ncaa tourney

[Mike Furley]

with a month to go, how many teams from the Big Ten get a bid?

i think the following teams are in for sure, barring any monumental collapse:

michigan state (17-4) #7 RPI
illinois (18-4) #16 RPI
minnesota (17-3) #23 RPI
purdue (17-4) #25 RPI

where it gets tricky is with the following teams:

ohio state (15-5) #32 RPI
wisconsin (11-9) #36 RPI
michigan (13-8) #55 RPI
northwestern (12-7) #57 RPI
penn state (17-5) #67 RPI



penn state has the best record of the 2nd tier but has the worst RPI. their quality wins are one each over michigan st, purdue, michigan, northwestern

wisconsin has played the 3rd toughest schedule in the country, and their record reflects that - worst of the group

ohio state has the next best record and has a quality win over Butler. wins over Notre Dame & Miami Fl look less impressive as the year has gone on. do they get a bonus for surviving w/out David Lighty who should be back for the tourney? the committee factors in injuries to key players.

michigan has the most impressive ooc wins, beating Duke & UCLA - but if they are on the bubble, do they miss out b/c they could finish behind PSU & OSU & Northwestern in the conference standings?

Jerry Palm @ cbs sportsline projects all 64 teams and seeds then in bracket format

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11233762

michigan state - 2
purdue - 3
illinois - 5
ohio state - 8
minnesota - 9
northwestern - 12

his projections are based on season-to-date performance as well as future prognistication for the remainder of the season.

missing out would be Penn St, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

what do you all think?

[BLEEDINGBLUE]

I think if UM wants a chance, they need to straighten out there act and start winning some games. This slide they are on is killing them. They had everyone looking up to them the first 10 games or so when they were teetering on the 24/25 spot but since then have fallen off the radar. With Penn St. Uconn & Mich State coming up, we need to win 2 of those games or at the very least, 1 and have close games with the other 2 (Meaning the games comes down to the last minute) to have a shot. JMHO

[Mike Furley]

Jerry Palm has updated his projections. Six Big Ten teams are still in but in he has 3 Big Ten teams (Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin) as his top four teams to miss the cut. It's going to come down to the wire this year and should be exciting. I'd love to see you guys knock off Uconn. There's no way you could knock off Uconn, Duke, and UCLA and be left out of the tourney, and it would boost the seedings of all of our conferenc's teams with another marquee out of conference win by the Big Ten. (briefly) Go Blue!

[StevieBrownforHeisman]

UM can only lose one or two more games if they want to go dancing. if we don't we will be one of the best teams in the NIT; which is at least a substantial step up from where we were at this time last year.

my guess would be that the following big 10 teams get in:
MSU, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota

and the following teams go to the NIT
Michigan, Penn State, Northwestern, Wisconsin

These teams go nowhere
Indiana,Iowa

i wouldn't be all that suprised to see Wisconsin, NU or Michigan to get in if they finish the season strong, conference tournament included; mostly on the merits of the strength of the conference as a whole.