Big Ten Tournament Preview

Illinois made it past Indiana earlier today to get  into the next round of the tournament.  They are joining Michigan, who Illinois will face in the second round on Friday, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan State who all got byes into round 2.

A slew of other first round games are scheduled for toady.  Check out the bracket below for the schedule:

-Courtesy of ESPN

Among the first round games are the No. 24 ranked Ohio State taking on Purdue.

Ohio State is the favorite to win this game by a large margin regardless of what sportsbook your are looking at.  Bovada has them as the -9.5 points favorites. However, do not simply count out Purdue, as the Buckeyes have been inconsistent all season long.

Ohio State is entering the Big Ten tournament with its worst record in five seasons.  This is after they have claimed three of the last four tournament crowns.  The odds are not on their side this year and Purdue is going to be looking to knock them out of contention sooner rather than later.

The Buckeyes did beat Purdue just last month, though.  They were able to hold Purdue’s top scorers, Terone Johnson and Ronnie Johnson to a mere combined nine points and 4-of-15 on shooting. 

Today will finish up the first round games and you can watch them on either ESPN2 or the Big Ten Network.  Round two will take place tomorrow over three different networks, the two previously mentioned, in addition to ESPN. The Semifinals are on Saturday on CBS and the Big Ten championship game will be on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET also on CBS.

After that will be the big dance.  Five B1G school are expected to go into the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in the conference tournament. Nebraska, depending on their performance, could be the sixth.

Minnesota also wants to make a tournament run, their hopes completely depend on the how things go in the B1G this week.  They will need to beat both Penn State and Wisconsin to even have a hope of making a NCAA Tournament appearance.