2008 Big Ten College Basketball Tournament Predictions
June 6, 2008
The Big Ten will actually have 11 teams competing in their 2008 conference tournament despite its title. This rare scenario has nearly half of the field getting a bye during the opening round which starts March 13th. The No. 1-5 seeds in Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State and Ohio State will be the bye teams in that order. The Badgers won the regular season title and have earned the No. 1 seed despite losing to No. 2 Purdue in both home and away meetings for their only two losses of the season in conference play.
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse
Date: March 13th - March 16th
Television: Both early opening round games will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The two late opening round games can be found on ESPN 2. Then on March 14th the early quarterfinal games will be on ESPN while the late games will be on the Big Ten Network. The Semifinal games can be seen on CBS March 15th and the championship game will also be on CBS at 3:30 EST Sunday.
2008 Big Ten Tournament Preview:
The Big Ten conference as a whole is much weaker than we have become accustomed to. These are a bunch of better than average teams, but there is no squad in the Big Ten that we feel can advance to the elite-8 in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin is deserved of a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, but they are no better than a No. 3 seed in the Big Dance. The Badgers’ loss of Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor in the offseason cannot be ignored. Purdue is a gritty team that took the defending champion Gators down to the wire in the Big Dance last season and they are a team that can win a few games in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens in the Big Ten conference tournament. Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State are shoe-ins for the 65-team field. Ohio State is the only other Big Ten team that could make the Big Dance this season, unless of course a No. 6 through No. 11 seed wins their conference tournament. That looks basically impossible considering the bottom half of this conference has not pulled off many upsets during the season. The Buckeyes just beat the Spartans on Saturday to get serious consideration from the tournament committee. Another win over Michigan State on Saturday would almost certainly get Thad Matta’s squad in after a trip to the National Championship game last year. It won’t be easy to beat the Spartans twice in a week with Tom Izzo at the helm. Izzo will have his team ready to go by March 14th in the quarterfinal round and the Sparty’s will likely knock off Ohio State in revenge mode.
2007 Big Ten Tournament Winner:
The Ohio State Buckeyes took down the 2007 Big Ten conference tournament with an impressive 66-49 victory over Wisconsin in the championship game. Ohio State was ranked #1 in the country at the time and beat all 3 of it’s tournament opponents by double-digits en route to their conference title. Last year’s tournament was just a small part of Ohio State’s 22-game winning streak which led to a heartbreaking loss to the Florida Gators in the national championship.
Larry’s 2008 Big Ten Tournament Predictions:
Purdue has all the tools to win the 2008 Big Ten Tournament and we will select the Boilermakers to get the job done. They are well coached and come in hungry after falling short of the regular season title despite beating champion Wisconsin in both meetings this year. We have the winner of the Michigan State/Ohio State contest beating Wisconsin in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. Most likely it will be Michigan State considering the Spartans are playing in revenge mode after blowing an 8-point lead to Ohio State on Saturday. Purdue will get through this tournament with ease and it would be a wise decision to place a decent wager on the Boilermakers with 2-1 odds below. If you want a long shot pick then Bruce Webber’s Fighting Illini squad at 20-1 odds would not be a bad choice.
2008 Big Ten Tournament Odds:
Illinois
20/1
Indiana 11/2
Iowa 20/1
Michigan 25/1
Michigan State 7/2
Minnesota 10/1
Northwestern 100/1
Penn State 18/1
Purdue 2/1
Ohio State 13/2
Wisconsin 7/4