Big Ten Championship: Wisconsin Vs

The Big Ten brings some fantastic stories to the 2017 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Michigan Wolverines are the Big Ten Tournament champs for the first time since 1998, the first year the tournament was ever held. They live and die by the three, which could make them a unsafe bunch during the chaotic first couple rounds of the tournament, but they are also liable to go cold – as they’ve done in a few games this year – and struggle on defense. Because their game jerseys were still on the team plane – now a part of the investigation of the accident – the Wolverines had to play against IL in their practice jerseys.

Fans felt like Wisconsin would get anywhere between a five and seven seeds, so the fans were disappointed when the selection committee announced Wisconsin as a number eight. Wisconsin fell in 5 out of 7 games down the stretch of the season.

Wagner and the Wolverines resemble that remark as unpredictable after going from their plane skidding off the runway Wednesday to cutting down the nets as Big Ten Tournament champions Sunday.

Minnesota’s Akeem Springs suffered what is likely a torn right Achilles tendon in the second half.

NU’s 28-point margin of defeat was the third-largest since coach Chris Collins took over the program in 2013, and its 46 points scored represented the team’s fewest since January of a year ago. After this tournament, it’s still hard to peg the NCAA prospects of so many. The Blue Raiders have won 10 straight and 20 of 21. It was just the Gophers’ second loss in 11 games. Should they reach the Sweet Sixteen, top-seeded North Carolina figures to be waiting.

Northwestern is making their first Big Ten Tournament semifinal appearance in school history. And when a Duncan Robinson block with 11 minutes left led to a shot clock violation, Walton egged them on, gesturing and nodding his head in confident agreement. Well, rewind to about six weeks ago – that’s when he really started to realize that he was “the best player on the team”, per Beilein.

Wisconsin has not played their best basketball to end the year, plain and simple. Minnesota took down MI at Williams Arena 83-78 two and a half weeks ago. But without him the Wolverines kept excelling, growing the lead to 72-63 as Walton sank a 3 with 6:05 to go.

MI scored the first six points of the second half to take a 39-32 lead on a basket by D.J. Wilson, who had 17 points.

The much-maligned Big Ten doesn’t have a dominant team like Villanova in the Big East or Kansas in the Big 12, but that’s not necessarily a weakness.

Wisconsin, the highest remaining seed at No. 2, was the forgotten semifinalist. But with MI as hot as it is, there’s no reason why it couldn’t ride the momentum deep into March.

Michigan Wolverines vs. Wisconsin Badgers – 3:00 p.m.

Wisconsin got 15 points from Bronson Koenig, 14 each from Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ. The Spartans have seemingly been on the bubble, albeit on the right side of it, for a couple months it seems.