Big Ten Basketball: Michigan State rise in rankings at end of regular season

Victories

*Bowling Green
*Oakland
*Ball State
*UCF
*Toledo
*Penn State
*Nebraska
*Maryland (twice)
*Northwestern
*Minnesota
*Wisconsin (twice)
*@Purdue
*Rutgers
*@Ohio State
*Iowa
*@Indiana
*Michigan State

Defeats

*@Minnesota
*Illinois
*@Michigan State

Net ranking: 3

KenPom ranking: 3

AP ranking: 4

B1G Tournament Seed: 1

Possibility of Post-Season Tournament: 100%

Reason for Hope: Michigan has a top-three ranking in the NET and KenPom rankings and they are still projected to receive a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Michigan is still one of the few teams in all of college basketball that has a solid offense and defense.  They have played some really outstanding basketball at times and their ability to score from the outside and within the paint has Michigan looking to make a Final Four appearance and more with the possibility of winning the national championship.

Reason to be Pessimistic: Not many things to be pessimistic about Michigan has played not so great at times this season. One bad game was against Oakland who started their season 0-9 and on their home court, Michigan was losing by two at the half and needed overtime to beat the Golden Grizzlies. Then Michigan lost to Minnesota by 18 which at the time didn’t seem bad but now the Golden Gophers are the 13th seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Finally, the Wolverines lost at home to Illinois by 23 but without their best player and lost to Michigan State in the last game of the regular season. The injury to Eli Brooks is a bit concerning but the Wolverines should be okay moving forward.

Big Ten Tournament Opponent: The winner of the Michigan State/Maryland game

Victories

*North Carolina A&T
*Chicago State
*Ohio
*Minnesota (twice)
*@ Duke
*Penn State (twice)
*Indiana (twice)
*Purdue
*Northwestern (twice)
*Iowa
*Wisconsin (twice)
*Nebraska (twice)
*@Michigan
*@Ohio State

Defeats

*Baylor (neutral site)
*@ Missouri
*@Rutgers
*Maryland
*Ohio State
*@Michigan State

Net ranking: 4

KenPom ranking: 5

AP ranking: 3

B1G Tournament Seed: 2

Possibility of Post-Season Tournament: 100%

Reason for Hope: Illinois has proven that they have the ability to win even without arguably their best all-around player as in Illinois’s last three games in which Ayo Dosunmu did not play, the Fighting Illini defeated two top 25 ranked teams on the road and won three games by an average of just under 15 points. When Dosunmu came back, they beat top 10 Ohio State on the road.

They also can put away teams early as they defeated multiple teams by 20 or more points as they defeated Minnesota by 27 and 31 points, Michigan by 23, and Northwestern by 25. If Illinois can beat a team by 20 in the first game of the weekend of the NCAA tournament, they can rest their starters some for the second game of the weekend for the NCAA tournament.

They have two very talented players in Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn who have both played very well this season and both players can lead them not only to a Big Ten tournament championship but an opportunity to claim a national championship as well.

Reason to be Pessimistic: Illinois really doesn’t have anything to be pessimistic about. They maybe are inexperienced in the NCAA tournament which may hurt them in their bid for a Final Four appearance and a shot to play in the national championship game but they at this point have very little to be pessimistic about their team.

Big Ten Tournament Opponent: The winner of the Rutgers/Indiana game