Big Ten Basketball: Preview of the teams and storylines in 2019 NCAA Tournament

When the NCAA Tournament field was released last Sunday, a total of eight Big Ten teams were scattered among the bracket. Michigan and Michigan State received the highest seeds, both are two seeds.

Among the big surprises was Ohio State in the field. The Buckeyes are an 11 seed in the Midwest region, facing off against the Iowa State Cyclones. If the Bucks pull the first round upset, they play the winner of Houston-Georgia State.

For Ohio State, it starts with Kaleb Wesson. Wesson is averaging 14.4 PPG, along with 6.8 rebounds and nearly two assists. He shoots a respectable 36 percent from three-point land. Wesson missed some time later in the year, causing the Buckeyes to lose four of five. He returned in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament, putting up 17 points and 13 rebounds, defeating Indiana and essentially taking their spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Ohio State has beaten Indiana twice, Iowa, Minnesota, and Cincinnati, all teams that are either in the tournament or close to the bubble all season.

Michigan State is Michigan State again. The Spartans beat you in multiple ways. They can shoot you off the floor, they can beat you underneath and they defend well. The Spartans have a top five player in all the country leading the way in Cassius Winston.

Sparty is the two seed in East region with Duke as the one seed. It’s clear that these two are the top teams in this region though. This could be the best Elite 8 matchup of the tournament if both get that far.

Michigan State’s in-state rival, the Michigan Wolverines, are the two seed in the West region. A Final Four matchup between the rivals is possible, and I think most college basketball fans wouldn’t hate seeing it on that stage.

For the Wolverines, this year was kind of a reverse order. Normally, the Wolverines start a tad slow and turn it on near the end of the season. This year, they started out the season by winning 20 of their first 21 games, and have since gone just 8-5. Granted, they still made the Big Ten Championship game and only lost by five, this team has nearly everyone back from last year’s national runner-up. This is a dangerous team.

The Wolverines are led by Zavier Simpson and Ignas Brazdeikis. Brazdeikis, a freshman, leads the Wolverines in scoring at 15 points per game. Simpson is the engine that makes the Wolverines go, averaging 9.2 points with 6.6 assists.

Simpson vs Winston would be a tremendous matchup as it is every time these two go toe-to-toe, and we just may get the chance again.

Iowa is the 10 seed in the South region, and their first matchup is against Cincinnati. This is a really good matchup for the Hawkeyes, as the Bearcats are just 225th in the country at defending the three pointer, and Iowa shoots a lot of three’s, making 36 percent of their threes on the year. When the Hawkeyes get going, they are tough to beat.

The Hawks are led by Jordan Bohannon, Luka Garza, and Tyler Cook. Cook leads the team in scoring with 15 points and eight rebounds, Garza is averaging 13 and Bohannon makes 38 percent of his three-point attempts. Freshman Joe Wieskamp makes 42 percent of his three-point attempts to lead the Hawkeyes. Isaiah Moss also shoots over 40 percent from deep.

Iowa can fill it up from behind the three-point line, but they scuffled towards the end of the year, as is customary for the Fran McCaffery era. It will be interesting to see how they handle the big stage of the Tournament, with it being their first appearance in three years. If the Hawks win, they would likely face two seed Tennessee in the second round.

Moving up from Iowa, Purdue is the three seed in the South region. They face the Champions of Conference USA, the Old Dominion Monarchs in the first round. The Hawkeyes and Boilermakers would potentially meet in the Sweet 16 if Iowa pulls the upset over Tennessee and Purdue can get past the Monarchs and defending champion Villanova.

For the Boilers, it starts and ends with Carsen Edwards. He passed up a chance to go pro last year and only averages 23 points a game this season. Complimenting Edwards are Ryan Cline and big man Matt Haarms. The senior is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc and 40 percent from deep throughout his career. Grady Eifert is shooting 43 percent from three. The Boilers can score, but they don’t have too deep of depth which could be concerning if they want to make a deep run.

Staying in the South region, Wisconsin is the five seed, playing Pac-12 champion Oregon, a 12 seed. Oregon needed a Pac-12 conference tournament win to even get into the tournament. With Dana Altman at the helm, it’s a team that should never be counted out.

Like most years, there isn’t any one thing that the Badgers do that jumps out at you. They just play really good defense, get physical, and try to wear their opponent down throughout the game. They are at a disadvantage at point guard with Payton Pritchard manning the Oregon offense.

The Badgers, though, rely on Ethan Happ’s inside game. Happ isn’t the most athletic guy in the world, but he’s a bruiser underneath and will work hard for buckets underneath. Where the Badgers might be in trouble though is free throws. Happ shoots just 46 percent from the stripe, and only 54 percent for his career. Teams have started to go “Hack-A-Happ” late in games to put him on the line. It’s gotten so bad that coach Greg Gard has started to put him on the bench late in games to avoid the free throw game. This will be something to watch, as the game should be close the whole way, like most Wisconsin games.

Moving over to the East side of the bracket, the Maryland Terrapins are a six seed. This is a big upset alert, as they play the Belmont Bruins. The Bruins got in to the tournament on a play-in game, beating the Temple Owls last night, ending Fran Dunphy’s coaching career.

The Terps will have an advantage underneath against pretty much every team they play, with Bruno Fernando and Jalen Smith. Fernando is a potential lottery pick and is averaging a double double, with 13.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Fernando is decent from the line too, a 77 percent free throw shooter.

Smith is a freshman who was a top 20 recruit in the country, and is a nice complement to Fernando underneath, averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds. Couple those two with three-year starting point guard Anthony Cowan who averages 16 points a game. Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins are the sharpshooters, both shooting over 40 percent from deep.

The talent level is deep on this team, and they can come at you from so many different directions. The make up of the roster and some of the numbers these guys have made you wonder how they lost 10 games. The Terps can be a dangerous team if everything is clicking, which has seemed to be missing down the stretch of the season.

The Big Ten coverage rounds out with East region 10 seed, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers were firmly on the bubble heading into the Big Ten tournament, but a win over Penn State cemented their status in the Tournament, giving them their 20th win.

Minnesota is pretty much a two-man show with Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy. Murphy has averaged a double double for two years now, with 15 points and 11 boards on average this year. On the season, Murphy has 21 double-doubles. He has been a consistent force in the paint for the entirety of his college career.

Coffey is averaging 16.3 points a game and has reached double figures in every game but six. Coffey and Murphy make the Gophers go, and if they have their way, it might be a long day for Louisville.

Louisville is back in the tournament under first year coach Chris Mack. Mack did a tremendous job in year one, as the Cardinals weren’t forecasted to make the tournament in the preseason.

Complimenting Coffey and Murphy is freshman Gabe Kalscheur. Kalscheur averages 10 points a game, and shoots 42 percent behind the arc. This trifecta of scoring can cause a lot of problems, but the run may be short lived, as the Gophers are projected to line up with Michigan State in round 2, should they get by the Cardinals.