The Big Ten Tournament is set to tip off with #12 Maryland vs #13 Rutgers. The tournament is being held at the Target Center in Minneapolis after being held at the United Center in Chicago last season. The Purdue Boilermakers come in as the defending champions of this tournament and look to stay hot with their 17-3 conference record. Purdue has repeated as the regular season champion and looks to stay dominant this season as the #1 seed in the conference tournament. Still, the Big Ten Tournament is known to have crazy things happen with teams playing for their NCAA Tournament lives.
Bracket
Who Can Win?
The beauty of college basketball is that anything can happen like #1 seed Purdue losing to #16 seed FDU in the NCAA Tournament. The betting favorites to win it all are Purdue, Illinois, and Nebraska. Surprise, those are the top three seeds in the tournament. Purdue is the favorite due to their dominant big man Zach Edey, and great guard play by Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and transfer Lance Jones. Purdue ranks as the #1 offense and #20 defense, according to Kenpom. They scored 84.2 PPG and shot 41.2% from three, which is good for 2nd in the country. Their only Big Ten losses are to Northwestern, Nebraska, and Ohio State but those were all on the road. If Zach Edey continues to play dominant basketball and the guards play well they should have no problem winning this tournament.
The Illinois Fighting Illini enter the Big Ten Tournament as the #2 seed. Illinois is led in scoring by Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, and Coleman Hawkins. The Illini averaged 83.9 PPG while shooting 35% from three. Domask and Shannon are both X-factors and will need to play well if they want to make a run at Purdue. The downside to Illinois is their defense, which ranks 73rd on Kenpom. The Illini have a great path to make it to the semi-finals, if not the championship.
Lastly, the other favorite is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Cornhuskers are one of the most interesting teams in the conference. Sharpshooters Keisei Tominaga and Brice Williams lead this team along with big man Rienk Mast. If the conference tournament was held at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln the Cornhuskers would -500 to win it all. They are 18-1 at home this season with the only loss coming at the hands of the #8 Creighton Bluejays. If Tominaga gets hot throughout the tournament, the Cornhuskers will be a tough out.
Dark Horses
This tournament has had a history of teams without the double bye making the semi-finals. Just last year Penn State was a #10 seed last year and made it to the championship after losing to Purdue. The teams that I think can replicate that are the Indiana Hoosiers and the Iowa Hawkeyes. These teams are getting hot at the right time, and both have suitable paths to make a run. Michigan State and Minnesota are both scary teams, but play each other and then have to play Purdue so that knocks them out of this category.
The Indiana Hoosiers have won four games in a row coming into the tournament. In the last four games, center Kel’el Ware is averaging 22.5 PPG and 12.3 RPG. He will have to be the guy for Indiana to make a run. Their 3-point shooting is why they are not higher in the Big Ten, so they need to get hot from outside to make a run.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are currently on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament. According to Joe Lunardi, the Hawkeyes are out with a loss to Ohio State in the first round. They have Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year Owen Freeman, Second Team Tony Perkins, and Third Team Payton Sandfort leading the Hawkeyes. Lastly, look for the Hawkeyes to get hot to sneak their way into the tournament.
The Northwestern Wildcats are the #4 seed in the tournament. This Wildcats team is one of the only teams to beat Purdue, albeit early in the season. They are led by superstar Boo Buie who is averaging 18.9 PPG and 5.2 APG and earned a First Team All-Big Ten. They are shooting 39.6% from beyond the arc this season, which is the strength of the team. The Wildcats are an experienced team that has the tools to be a problem in this tournament. With this in mind, the Wildcats at +1400 is some good value to win it all.
All Betting Odds
Purdue (Even)
Illinois Fighting Illini (+300)
Nebraska Cornhuskers (+750)
Michigan State Spartans (+1000)
Northwestern Wildcats (+1400)
Wisconsin Badgers (+1600)
Iowa Hawkeyes (+3300)
Ohio State Buckeyes (+3300)
Indiana Hoosiers (+6600)
Maryland Terrapins (+6600)
Minnesota Golden Gophers (+10000)
Penn State Nittany Lions (+20000)
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (+20000)
Michigan Wolverines (+30000)
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