Rush The Court

Seven teams from the Big Ten made it into the field of 68 after the selections were announced late Sunday afternoon. There were some surprises in terms of seeding and matchups which will be covered later in this post, but all in all there wasn’t anything too earth-shattering in terms of where the seven conference teams ended up. Here are five quick takeaways from this year’s bracket.

1. Wisconsin Avoided Kentucky But.…: There is a good news/bad news element with Wisconsin’s draw. The good news is that because the Badgers navigated their way through the Big Ten Tournament to get to 31-3, they secured a #1 seed. The bad news is that they procured that seed in an absolutely loaded West Region. The Badgers will potentially face a rematch of last season’s wild Round of 32 game against #8 seed Oregon followed by a battle with Arkansas or North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen. Then perhaps another southern California regional final against Arizona in the Elite Eight. Avoiding Kentucky after everyone thought the Badgers might be the #2 seed in the Wildcats’ region is obviously a positive, but this is by no means an easy road to Indianapolis.
2. Maryland Gets Shafted?: The second-best team in the league ended up as a #4 seed in Kentucky’s Midwest Region despite its strong 27-6 overall record (15-5 in the Big Ten). It’s surprising that the Terps ended up with a seed similar to that of Georgetown, a team that lost 10 games on the year. The Terps have to play #13 Valparaiso in their first game, which is not a gimme by any stretch. They then would have to play either of West Virginia or Buffalo in the round of 32. It can definitely be argued that Maryland should have been given more respect and a better seed line for such a successful regular season.
3. Indiana Avoids the Play-in Game: The Hoosiers had been predicted by many to either fall into the play-in games as one of the last four at-large teams or out of the field completely. Instead, they ended up a surprising #10 seed in the Midwest Region. The prize, however, is a #7 Wichita State team that has been ranked in the top 15 of the polls all season long. The point guard matchup between Fred Van Vleet and Yogi Ferrell will be one of the best in the opening round, but then Kansas potentially looms over the weekend. With how up-and-down the Hoosiers have been this season, it shouldn’t shock anyone if they somehow catch fire and make a run to the Sweet Sixteen, especially given Kansas’ late-season question marks.
4. The Loaded West Region: Ohio State has one of the top three players in the country in D’Angelo Russell but the Buckeyes only managed a #10 seed in the West. Wisconsin, Arizona, Baylor and North Carolina are the top four seeds there, with Arkansas, Xavier, VCU and Oregon also in the mix. This looks to be the most difficult region of the four, and if the Buckeyes can get by Shaka Smart’s crew in its first game, they could at least give Arizona a scare over the weekend.
5. No Margin for Error: Don’t be surprised if the league ends up with a miserable record of something like 2-5 or 1-6 after the first round is over. Every Big Ten team outside of Wisconsin faces a difficult opening round opponent. Iowa has to play Davidson; Michigan State has to play Georgia; and Purdue has to do battle with Cincinnati. Maryland, Ohio State and Indiana also face difficult tests to tip things off. There are really no easy games for Big Ten teams this week, so things could go either way in these relatively equally matched yet difficult early-round tilts.