Big Ten Football & Basketball Blog

With February right around the corner, the stretch drive is officially here in the Big Ten. Some conferences are at the mid-point in league play, meaning it’s time for teams to start making moves with an eye towards the NCAA Tournament. The Big Ten has played seven games out of sixteen, meaning that some teams need to start turning it around to get consideration for a bid, while others can lock up bids in the coming weeks with strong showings. That “Last Ten Games” category on team’s NCAA Tournament profiles? It starts now.

Michigan State at Illinois (Tuesday): Interesting battle between 2005 Final Four teams. Michigan State nearly beat Ohio State Saturday night, and is looking more and more like an NCAA Tournament team. Illinois was dominated by Purdue over the weekend, and need a win here in order to keep their fading Big Dance hopes alive.Ohio State at Purdue (Wednesday): Potential upset in the making? Ohio State nearly blew a 20-point lead against Michigan State this weekend, but pulled it out in the end. They need to keep up with Wisconsin in the conference race. Purdue blew out Illinois at home on Saturday, and a win here would really boost their NCAA Tournament profile.

Wisconsin at Indiana (Wednesday): Will the nation’s longest win streak come to an end? Wisconsin has won seventeen in a row after their victory over Iowa this weekend, and is looking like a legit Final Four squad. Indiana blew out Michigan on Saturday, moving to 5-2 and third place in the conference.

Other Games to Watch:

Iowa at Michigan (Wednesday): If this game was in Iowa, it would look a little different. Michigan can’t win on the road, but they are tough to beat at home when they are hitting their shots. Iowa played Wisconsin tough, but it won’t be the same in Ann Arbor.

Minnesota at Northwestern (Wednesday): Two of the worst teams in the conference face off. There’s not much to say here, other than the two teams are a combined 3-11 in the conference, with the lone decent win coming over Purdue, by the Golden Gophers. Northwestern has played several teams tough at home, though, meaning we will see the Wildcats come out on top.

Penn State does not play until the weekend.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Big Ten Sports General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.