MI earns No. 7 seed, will face Oklahoma State

Northwestern (23-11) lost for the seventh time in the last 12 games, but Chris Collins isn’t concerned.

They talked about life. Wisconsin senior Nigel Hayes said the Badgers will take any advantage they can get. “That’s my goal, is to win that tournament”.

Give me the point as MI goes dancing as the Big Ten champions.

“We ended up winning, so I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m not touching that other hat until the end of March'”.

The Badgers, who finished two games back of Purdue, and split two regular-season games with MI, enter the NCAA Tournament at 25-9 and likely a No. 6 seed.

Wisconsin (25-8) will now face No. 8 MI in Sunday’s tournament championship at 3 p.m.

It was a game decided by Walton far more than anyone else. Koenig led the Badgers with 16 points, including going 4-7 from beyond the three-point line.

MI is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 5-0 in their last 5 neutral site games while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 conference matchups. The team was delayed getting into Washington D.C. with their well documented plane issue. “They didn’t look that good, but they felt good”.

“We all kind of came into the weekend thinking we might lose because we were on such a losing streak”, Radtke said. “But, quite honestly, I was trying to find my mom (Angela) in the crowd”. They beat us to every 50/50 ball.

It’s one they’ll be able to use just days from now, rather than after the offseason break this program has been accustomed to arriving at once the conference tournament concludes. The Buckeyes finished third in the conference standings with 35 points and a record of 11-8-1-1.

Just fine, thanks to Walton, the best player on the court. That allowed MI to extend the lead to 39-32 with 14:53 left. “Those 40 minutes out there” – well, 45 when you include OT, Coach – “I wasn’t thinking about that at all”.

That was a demoralizing time for a feisty Minnesota team that had tied the game, 55-55, with 13 minutes remaining and stayed close for the next six minutes. Walton wouldn’t let them. Those three things tend to lead to extended runs in March. He made all three of his three-point shots, including one at the halftime buzzer. Bruce plays very hard defensively. The top 10 senior athletes with the highest grade points from each league school who have lettered in two sports are honored. “I thought he was terrific”. He scored 22 points, dished out seven assists and grabbed six rebounds as he also had two steals and four made three-pointers en route to the team’s upset victory.

Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said it’s good to see his team playing well again after a rough patch toward the end of the Big Ten season.

And teams always want to play well on national TV.

Walton loved it and smiled widely.

The Badgers, trailing by one at halftime, missed their first eight shots to start the second half and went almost five minutes without scoring. Duncan Robinson chipped in 10 points in the winning effort for MI.

Zak Irvin has been the focus of much criticism this season, but none of that was on his mind on his driving basket at the end of regulation that forced overtime in their win over Purdue on Friday. The Wolverines withstood the Gophers rally, but still needed to figure out what they wanted to do offensively with Wagner out. This Michigan team is as hot any in the nation and could be primed for an extended run in the Big Dance. We have a great opportunity in front of us. It really is just too bad.

But he looked strong against MI, scoring 13 points in the first half. “So that keeps going through my mind”, Beilein said.

From there on out it was all MI, as Irvin and Duncan Robinson took turns burying 3-pointers to sink UW.

“We have been here before”, Koenig said.

“So, he was subjected to a lot of film sessions”.