It's finally Selection Sunday and a few Big Ten teams remain firmly on the bubble. The Big Ten will get at least five, if not six teams into the tournament and has an outside chance of sneaking in a seventh. Unfortunately for teams like Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue, all of them will have little reason to look forward to the selection show. On the other side of the conference is Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin, all firmly locked into the tournament. The biggest development for these teams is that Wisconsin's outside shot of a one seed went to the wayside following a loss to the Spartans, while Michigan is still trying to hype up the slim possibility of a one seed.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us with Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. Coming into the Big Ten Tournament it was safe to say Iowa was a lock, Nebraska was a near lock and Minnesota was on the outside looking in. Iowa did themselves no favors with the loss to Northwestern, a fitting end to a collapse of a season. The Hawkeyes got enough hype throughout the season to secure their bid, even though their resume wasn't exactly any more impressive than Nebraska or Minnesota's (you guys actually would have voted in Nebraska and Minnesota based on the blind resume poll, leaving Iowa out of the big dance). My honest opinion pertaining to Iowa is if they had lost to Purdue they'd be heading back to the NIT. Instead they'll earn a bid to the big dance but it's going to be a double digit seed, possibly as low as a 11 seed (but likely a 10 spot).
As for Nebraska, the Cornhuskers had to of felt pretty good heading into Indianapolis but now there's most likely a bit of uneasiness in the air. Nebraska should be in the tournament, the biggest question is if they'll end up in Dayton for a play-in game now. While they appeared to be cruising versus Ohio State, they ended up blowing an 18 point lead and a nice win was left off of the resume. As is, they have a nice (but not great resume) just inside the top 50, a top 30 SOS and a modest 4-7 mark versus the top 50. If the selection committee remembers the Nebraska of late, they should be fine and could avoid Dayton entirely. However, the deeper they dig the weaker Nebraska's resume will look, littered with poor losses, horrible road play and an entirely underwhelming non-conference slate. Mix that with some bubble teams quickly climbing the boards (Providence comes to mind), and Nebraska's seeding has definitely taken a hit.
The last team on the bubble is Minnesota and they're still on the outside looking in. The reality is you probably could have switched Minnesota and Nebraska had the Gophers knocked off Wisconsin, but now they're more or less bound for the NIT. There always seems to be a team or two that inexplicably draw the praise of the committee and earn a bid that no one anticipates, but Minnesota getting blown out by the Badgers in a must win game will likely not draw a vote of confidence from the committee. The Gophers had plenty of opportunities to win games down the stretch and routinely failed to pick up said games. Mix that in with plenty of inexplicable losses in the conference and you have a team that has little to justify a bid to the tournament.
In the Tournament: Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa
In Dayton: Nebraska
NIT: Minnesota, Illinois
CBI: Penn State (if they put in for a host bid, no guarantees major conference teams will want a CBI bid)
Nothing: Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue