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