Big Ten Basketball

With the top six programs in the Big Ten standings separated by two games, the seeding possibilities for the Big Ten tournament are endless with one week left in the regular season. 

The Maryland Terrapins hold a one-game advantage over the Michigan State Spartans, Illinois Fighting Illini and Wisconsin Badgers, while the Penn State Nittany Lions and Iowa Hawkeyes sit two games back.

Finishing in the top four is important because those teams advance straight to the quarterfinal round that will be played March 13 in Indianapolis. 

Reaching the championship game will be more difficult for the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds, but it is not an impossible task, as the Michigan Wolverines proved in 2017 and 2018. 

Since the top six are bunched so close together, we will not have a clear idea of what the final bracket looks like until after Sunday's contests. 

                    

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

All times ET

Wednesday, March 11

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (6 p.m., Big Ten Network)

No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (8:30 p.m., BTN)

      

Thursday, March 12

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (noon, BTN)

No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 vs. No. 13 winner (2:30 p.m., BTN)

No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed (6:30 p.m., BTN)

No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 vs. No. 14 winner (9 p.m., BTN) 

         

Friday, March 13

No. 1 seed vs. No. 8 vs. No. 9 winner (noon, BTN) 

No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 vs. No. 12/13 winner (2:30 p.m., BTN) 

No. 2 seed vs. No. 7 vs. No. 10 winner (6:30 p.m., BTN) 

No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 vs. No. 11/14 winner (9 p.m., BTN) 

           

Saturday, March 14

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m., CBS)

Semifinal No. 2 (3:30 p.m., CBS) 

       

Sunday, March 15

Championship (3:30 p.m., CBS) 

         

Bracket Predictions

1. Maryland

2. Wisconsin

3. Penn State

4. Iowa

5. Michigan State

6. Illinois 

7. Ohio State

8. Michigan 

9. Rutgers

10. Purdue

11. Indiana

12. Minnesota

13. Northwestern

14. Nebraska

The simplest bracket scenario features Maryland winning its final two games and avoiding any tiebreaker procedures. 

The Terps have struck a solid inside-outside balance between Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith, and they should be able to down the Rutgers and Michigan on Tuesday and Sunday, respectively. 

The Scarlet Knights suffered their first home loss to Michigan two weeks ago, and they won two of their eight games in February. 

Even though Maryland dropped two of its last three, it has enough to overpower the Knights, whose NCAA tournament hopes are shrinking by the loss.

Cowan, who scores 16.1 points per game, and Smith, who averages 15.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per contest, are tough for any opponent to handle, and they will be two of the main reasons why Mark Turgeon's team is successful in March.

If Maryland wins out, five teams have a chance to claim the No. 2 seed.

Wisconsin has the easiest path to a 14-6 conference mark, as it faces the Northwestern Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers.

Michigan State and Penn State face off Tuesday at the latter's Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions won the first meeting in East Lansing. 

Iowa and Illinois meet on the final day of the regular season in a rematch of a game won by the Hawkeyes on February 2 at Carver Hawkeye Arena. 

Although the Ohio State Buckeyes are in seventh place with a 10-8 conference mark, they could make the biggest impact on conference tournament seeding, as they face Illinois on Thursday and Michigan State on Sunday. 

Chris Holtmann's squad has won three in a row and owns a 5-3 mark versus Top 25 teams, so even if it does not cause chaos in the next week, it could be a factor in the early rounds. 

The teams that do not earn a top four seed in the conference tournament will have to play a quartet of contests to earn the league's automatic bid. 

The opening rounds in Indianapolis will be important for the Indiana Hoosiers, Purdue Boilermakers and Rutgers to solidify their March Madness resumes. 

As of Monday, Indiana and Rutgers were among the last four byes, while Purdue was listed as one of the next four out by ESPN's Joe Lunardi. 

Each of those squads would likely face a Top 25 squad Thursday, and if they spring an upset there, would take on one of top four seeds Friday. 

The Big Ten tournament is no stranger to witnessing a deep run by a lower seed. In 2019, the Minnesota Golden Gophers reached the semifinals as a No. 7 seed and the Nebraska Cornhuskers won twice as a No. 13 seed. 

A similar thing happened in 2018, when 14th-seeded Rutgers won two games and seventh-seeded Penn State made a run to the semifinals before No. 5 Michigan won the tournament. 

In fact, the top two seeds did not play each other in the final over the last decade, which gives us yet another reason to believe the Big Ten tournament could be the most exciting one during championship week. 

Despite its recent struggles, Maryland is still the favorite to take the No. 1 seed, and if it wins the tournament, it could have an outside chance of earning a top seed in the NCAA tournament, but that would require a loss by either the San Diego State Aztecs or Gonzaga Bulldogs. 

No matter which way the Big Ten tournament plays out, the conference is expected to have the most representation on Selection Sunday come March 15. 

The final number of Big Ten programs entering March Madness will come down to the performance of the bubble teams Thursday and Friday. 

              

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.

The Big Ten title doesn't belong to Maryland just yet.

No. 24 Michigan State made sure of that Saturday with an emphatic 78-66 victory over the conference's first-place team in a game that could've cliched the regular-season title for the Terrapins. 

Instead, MSU is just one game back with a week to go. 

The biggest contest of the year in College Park went off the rails quickly for the hosts when the Spartans opened an 18-point lead before entering halftime ahead 40-29. Cassius Winston led the way with 20 points on the night, as four MSU starters scored in double figures. 

Forward Jalen Smith did his best to pull the Terps back into the game, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

After Michigan State came back to beat Iowa, Tom Izzo was beaming and pounding the podium as he kept bringing up the chance to do something big at Maryland. He just had that look in his eye, like he knew a turning point could finally be here. And his team answered in a huge way.

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) March 1, 2020

It was another Saturday filled with upsets as No. 2 Baylor, No. 7 Duke, No. 6 Florida State, No. 12 Villanova and No. 22 Texas Tech all lost. No defeat will hurt more than Maryland's, however, which prevented a conference championship.

As for what went wrong for Maryland, Terps coach Mark Turgeon pointed to two areas in his postgame press conference. The first: There were too many Spartans making threes that Turgeon thought the team would be OK with sagging off defensively (MSU went 12-of-28 from three).

The other problem was Winston. 

"There's not many guys that's as good as he is in ball screens and recognizing things and making open shots," Turgeon said. "They were good. That's all I can say. They were really, really good."

The coach added he felt Michigan State was a different team than the one Maryland defeated 67-60 in East Lansing two weeks ago.

Turgeon's counterpart was happy with the result.

"Well, as you can imagine, that was a hell of a win for us," Tom Izzo said as he stepped to the podium in College Park. 

Tom Izzo on why it always seems his team hits their stride in March: "That means I'm a really bad coach in November, December, January, February. So when people say that I almost get offended."

— Tyler Byrum (@theTylerByrum) March 1, 2020

Another few games like this and Michigan State could grab the top seed in the Big Ten tournament.

Archie Miller's continued rebuild of the Indiana basketball program landed a major piece Tuesday, as 5-star guard Khristian Lander announced his commitment to the Hoosiers.

https://twitter.com/khristianlander/status/1232485320177803268

Lander is a class of 2021 recruit but is considering reclassifying into the 2020 class, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN. He is currently considered the No. 11 overall player and top-ranked point guard in 2021, per 247Sports. 

A Francis Joseph Reitz School product in Evansville, Indiana, Lander was also considering Memphis, Louisville and Michigan.

Lander complimented the Indiana fanbase as one of the best he's experienced.

"The fanbase is crazy there," Lander told Chris Evans of Rivals in October. "The student section goes until forever and it is pretty exciting there."

Lander would be Indiana's first commitment of the 2021 recruiting class. If he reclassifies to the 2020 class, he would be Miller's fourth commitment and first 5-star player. Lander would massively improve a group that currently ranks 28th in the country and has no players currently ranked inside the top 100 nationally, per 247Sports. 

Illinois upset No. 9 Penn State 62-56 on Tuesday at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Ayo Dosunmu's status for the game was in doubt after he injured his knee in the Fighting Illini's loss to Michigan State on Feb. 11. The sophomore suited up against the Nittany Lions and had a game-high 24 points.

As Illinois was clinging to a two-point lead, Dosunmu hit a floater with 16.1 seconds remaining to help seal the victory.

AYO DOSUNMU! 🔥

One week after being helped off the court with an injury at the end of a loss, he carries @IlliniMBB to a road win at No. 9 Penn State: pic.twitter.com/rCjiPlj2zy

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 19, 2020

What an effort from Ayo Dosunmu, leads Illinois to a road win at Penn State. A week after it looked like his season might be done, goes for 24 points and hits the game-clinching runner.

Also, absolutely loved the All-Access. Halftime & final minute of both halves were great.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 19, 2020

The Fighting Illini and Nittany Lions rank 263nd and 45th, respectively, in adjusted tempo, per KenPom.com. In general, Illinois was able to dictate the pace of the game early on, as the teams had combined for 29 points midway through the first half.

And as Dosunmu delivered on the offensive end, the Illini collectively suffocated Penn State on defense. The Nittany Lions shot 36.2 percent from the floor and made just four of their 19 three-point attempts. Lamar Stevens nearly had a double-double (13 points, nine rebounds) but went 3-of-11 from the floor.

Myreon Jones missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed illness, and his long-range shooting was sorely missed for Penn State.

Illinois snapped a four-game losing skid with the win, and the result could have implications for the NCAA tournament.

In his most recent edition of Bracketology, ESPN's Joe Lunardi projected the Fighting Illini to be a No. 8 seed in the West Region. They had been a No. 7 seed when Lunardi looked at the field of 68 teams last Friday.

A fifth straight defeat wouldn't have helped Illinois' tournament position, and beating a Top 10 team alleviates some of the need for the Illini to topple one of No. 25 Ohio State or No. 20 Iowa in their final two regular-season games.

Former Michigan State star Keith Appling was arrested Feb. 8 and charged with delivery or manufacture of less than 50 grams of a controlled substance and driving without a license, according to the Detroit Free Press' Darcie Moran on Saturday.

Authorities pulled Appling over in Warren, Michigan, after he was allegedly driving erratically and discovered a "golf ball-sized amount of heroin" in his car.

Appling was arrested in August 2016, his third arrest that year, after being pulled over and briefly evading police. He was sentenced to a year in jail in August 2017 for carrying a concealed weapon and resisting police.

According to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), the 28-year-old was on parole at the time of his most recent arrest. He will hire a lawyer and is due in court Feb. 25.

Appling spent four years at Michigan State and helped the Spartans reach the Elite Eight of the 2014 NCAA tournament. After going undrafted, he played two seasons in the NBA G League and made five appearances for the Orlando Magic in 2015-16.

Hall of Fame coach Bobby Knight returned to Indiana University's Assembly Hall on Saturday for the first time since he was fired as the Hoosiers' men's basketball coach in 2000.

Knight, who was present as part of the celebration for the 1980 Big Ten championship-winning Indiana team, received a hugely positive response from the crowd:

Warm welcome back for Bob Knight's long-awaited return to Assembly Hall 🙏

(via @BigTenNetwork)pic.twitter.com/FXH0vnZUoY

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 8, 2020

As the 79-year-old Knight made his way through the tunnel and onto the court, fans chanted his name in unison:

Bobby Knight returns. @IndianaMBB x #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/924VNHKKkG

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

Knight also showed some of his trademark fire and intensity during the ceremony:

They act like to two legends cannot co-exist. @IndianaMBB x #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/HkHrWH9cN0

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

Bob Knight still had some intensity in him. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Cjhrql1Ar9

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

During his 29 seasons as the head coach at Indiana, Knight went 662-239 and led the Hoosiers to 11 Big Ten titles, five Final Four appearances and three national championships.

The decision to fire Knight in 2000 created a schism between the legendary coach and Indiana University, and according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Knight turned down many opportunities to appear at events over the years.

Knight even opted against being present for his induction into the Indiana University athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

The decision to fire Knight came shortly after video that showed him choking player Neil Reed during a 1997 practice surfaced in 2000. Knight was then hired to be the head coach at Texas Tech in 2001, and he spent seven years at the helm for the Red Raiders.

Overall, Knight went 902-371 during his college coaching career when also taking into account his time at Army prior to joining Indiana. Among Division I men's basketball coaches, Knight is third on the all-time wins list behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.

Knight was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Despite the energy that Knight's return gave the crowd Saturday, the Hoosiers fell 74-62 to the rival Purdue Boilermakers, dropping their record to 15-8 on the season.

The Michigan Wolverines scored a 77-68 rivalry win over the No. 16 Michigan State Spartans on Saturday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Michigan, which is on the NCAA tournament bubble with a month left in the regular season, improved to 14-9 with a 5-7 record in Big Ten play thanks to the minor upset. It also moved the team's mark to 4-4 against ranked opponents this season.

Zavier Simpson led the way with 16 points and eight assists. Isaiah Livers added 14 points.

Michigan State has now dropped three straight games and five of its past eight to fall to 16-8. The Spartans' 87-69 win over Michigan in the teams' first meeting last month is one of just two victories over ranked foes during the current campaign.

Cassius Winston tallied 20 points, six assists and four rebounds but made just five of his 18 shots from the field. Xavier Tillman chipped in a double-double (17 points and 12 boards).

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard will likely be most pleased with the team's improvement at the defensive end.

"They got too many open looks," Howard told reporters after a loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions last month. "It was because of a lack of communication on the defensive end—and it's January 22. ... It's very challenging to come up here and have to talk about that we're not communicating enough. I don't understand why."

It held MSU to 33.3 percent shooting, including 26.1 percent from three-point range. It's the second straight ranked opponent the Spartans held below 35 percent from the field. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights posted similar numbers (32.5 percent FGs; 25 percent 3s) against Michigan last Saturday.

The Wolverines' have made steady progress on that end of the floor since Howard's comments, and it's helped them take some key steps toward a March Madness berth.

Meanwhile, Michigan State opened the season as the No. 1 team in the country, but it has rarely showcased that type of high-end form during an up-and-down season.

Trying to get more balance offensively should be the focus during the stretch run of the regular season for the Spartans, who are an NCAA tournament lock.

Too many times during the second half of Saturday's game it was Winston or nothing at the offensive end. He attempted nine of his 18 shots in the final 6:31 as MSU tried to mount a comeback.

Michigan State still has the talent to make a deep run in March. The onus is on the team's secondary contributors, led by Gabe Brown (0 points Saturday), Malik Hall (8) and Rocket Watts (7), to start making their presence felt more consistently, though.

The Spartans remain on the road to face the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini on Tuesday, while the Wolverines are back to the floor Wednesday when they visit the Northwestern Wildcats.

It's been 20 years since Bob Knight stepped foot in Assembly Hall to see the Indiana Hoosiers play. 

That streak is expected to end Saturday.

The Hall of Fame coach who led the Hoosiers to three national titles during his 29-year tenure has made plenty of appearances around Bloomington since moving back last year, but attending an IU basketball game has remained a long shot—until now, according to Tom Brew of Sports Illustrated. 

Knight will likely attend Saturday's rivalry game between Indiana and Purdue at 2:00 p.m. ET. 

Seth Davis of The Athletic noted that while the school is expecting Knight to return, there have been instances in the past where he has committed to show up to Assembly Hall only for the coach to change his mind at the last minute. 

Knight was fired in 2000 for violating a zero tolerance policy the school put in place after video emerged of the coach choking then-Hoosier Neil Reed.

Despite that, Knight has remained beloved by many IU fans with school officials trying to convince him to return to campus for years now. 

Indiana is honoring the 1979-80 team Knight coached to a 21-8 record before losing in the Sweet 16. Also expected to attend the game is former Purdue coach Gene Keady and former Hoosier Scott May, who distanced himself from the school after Knight's firing. 

Michigan guard Zavier Simpson's one-game suspension in January was the result of crashing a car that belonged to Chrislan Manuel, the wife of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.

Samuel Dodge of MLive.com acquired the police report via the Freedom of Information Act and provided more information on the incident, which took place in the early hours of Sunday, January 26, in Ann Arbor, Michigan:

"The report also shows that the University of Michigan basketball star lied to officers about his name and whether he was driving when the vehicle crashed into a utility pole in Ann Arbor hours after Michigan’s loss to Illinois last month, according to the police report.

"Officers found the senior point guard outside the vehicle that made contact with a pole and street sign on the corner of Hill Street and South Forest Avenue at 3:03 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, according to the report.

"Simpson initially told officers his name was Jeff Jackson Simpson and that he was walking down South Forest Avenue when he noticed the crashed vehicle, Ann Arbor police said."

Officers recognized Simpson as the team's point guard, however. He was given a traffic citation for "driving too fast for conditions," per Dodge.

Simpson, a senior, sat for his team's 79-68 win over Nebraska on January 28. He returned for Michigan's win against Rutgers four days later.

Simpson is averaging 12.7 points and 8.2 assists for the 13-9 Wolverines, who are 4-7 in Big Ten play.

The team captain was reinstated after one game following a decision by Manuel and head coach Juwan Howard, who noted that the situation would be handled in-house:

Breaking News from 〽️🏀

Juwan Howard reinstates senior guard Zavier Simpson#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/NQ3tvTtYC7

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) January 31, 2020

Simpson provided a statement and said he accepted "full responsibility" for his actions and apologized to his team and others.

Michigan's next game will be home against rival Michigan State on Saturday at noon ET.