Big Ten teams scramble for bids

“I don’t know where we are. Unless you’re just sitting up there in the Top 25, I don’t think anyone is in.”

Tubby Smith

Minnesota coach

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Let the postseason scramble begin in the Big Ten.

Regular-season champion Michigan State, along with Illinois and Purdue, are certain to move on to the NCAA tournament no matter what happens in the conference tourney this week in Indianapolis. To those three schools, it’s all about jockeying for the best seeding.

Five other Big Ten teams can offer persuasive arguments to get into the NCAAs. And a sixth, Northwestern, also could have a shot if the Wildcats can pull off a few upsets.

It should all make for another tense tournament weekend in Indianapolis.

“I don’t know where we are. Unless you’re just sitting up there in the Top 25, I don’t think anyone is in,” Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said. “I just want to make sure we take care of business.”

Sounds a lot like what many of his fellow coaches are saying.

Only 10th-place Iowa and cellar-dweller Indiana are out of the NCAAs — unless they somehow win the Big Ten tournament.

The Spartans, Illini and Boilermakers all received first-round Big Ten byes. But there’s not much separation in the standings after the Spartans, who finished 15-3 in the conference, four games ahead of Illinois and Purdue.

Ohio State and Wisconsin, both 10-8, look to be in good shape, though there are no guarantees and they play each other in the quarterfinals Friday. But Ohio State has shown the ability to win road games and Wisconsin played the sixth-toughest schedule in the nation.

Resurgent Penn State, also 10-8 in conference, has four wins over Top 25 teams, but suffers from the second-worst RPI of the Big Ten bubble teams (63) and an unimpressive strength-of-schedule ranking of 95. Still, with a winning conference record and road wins at Michigan State and Illinois, one more Nittany Lions victory would strengthen a solid claim.

Michigan and Minnesota both finished 9-9 in the conference, a game behind Penn State, but given that the selection committee looks at a team’s entire season, the Gophers (41 RPI) and Wolverines (42) can make strong cases for at-large bids. Michigan’s road win at Minnesota on Saturday could prove huge for the Wolverines.

Two games separated the second-seeded Illini and eighth-seeded Minnesota, and Northwestern was three games behind Illinois in ninth place.

Perhaps no team has been affected in the standings by the league balance more than Penn State.

At 21-10 on the year, they’ve notched their highest season win total since 2000-01 — the last time they made the tournament. Penn State boasts six victories against Top 50 RPI teams.

Asked whether is team had done enough already to earn an NCAA bid, Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said, “I hope so, I really hope so ... But we’re going to try to win the Big Ten tournament ... so there isn’t any doubt that on Sunday we can all sit down have some fun with the whole thing.”