It’s March in the Big Ten!
Here we are, folks! It’s finally March! With all those dreams of Greg Gumbel announcing the 5-12 matchup in Greensboro and One Shining Moment, we still have some regular-season basketball yet to play. When Michigan State beat Maryland in College Park last night, that meant the Terps only hold a 1 game lead in the loss column with two decent games ahead of them, I felt it a good time to reset and explain what is happening in our favorite league.
Coming down to the wire in the Big 10!
The standings as of 3/1 at 9:00 am goes as follows. This is just the top 6. The other 8 teams don’t have a chance to win the league, but do have the opportunity to adjust their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament and some have a chance to help their chances in the NCAA Tournament. In this topsy-turvy conference, it’s really a game of chance. I don’t envy the people who are in charge of the tiebreakers. There are many, and I can’t even begin to think it out. When it comes to getting banners, it’s ok to have a co-championship. But a more substantial barometer is where a team sits with tiebreakers. Maryland has split with MSU, won in their only game against Illinois, and lost their only game against Wisconsin. MSU, split with Wisconsin and beat Illinois both times they played the Illini. And then Illinois beat Wisconsin the only time they played them. See what I mean? Chaos. Penn State and Iowa both have a chance as well. They played yesterday in Iowa City with the Hawkeyes victorious.
As it looks now, there aren’t any elite teams in the Big Ten. There are a lot of very good teams. The last time a Big Ten team won the NCAA Championship was 2000 when Michigan State beat Florida. That is becoming an embarrassing stat. Do we have someone that can finally bring a title to our conference? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. With nobody showing dominance in the conference, I find it hard to believe that they’ll be able to show it on a national stage. And just the mental and physical exhaustion that this conference has forced, winning 6 games in the tournament might be just too much.
On the positive side, however, there is nothing the other teams in the country can do that Big Ten teams haven’t seen. They are battle-tested and won’t be caught off guard. Knowing you’re in for a battle night in and night out really puts you in the right mentality for March Madness.
In conclusion, nobody knows what’s going to happen. This tournament is going to be a crapshoot and will be exciting. Make sure to catch our March Madness Live Show at Brickfield Brewing in Grantsburg at 7:00 on March 18th. It will be a fun lead-in to the craziness!