Big Ten Tournament: Sunday Thoughts

The Michigan Wolverines became the highest seeded team in the history of the Big Ten Tournament to win the title and they did so against some circumstances that would have led a lot of teams to crumble.

The Wolverines took complete control of the tournament and have plenty of momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament. To run down the events of the Big Ten Tournament, here are some Sunday thoughts.

Michigan could be the most dangerous team in the country

The Wolverines are absolutely on fire right now, and they haven’t showed any sign of cooling off anytime soon. Derrick Walton Jr. was snubbed for the All-Big Ten first team and it definitely seems like he took that personally throughout the course of the tournament.

A point guard who can dominate the game in as many aspects as he can goes a long way to success in the NCAA Tournament, and Walton Jr. has been out of his mind throughout the last two months of the conference season. His leadership on the court is also a huge factor that could lead to the Wolverines going much farther into March than just Big Ten Tournament champions.

Northwestern doesn’t need a Tournament championship to enjoy their day

The Northwestern Wildcats are heading to their first NCAA Tournament so their day was made even after waking up this morning knowing they would not be playing today after being handled easily by the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Collins has done a phenomenal job with this team all year long handling the expectations and ignoring as much of the hype as possible throughout the season as it became more and more evident that this team was going to be in their first NCAA Tournament in school history.

Hats off to the Northwestern Wildcats, it’s been a long time coming.

The conference is gearing up for the NCAA Tournament

As the Big Ten Tournament has come to a close, the focus now shifts completely. There were some interesting seeding decisions for the Big Ten, a few teams certainly feel like they got the harsh end of the seeding process.

The Wisconsin Badgers ended up getting an 8 seed in the East Region in the bracket with the top overall seed the Villanova Wildcats. They will face the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first round. The Badgers had an up and down conference season but had appeared to return to form until losing in the tournament final. An 8 seed certainly seems to be a shot of disrespect to the Big Ten, but only winning tournament games will change the perception.

The Michigan Wolverines looked to possibly be as high as a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament after their ridiculous run to end the season en route to winning the Big Ten Tournament, but they were given a 7 seed in the Midwest region and will face Oklahoma State in Indianapolis.

Michigan State got the 9 seed in the Midwest Region and could possibly face Kansas in the second round if they can get by the Miami Hurricanes.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers got the 5 seed in the South Region and will play in Milwaukee against the 12 seed Middle Tennessee State, who you may remember for beating Michigan State in the first round of last years NCAA Tournament.

The Northwestern Wildcats will travel to Salt Lake City to play their first ever NCAA Tournament game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The Maryland Terrapins got a 6 seed in the West Region and will play Xavier in Orlando.