Big Ten Conference
March 9-13. All games at Indianapolis.
kPOY: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State.

The Big Ten gets underway on Wednesday with two first-round games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The top of college basketball is weaker than normal this season, but I have a feeling we’re a few days away from hearing about how wide open the tourney is and then having a majority of media-types picking Michigan State to win it all. The Spartans have won 10 of 11 heading into the Big Ten tournament, and their three most-recent losses were by one point each. If the University of Iowa didn’t exist, I think many people would be rethinking the idea that there are no great teams this season.

And I’m all for contrarian thinking, but it’s hard to believe Denzel Valentine is not the best player in the country or even the Big Ten this season. No offense to Buddy Hield and Yogi Ferrell who are having fantastic senior seasons themselves, but Valentine does everything you could ask for from a player his size. I expect he could even grab some offensive boards if Tom Izzo desired that of him.

Rd1  Qtrs Semis Final Champ
 2 Michigan St.   100   100  86.7  62.6  39.3
 1 Indiana        100   100  77.7  42.6  21.1
 4 Purdue         100   100  58.0  31.1  14.8
 5 Iowa           100  89.3  40.9  20.4   8.9
 3 Maryland       100   100  58.3  20.5   8.6
 6 Wisconsin      100  78.9  37.3  12.2   4.8
 8 Michigan       100  56.8  13.8   3.9   1.0
 7 Ohio St.       100  71.1  11.3   3.8   0.9
 9 Northwestern   100  43.2   8.5   1.9   0.4
11 Nebraska      85.8  20.4   4.4   0.6   0.1
10 Penn St.       100  28.9   2.1   0.3   0.04
12 Illinois      63.3   7.9   0.8   0.1   0.009
13 Minnesota     36.7   2.8   0.2   0.02

Big Ten tourney records (since 1999)

Ohio St.     29-12
Michigan St. 24-13
Illinois     24-15
Wisconsin    20-14
Iowa         15-15
Maryland      1- 1
Michigan     13-17
Minnesota    13-17
Penn St.     11-17
Indiana      10-17
Purdue        8-16
Northwestern  7-17
Nebraska      1- 4
Rutgers       0- 1