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Bracketology 2020: Buy or sell Big Ten Basketball bubble teams?

By Austin Walther

MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – FEBRUARY 23: Devonte Green #11 of the Indiana Hoosiers Head coach Archie Miller of the Indiana Hoosiers (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

It’s do or die time in the Big Ten as eight teams have separated themselves from the rest as near Bracketology locks in the NCAA Tournament. For the four remaining teams, there are two weeks before Selection Sunday and the time to win is now. Will they all have enough to go dancing?

At some point near the end of January, there were 12 teams from the Big Ten in the field on the Bracket Matrix. We all knew that wasn’t going to hold true, but it was pretty impressive with how late in the season it was already. All 12 teams were safely in the NET and KenPom top-50 What made this interesting was that the highest Big Ten team ranked in the NET was No. 10 yet there were so many teams in the top-50.

Now that we’re a few days away from March, things have settled. Well kind of. There are still 10 teams in the field according to the Bracket Matrix. Purdue is among the next four out and Minnesota is receiving votes. The Gophers dropped out of the NET top-50 for a little bit, but since have returned. Indiana went all the way down to 60th but are now climbing their way back. KenPom though does not have any of these 12 teams ranked outside the top-40.

Between the time Michigan State was struggling and Maryland just starting their winning streak, it didn’t look like any Big Ten team was safe for a top-four seed. Now the Terrapins are a two and the door is wide open for a one seed since San Diego State and Gonzaga lost. Penn State has cracked the top-16 and believe it or not, Michigan State is knocking on the door.

The Terrapins and Spartans are joined by Michigan and Ohio State in the KenPom top-10 while Maryland is the lone Big Ten team in the NET top-10. Despite a rough start to Big Ten play in 2020, the Buckeyes and Wolverines are back to .500 or better in conference play. Not that matters when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, but they’re winning games again and those big-time victories earlier this season are paying dividends. And what Iowa is doing is downright impressive. They lose two of their main rotation guys early in the season and have another one battle injury and yet still only have two bad losses to go along with some really nice wins.

Those six are all top-six seeds right now. Wisconsin has actually won some road games this year along with beating Maryland and Penn State so they’re a seven seed. Illinois at one point was on top of the Big Ten standings, slipped a little, but with the sweeping of Michigan and Purdue to go along with wins over the Badgers and Nittany Lions have them in as an eight seed. For the other four, it’s danger time.

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