Sports

Michigan And Michigan State Headline B1G Tourney

March 14, 2019 / 3:15 PM EDT / CBS Detroit

While it might not land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Ten was arguably the nation's top conference during the regular season.

The league's upper-class depth and middle-class drama could make for a fascinating postseason tournament, which starts Wednesday in Chicago.

EAST LANSING, MI - MARCH 09: Zavier Simpson #3 of the Michigan Wolverines and his teammates prepare prior to the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on March 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The conference has four teams with legitimate Final Four aspirations in Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Maryland is also more than capable of making a run and there are a handful of talented, up-and-down teams like Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State looking to secure a brighter postseason future.

"I've been in every single tournament that we've had. I'm not sure we've had more people, whether you're a 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed, worried about the 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 seeds like this year," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "It's just one of those years."

EAST LANSING, MI - MARCH 09: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts on the bench while playing the Michigan Wolverines during the first half at Breslin Center on March 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The Spartans, Wolverines, Boilermakers, and Badgers earned double byes and don't start play until Friday against undetermined opponents.

SPARTAN UPRISING?

EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 20: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans looks on during warm ups prior to the game against Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Breslin Center on February 20, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

The top-seeded Spartans (25-6, 16-4), who last won the league tournament in 2016, are expected to get injured star Nick Ward back this weekend. The 6-foot-8 Ward, who was averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds a game before breaking his hand in mid-February, should at the very least be able to spell Kenny Goins and Xavier Tillman in the post. That Michigan State won a share of the regular-season title despite losing Ward for a few weeks and Joshua Langford (15 points a game) for the year to a foot injury in late December speaks to its resilience and depth.

"Injuries are never fun for anybody. And yet I think we've handled them fairly well," Izzo said.

BIG BLUE

COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 03: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines reacts to a call in the first half during a college basketball game against the Michigan Wolverines at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Michigan (26-5, 15-5), the two-time defending tournament champions, blew its chance to win the league by losing to the rival Spartans twice in its final four games.

"I'm certainly not pleased with the way the regular season ended. But we were looking at a pretty good gauntlet going down the stretch," coach John Beilein said.

The Wolverines are hopeful that Charles Matthews, who hurt his right ankle in a loss to the Spartans on Feb. 24, will be ready for Friday's opener. Matthews is averaging 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds a game and is one of the league's best defenders.

BUCKY, BOILERS AND THE TERPS

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - FEBRUARY 03: Matt Haarms #32 of the Purdue Boilermakers celebrates during the second half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Mackey Arena on February 3, 2019 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Purdue (23-8, 16-4), led by league coach of the year Matt Painter, won six of its last seven games to join Michigan State as co-champions. The Boilermakers, like Michigan, are hoping to win Sunday's final and secure a possible No. 2 seed. Purdue went unbeaten at home, but it also won eight road/neutral games despite returning just one starter from a year ago in Carsen Edwards.

"We've had some guys, whether they came off the bench or started, who were really, really good in their roles and just stepped in and really sacrificed for our team," Painter said.

Wisconsin (22-9, 14-6) will head to Chicago on a three-game winning streak. The Badgers split the season series with fifth-seeded Maryland (22-9, 13-7), who could await them in the quarterfinals. The Terrapins will open with the winner of Wednesday's Rutgers-Nebraska game.

BUBBLELICIOUS

IOWA CITY, IOWA- MARCH 2: Guard Joe Wieskamp #10 of the Iowa Hawkeyes drives to the basket in the second half against guard Issa Thiam #35 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on March 2, 2019 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)

Iowa (21-10, 10-10) has likely done enough to return to the NCAA Tournament after a two-year absence. But the Hawkeyes have lost four straight, including a blown 16-point lead against the Huskers, and coach Fran McCaffery drew attention when he said that finishing 10-10 was "tremendous." Ohio State (18-13, 8-12) will get star Kaleb Wesson back from a three-game suspension for what could amount to an NCAA tourney elimination affair against Indiana on Thursday. Indiana (17-14, 8-12) is an intriguing bubble team, but a loss to the Buckeyes would hurt their NCAA hopes.

THE FIELD

Seventh-seeded Minnesota (19-12, 9-11) is also a safe bet to advance beyond this weekend. A loss to Penn State (14-17, 7-13) on Thursday night put the Golden Gophers in line for a trip to Dayton for an NCAA play-in game. ... Illinois (11-20, 7-13) and Northwestern (13-18, 4-16) face off to open the tournament on Wednesday. Watch out for the Fighting Illini, an extraordinarily young team that beat Michigan State and Maryland and just might have enough talent to make things interesting if they advance. ... Nebraska coach Tim Miles would love a run to the championship game; his Huskers have lost at least 12 league games in four of the past five seasons.

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