Purdue is the far superior team against the Rutgers-Michigan winner, and it beat the Michigan State Spartans twice in the regular season. Winning a few games is possible for the bubble teams, but taking home the tournament title is a tough task because of the number of games they have to play. The Fighting Illini lost two of their last three games. They recently beat Illinois and Northwestern, and both of those higher seeds are not in great form. The Nittany Lions won five of their last six games and could be the team that goes on a run. Penn State needs to beat Illinois and then probably has to defeat Northwestern to lift itself away from the bubble. A run of five games in five days to the final seems unlikely for the Badgers, but if they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in the second round, they can rack up another quality win. Rutgers must beat Michigan to hold its spot in the field of 68. Michigan needs to beat Rutgers in the second round and then must spring an upset over Purdue in the quarterfinals to launch itself in the field. 4 Michigan State Spartans closed with a 5-2 stretch but was coming off a 2-5 stretch.Īll three of those teams could be susceptible to upsets in the quarterfinal round, and that is a good thing for the programs in need of victories to feel secure about their spots in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.ĮSPN's Joe Lunardi listed Rutgers on the "Last Four Byes" line, the Wisconsin Badgers and Penn State Nittany Lions on the "Last Four In" line, and the Michigan Wolverines in the "Next Four Out" section. 3 Indiana alternated a loss and win over its final six contests. 2 seed with a road win over Rutgers, but it entered New Jersey on a three-game losing streak. If you take Purdue out of the picture, the Big Ten tournament is remarkably difficult to predict because few teams displayed consistency throughout the regular season. The Boilermakers also have a National Player of the Year candidate in Zach Edey, who is averaging 21.9 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. Matt Painter's team finished three games clear of Northwestern, Indiana and Michigan State in the regular-season standings. Purdue will be expected to win the Big Ten tournament. Big Ten Network #B1GMBBT bracket ✍️ /Gm01WYcOle
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