Big Ten basketball: Bracketology breakdown for the conference (v.2)
A week has gone by since we last visited the bracketology breakdown of each team that has a chance at making the NCAA Tournament from the Big Ten. How do things look now?
There’s a new number one team in the Big Ten as the Ohio State Buckeyes are 13-1. The Purdue Boilermakers sat in first place until they fell to Ohio State and then Michigan State. The Spartans and Boilermakers are tied at 12-2, but with the head-to-head, Sparty is second.
Not only is Michigan State second, but they are just as hot as Ohio State. The Spartans are riding a nine-game winning streak and are either 1st or 2nd in the polls, depending on which you look at.
It may seem odd as to why the Spartans are ahead of the Buckeyes in the polls, but Michigan State has the better overall record and the talent in better in East Lansing. Not taking anything away from Ohio State because what they did to Purdue was great, the Spartans are better equipped to make a Final Four run.
Surprisingly the fourth team to reach double-digit Big Ten wins is Nebraska. The Cornhuskers currently sit in fourth-place with an 11-4 record while riding a six-game winning streak. Three out of their four losses have come to the team’s ahead of them. In fact, the Cornhuskers only have Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan on their schedule once.
Despite not the good looking RPI, strength of schedule and non-conference teams, Nebraska is still on the outside looking with Michigan as the fourth and final team in from this conference. The Cornhuskers are the next four out according to Busting Bracket’s own Brackeology, but there’s still time to improve.
The Big Ten saw their bubble race lose a team over the past week. The Northwestern Wildcats have lost two in a row. One was to another bubble team in Maryland and then to Rutgers. Their RPI stayed under 100 after the lost to the Terrapins, but after falling to the Scarlet Knights, it’s over. Northwestern’s RPI sits at 102 and it will more than likely get worse against Michigan State and Maryland again.
I am going to breakdown each category with teams who are contending to be in the NCAA Tournament based on how they have done in the past week. I’ll also recap games that are going to impact the overall status of the bubble and stay updated all the way until the Big Ten Tournament which starts on Feb. 28.