-3 teams punched their tickets to the Big Dance yesterday: Radford, East Tennessee State, and Morehead State. The Missouri Valley Conference will crown their champion today, either Northern Iowa or Illinois State. Both will more than likely make the tourney
-Projecting how many Big Ten teams will make the tournament is a tough question. I see 7 teams making it out of the Big Ten, but some experts are projecting as many as 8.
Michigan State, Purdue, and Illinois are definitely in. Michigan is probably in after beating the Goph's yesterday. Wisconsin is also probably because of their RPI and Strength of Schedule. Desite losing to the Hawkeyes yesterday, Penn St should have their ticket punched to the big dance as well.
The 7th team depends on a couple of things
-If Ohio State beats Northwestern today, Ohio State is IN
-If Ohio State loses to Northwestern, then it could be Northwestern or Minnesota that takes that 7th slot
*Making a Case for the Northwestern Wildcats*
Record: 17-11 (8-9 in Big Ten)
(RPI and SOS according to baselinestats.com)
RPI: 70
SOS: 53
Key Wins: Florida State, Minnesota, @ Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, @ Purdue
Key Losses: @ Stanford, @ Iowa
Quality Losses: 4 point loss @ Butler
I've been really impressed with Northwestern this year. They may be a very boring offense to watch with the old "Princeton Style" offense. But Bill Carmody gets my vote for Big Ten Coach of the Year. Bill Carmody's squad has won 4 of their last 5 and have 6 wins against the RPI Top 50. If the Wildcats win at Ohio State today, they have certainly put themselves in the discussion for the tournament. This would be a huge step for Northwestern since they have never made the tournament.
Why Not the Wildcats?
In baseball news...
-The Cubs have dropped 5 straight games and Alfonso Soriano has only 3 hits in 18 AB's. No need to worry yet, its still very early in the Spring.
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