stumbling Penn State by 5 and lost to Nebraska in overtime. But...uh...when we’re looking at a year in which it’s openly talked about that neither North Carolina nor Kentucky may make the Tournament, why not throw the badgers in for good measure?
• I finally saw a minute of Maryland basketball the other day when I watched them play Michigan State in the Breslin Center.

• Big old mazel tov to Michigan on their eventual NIT showing—and I guess they could full pull their fellow crab wisconsin down into the bucket tonight, too. Here’s hoping Penn State does enough to stay on the right side of the Invitational.
• There doesn’t feel like any great way to broach anything about Michigan State today. It feels woefully inadequate to offer more prayers to that campus community, struggling with yet another all-too-common and senseless act of violence, and yet that’s all I can do from this particular perch. May the families of those victims find peace in a world where lives were ripped from them suddenly and without a goddamn shred of reason.

It just. keeps. happening.