Men's College Basketball

The Big Ten has been one of the most entertaining conferences to watch in men's college basketball this season.

The top spot in the conference standings has changed hands multiple times. The Wisconsin Badgers own that position entering the final week of the regular season.

Wisconsin's top spot will be challenged by the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday night in a game that could either set the top spots in the Big Ten tournament field or make the picture more jumbled going into the final few days of regular-season action.

There are a few clear paths to top four seeds, but one unexpected loss could shift the seeding picture for the forthcoming event in Indianapolis.

Big Ten Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, March 9

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (6 p.m. ET, BTN)

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

Thursday, March 10

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (11:30 a.m. ET. BTN)

No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 vs. No. 13 winner (2 p.m. ET. BTN) 

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

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

Friday, March 11

No. 1 seed vs. No. 8 vs. No. 9 winner (11:30 a.m. ET, BTN)

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

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

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

Saturday, March 12

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

Semifinal No. 2 (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) 

Sunday, March 13

Championship Game (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) 

Bracket Predictions

1. Wisconsin

2. Illinois

3. Purdue

4. Ohio State

5. Rutgers

6. Iowa

7. Michigan State

8. Michigan

9. Indiana

10. Penn State

11. Maryland

12. Northwestern

13. Minnesota

14. Nebraska

The top of the Big Ten tournament bracket will be determined by Tuesday's clash between the Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers.

Wisconsin used a four-game winning streak to reach the top of the conference, and it gets the edge going into Tuesday night because of its home-court advantage. Purdue lost two of its past three road games—against the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans—and it only beat the Northwestern Wildcats by six points in its lone win in that span.

Tuesday's clash at Kohl Center could be a back-and-forth duel between Johnny Davis and Jaden Ivey, who are two of the individual stars you must watch in March.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will likely swoop up the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament if Wisconsin holds serve at home. Illinois closes the regular season with home games against the Penn State Nittany Lions and Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Ohio State Buckeyes' play over their final three games will determine the final double bye and the order beneath the No. 3 seed. Ohio State plays host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Michigan State and Michigan. It enters Tuesday one game ahead of Iowa and Michigan State in the loss column.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights could be the biggest beneficiary of the results over the coming days. Rutgers finishes with the Indiana Hoosiers on the road and a home game with Penn State. Rutgers could move ahead of Iowa and Michigan State with wins since both those programs have tougher schedules in the final week of the regular season.

Iowa could lose to Illinois, and Michigan State may stumble in one of its road games at Michigan or Ohio State. Any one of Rutgers, Iowa and Michigan State would love to earn the No. 5 seed to avoid a tough matchup in the first round in Indianapolis.

Michigan and Indiana will be the most desperate teams in the Big Ten tournament as they look to make one final push to secure spots in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Wolverines and Hoosiers could play each other in a bubble elimination game, with the winner taking on the No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

The top teams in the Big Ten tournament field will be fighting for NCAA tournament seeding along with the right to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

The two Michigan schools have won six of the past nine Big Ten tournaments, while Illinois is the reigning champion.

Wisconsin and Purdue could have extra motivation to end their Big Ten tournament droughts and potentially move up a seed line in the field of 68 in the process.

Christian Dawkins is seeking a new trial to potentially overturn his conviction in the college basketball bribery case, per Paula Lavigne of ESPN.

Dawkins, an aspiring sports agent, was convicted on two bribery charges and sentenced to one year and one day in prison for each charge. He is scheduled to begin his prison term Tuesday.

Attorney Steven Haney is now seeking a new trial, however, after FBI agent Scott Carpenter pleaded guilty to misusing $13,500 of government money to gamble at a casino in Las Vegas in 2017. Haney argued in a motion Monday that Carpenter's admission compromised the case.

Carpenter was one of four FBI agents involved in an undercover sting in Las Vegas, posing as investors in Dawkins' agency.

As Dawkins later explained in the HBO documentary The Scheme, the undercover FBI agent wanted to get money to college coaches who would then steer players to the sports agency. This later set up the opportunity to levy bribery charges against those involved.

Dawkins was convicted of conspiracy alongside youth basketball coach Merl Code, and the convictions were upheld by an appeals court in June 2021.

The behavior of the FBI agent still might have affected the case, as Dawkins' attorney argued.

According to Lavigne, defense attorneys were limited in their discussion of a "rogue" FBI agent and judges "refused to compel details or allow questioning of the agent in court proceedings."

In the latest filing, Haney argued the importance of the latest news.

"To turn a blind eye to these new developments, not known at the time of trial, would be manifestly unjust to a man convicted without the opportunity to cross examine an FBI agent convicted of crimes directly associated and concurrent to the performance of his investigative duties," Haney wrote.

Kylan Boswell, a 5-star point guard in the class of 2023, committed to Arizona on Monday.

Boswell chose the Wildcats over Illinois and UNLV.

A 6'1", 180-pound point guard who plays for Compass Prep in Arizona, he is ranked as the No. 2 point guard in the nation and the No. 11 player overall, according to 247Sports' composite rankings. He transferred from Corona Centennial (Calif.) for this season because of the latter's national schedule against some of the top teams in the country.

247Sports recruiting analyst Brandon Jenkins describes Boswell as "a competitive and winning point guard with a strong and sturdy frame who sets the tone on the defensive end. One of the best on-ball defenders in his class, Boswell is aggressive in getting into opposing ball handlers and guarding with physicality."

Boswell blogged about his junior year for Sports Illustrated, writing in October how he had a "great time" visiting Arizona and "loved to see how the coaches were in live action."

Boswell had an excellent summer, helping lead his AAU squad Team Why Not (Calif.) to the E16 Peach Jam title and winning a gold medal as a part of Team USA's under-16 squad.

Boswell's commitment gives Arizona its first prospect in the 2023 class. He should be in line for a starting job in the Wildcats backcourt as soon as he steps on campus.

If you didn't already get your tickets for Saturday's game between Duke and North Carolina, then you might be out of luck.

The average ticket price at StubHub exceeds $5,000 for what will be the final home contest for legendary Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski:

This may not even be a good game in terms of the action on the court.

Duke blew out UNC by 20 points during the last meeting between the teams in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Although the Tar Heels have since won five of their past six, they figure to be big underdogs. 

But whether this is another epic encounter in one of college basketball's biggest rivalries is of secondary concern. Anticipation has been building toward this occasion for months because of what it represents for Krzyzewski.

Coach K divulged in October that the V Foundation auctioned off four tickets to the game for $1 million:

The atmosphere inside Cameron Indoor Stadium is always special for Duke vs. UNC. For those lucky enough to attend Saturday's clash in person, it won't be a moment they soon forget.

A chaotic Saturday led to significant changes in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

Gonzaga lost its first game since December, but it was just the tip of the iceberg in a historic day:

The results created plenty of question marks for voters, who ended up leaving Gonzaga at No. 1 in the Week 17 rankings. The decision was no longer unanimous, though, as Duke and Baylor also earned first-place votes.

Here is the full Top 25 as conference tournaments begin around the country.

AP Poll

1. Gonzaga

2. Arizona

3. Baylor

4. Duke

5. Auburn

6. Kansas

7. Kentucky

8. Purdue

9. Providence

10. Wisconsin

11. Villanova

12. Texas Tech

13. Tennessee

14. Arkansas

15. Houston

16. USC

17. UCLA

18. Connecticut

19. Saint Mary's

20. Illinois

21. Texas

22. Murray State

23. Ohio State

24. Iowa

25. Alabama

It was a week full of court-storming by fans as top teams consistently faltered on the road:

Gonzaga surprisingly couldn't get anything going offensively against Saint Mary's on Saturday with star big men Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme each held to six points. The Gaels earned a 67-57 win and moved up to No. 19 in the latest poll.

It was a similar story in the Pac-12 as Colorado blew out Arizona for a 79-63 upset Saturday.

Despite the results, the top two remained unchanged with the Wildcats No. 2 behind Gonzaga. 

Auburn and Purdue were more competitive in their conference road games but still couldn't pull out wins.

Tennessee handed Auburn its third loss in the last six games with a 67-62 win. Auburn's Jabari Smith had 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks yet didn't get enough help to pull out the win.

The Tigers are down to fifth in the AP poll after sitting at No. 1 earlier this month.

Purdue is No. 8 after a 68-65 upset at the hands of Michigan State. The Spartans shot 45 percent from three-point range in Saturday's win, while the Boilermakers finished just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Baylor was one of the few Top 10 teams to survive the week without a loss, with one of the victories being over previously fifth-ranked Kansas. James Akinjo shot just 2-of-10 but came through when needed in the 80-70 win:

It helped the Bears jump seven spots to No. 3, while Kansas is sixth.

Arkansas is also a team no one wants to play after a 75-73 win over Kentucky on Saturday. The Razorbacks have won 13 of the last 14 games, beating Auburn, Tennessee and LSU.

Despite a rough stretch in the middle of the season, Arkansas is No. 14 in the latest ranking.

Duke, the highest-ranked team in the latest poll to avoid a loss this week, is No. 4 after road wins over Virginia and Syracuse.

With March on the horizon, the upsets should only continue across college basketball in the coming weeks. 

The Georgetown men's basketball team lost its 18th straight game Sunday, a school record. After the contest, head coach Patrick Ewing expressed a desire to return next season and right the ship.

"Of course, I want to be back here," he told reporters. "But in this position and this job, whatever happens will happen. I'm hoping that I'll be back and doing something that I love at a place that I love and getting us back to being the king of the hill."

Outside of Ewing's importance to the school as a legendary former player and NBA Hall of Famer, however, it's hard to formulate a strong argument for Georgetown bringing him back. 

The Hoyas are just 6-22 this season with two games remaining and haven't won a single Big East game, a shocking outcome for a proud program that developed the likes of Ewing, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Sleepy Floyd, among others. 

To put this season in perspective, the Hoyas have never finished in last place in the Big East since the league was formed in 1979. They've already clinched last place in the conference for the year.

Ewing is now 68-81 in his five seasons at the helm, with only one winning season to his name in 2018-19. Even the high of last season, when the Hoyas went on a miracle run through the Big East tournament by beating Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall and Creighton to claim the conference championship, ended in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 

"Last year was a much better season for us," Ewing said Sunday.

Georgetown has struggled to regain its former place among the elites in college basketball during the John Thompson days of the 70s, 80s and 90s, when the school reached the NCAA tournament 17 times, won a championship in the 1983-84 season, reached three Final Fours and seven Elite Eights. 

Under the watch of Craig Esherick (1999-00 to 2003-04) and John Thompson III (2004-05 to 2016-17), the Hoyas had a respectable 15 winning seasons but qualified for the NCAA tournament just nine times, reached the Sweet 16 three times and the Final Four in 2006-07. 

Replacing a legend like John Thompson is always a tall task. That another school legend in Ewing has struggled to return Georgetown to prominence has been a tough pill to swallow for Hoyas supporters.