Chesterton’s Vanessa Krause, Michigan three-repeat at Big Tens — REGION COLLEGIANS

Bates-Diop entered last week as the front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year.

Northwestern then missed 17 straight shots during the Spartans’ long run, going without a field goal for more than 14 minutes and scoreless for more than 11 minutes during MSU’s big comeback. After defeating then-No. 3 Purdue on February 10, the Spartans rolled over Minnesota in a 30-point blowout before beating Northwestern in a miraculous 27-point comeback.

It looked early on that the Michigan State Basketball team was going to get blitzed Saturday afternoon against Northwestern.

The Big Ten has another slate of three games on the docket for Sunday. The Hoosiers closed last week on a four-game winning streak, keeping their faint NCAA hopes alive. Add to that the overwhelming pressure of needing to win to keep pace with the surging Michigan State Spartans, and there was no shortage of drama that Ohio State’s showdown against Michigan could produce. When it needed plays from the likes of C.J. Jackson, it simply didn’t get them.

What went wrong in the 74-62 loss to MI on Sunday and what the Buckeyes didn’t do that they had been doing when they won 13 of their first 14 Big Ten games.

MI led 33-28 at halftime and gradually started to pull away in the second half, going up by nine at 53-44 with 10:42 remaining. He and two MI managers put together a highlight tape that consisted mainly of practice clips to go along with a lengthy text message begging coaches for an opportunity. Last week I said it would be important for MI to make their free throws in order to win tougher games, and tonight they came through. PSU has a two-game sweep of Ohio State on its resume. MI made strides in repairing its image after its less-than-impressive start, but now is not the time to slow down.

If the Huskers had won, MI would have needed two road wins and two home losses by Nebraska to get the fourth seed.

MI closes out its regular season with two road games, at Penn State on Wednesday and at Maryland on Saturday.

Nebraska is in a tough position.

The Huskers, who are also on the bubble, are fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives. The Cornhuskers have really flown under the radar in the Big Ten, as they are 11-4 in conference play and 20-8 overall. The effort was better than at Penn State, but the loss severely damaged the Buckeyes’ opportunity for a league championship.

First, some reminders. The bracket holds 32 automatic bids for conference champions (noted with italics), and the remaining 36 are at-large selections. Now we know that Michigan State is capable of making a comeback from a very large deficit as they showed they’re capable of coming through with the offensive firepower. Last week, the Nittany Lions completed a season sweep of then-No.

IN hasn’t reached its full potential this season but is progressing nicely as the regular season comes to a close. They kept it close in the first half save for the last two minutes of the half as the Wolverines started to pull away until KBD, as Clark Kellogg called him, finally hit a three. She is the first MI swimmer to win the 200 butterfly in nearly a decade. “And we’ve got to make better plays with the ball – we try as coaches to put them in better position but our guards have to make better decisions and make better plays with the ball”.

The latest came in a 74-59 win over Iowa. The college basketball odds for the game have the Wolverines favored to pick up the win. Purdue is struggling and that’s not uncommon for a Matt Painter team toward the end of the season. The Terrapins take on Northwestern and No. 17 MI this week.

Starting forward Anfernee McLemore was lost for the season after being taken from the court on a stretcher with a dislocated left ankle.

Upset alert: Michigan State at Wisconsin, Sunday.

The Buckeyes, who are now tied with Michigan State but own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Spartans, still control their own fate in terms of winning the Big Ten and getting a No. 1 seed in the conference tourney, but holding onto that lead through the weekend is going to be a hard task.

Northwestern had a chance to improve to over.500 in conference play this week and establish itself as a contender in the Big Ten. UM won four games, in four days, to win the tournament last season, but doing that again might prove hard.

In the two games prior to Saturday – losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt – Holman averaged 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per contest while shooting 52.6 percent from the field.