Seven Big Ten teams made their way into the 2016 NCAA Tournament, which is the same number that made it there last year. Six of the same seven teams are in, with Michigan making a trip after missing out last season. Here are some quick takeaways on how the bracket shakes up for the league.

Troy Williams and Indiana may get a chance to play Kentucky after all if the bracket holds. (Getty).

• Border War: They played one of the most iconic regular season games of the last 25 years, yet Indiana and Kentucky have not played since 2012 mainly due to disagreements about location. This silent period could change as the Hoosiers and the Wildcats are placed one win away from each other as the #4 and #5 seeds in the East Region. If Indiana can get past a tricky Chattanooga team (that beat Illinois), and if Kentucky can overcome plucky Stony Brook, this may be the most compelling Second Round matchup in the entire NCAA Tournament.
• Michigan Survives Bubble, Heads to Dayton: One of the most talked about bubble teams over the last couple of weeks was Michigan. The Wolverines, one of the last teams to make the field of 68, received a trip to Dayton to battle Tulsa. Get past the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday night and Michigan will travel to Brooklyn on Friday, where Notre Dame awaits.

• Familiar Foes: After somewhat questionably earning a #2 seed despite winning the Big Ten Tournament and finishing 12-1 over its last 13 games, Michigan State could be heading toward another game against the team it’s faced (and eliminated) the last two NCAA Tournaments — Virginia. Another potential foe if Sparty makes it that far is Purdue, as the Boilermakers received a #5 seed in the same region. The two teams split their games this season, and a rematch of the Big Ten Tournament Championship game with a Final Four berth on the line would definitely sell some tickets in Chicago.
• The Slides of Maryland and Iowa: On February 15, Iowa was 20-5 and Maryland was 22-4 and both teams were ranked among the top six teams in the country. Fast forward one month later and times have clearly changed for the Hawkeyes and Terps. Iowa fell all the way to the #7 seed line, meaning a difficult road that starts with Temple and a potential clash with Big East regular season champion Villanova after that. #4 seed Maryland begins with South Dakota State and potentially faces a dangerous California team followed by a very difficult Sweet Sixteen game with overall #1 seed Kansas. These are not easy roads for either of these two teams.
• On Wisconsin: Raise your hand if you thought Wisconsin would be a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament back when the Badgers were 1-4 in the Big Ten and 9-9 overall. Greg Gard’s team went 11-3 since that mid-January date, and now will meet #10 seed Pittsburgh in its first game. Should they win that one, the Badgers will avoid playing an Oklahoma team that walloped them earlier this season in favor of Xavier. This is by no means an easy game, but it arguably is the most manageable #2-#7 matchup.

Brendan Brody (307 Posts)

Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2016 at 3:31 pm by Brendan Brody and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: indiana, iowa, maryland, michigan, michigan state, purdue, wisconsin. 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.