Updated Big Ten Bracketology: Does ANYONE make the Sweet Sixteen?

My dad greeted me today with “What the hell is going on with those ‘Cats?!” which would have been slightly less funny but also slightly more appropriate had the priest not been right behind him, ready to say grace for the meal following a family member’s funeral.

So that was enjoyable.

You don’t rely on this article for your bracketology news, obviously, but sorry for this coming a little late on Tuesday. February has been a living hell around the MNW household, so it’s nice to have this little speck of regularity in my life.

B1G Bracketology

B1G Talking Points

• Purdue’s number has finally slipped in Bracket Matrix from a rock-ribbed 1.00 to a slightly-concerning 1.01. PEOPLE JUMPIN’ OFF THE BOILER BANDWAGON!!!
• I’d be curious to get Indiana fans’ takes: which of Liberty, Yale, or Kent State would you least want to face, and why? I’d personally say the Fuckin’ Falwells, as the name of that game is really “prevent Darius McGhee from going off,” but TJD might find a little more success against a Yale frontline that...well, is an Ivy League set.
• Now is the part of this article where you might expect I talk about Northwestern.
• I’ll be honest—I saw Florida Atlantic play at Middle Tennessee the other day, and...I don’t get it? Illinois could draw much worse. Like Auburn, a team that defends like a bunch of motherfuckers and is likely to be highly underseeded, at 20 in Kenpom.
• If Iowa fans think they don’t get calls in the Big Ten, wait until they play Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. Best of luck to Jordan Bohannon’s whiny-ass tweeting fingers. Hawks-vs-Hogs would be fun as hell, though.
• Or maybe any of those teams get drawn against Maryland, who I’m told are just chugging right along, somehow, and I care a lot less. Slow and steady, and all that. Chalk them up as another team I just don’t get, but what do I know?
• Two pairings with Boise State, two with Auburn, two with Pittsburgh, two with Texas A&M...Michigan State occupies a couple of those projected matchups, but there’s just too much going on with Sparty to have a real bead on what they’re going to do in March. Understandably and tragically so. We love you all in East Lansing.
• Rutgers will make the NCAA Tournament, be in a coin-flip first round, and then likely get steamrolled by Alabama or play a first-to-50 with Houston to get to the Sweet Sixteen. Congratties.
• Color me shocked to see wisconsin still on the right side of the cut line after losses to Nebraska and Rutgers. I barely get how they’re an NIT team, let alone squarely on the bubble. Can those wins over Marquette and Dayton really be doing that much work?
• And Penn State! Done enough to be right there with wisconsin. What a world.
• Note, as well, that Michigan has quietly crept up to a “Next Four Out” status in the SBNation bracketology feature. NET is not kind to Juwan Howard’s bunch—I’d forgotten how poorly the Wolverines’ non-con went against Pitt (W), Arizona State (L), UVA (L), Kentucky (L), and UNC (L). Even with the room to move up in the last two weeks—@Rutgers, wisconsin, @Illinois, @Indiana—is 12-8 enough to vault Michigan all the way into the Dance?
• I’m putting it out there now: if Nebraska can go 2-1 in their final three Big Ten games—Minnesota, MSU, @Iowa—they should be in the NIT. Pinnacle Bank Arena fits the “likely sellout” vibe the NIT prioritizes, and it’d be a smart “hot hand” choice for the consolation bracket.

The B1G Question: Does ANYONE make the Sweet Sixteen?

If I had to choose today, I’d put it around 60% that the Big Ten only sends one representative—likely Purdue. Slap it around 25% that two teams—likely add Indiana to that mix—make the Sweet Sixteen, with whatever the difference is that the Big Ten is completely shut out of the second weekend.

I’m just not enamored with any of these teams. That’s not to say they can’t catch a hot hand to go with their strong defense (thinking of Northwestern or Rutgers) or actually, finally, truly put it together (any of the 7+ seeds). But the blueprint seems to be out there on Purdue, and if Indiana draws one of those good-defending 5- or 6-seeds, uh...