Big Ten basketball: 2018 Conference Tournament preview
Updated Big Ten Bracketology
Big Ten Bracketology:
For the sake of including teams, we’ll mention these three. Penn State is the biggest stretch. Most say the Nittany Lions are done. They have a 19-12 overall record and 9-9 in the Big Ten. Their RPI is 84 and they landed the seven seed. They will play Northwestern and with a win, the Nittany Lions will play Ohio State in quarterfinals, a team they have defeated twice. A trip to semi-finals isn’t out of the question.
Closing out the season with two wins after falling to Illinois was pretty important. The Cornhuskers defeated Indiana and then blew out Penn State to secure the No. 4 seed. Their RPI is elevated at 61 and the KenPom ranking is also high at 55. With a double-bye they will play in the quarterfinals. Nebraska will only need two wins to get to the finals which is nice.
Was the blowout in the regular season finale against Michigan the dagger? Probably. Their RPI sits at 64 now. The Terrapins only have three wins inside the top-100. They have two losses from 51-100 and one outside the top-100. It could be worse, but Maryland is headed for the NIT unless there’s a sudden run in the Big Ten Tournament.