It may seem arithmetically impossible for a conference to produce six regular-season champions in four years, but numbers don’t always add up in the 11-member Big Ten.
Check the records: Michigan State has won the last four regular-season titles. Illinois has won two of the last three. Impossible? Not in the Big Ten, where every co-champ gets a trophy.
MSU and Illinois have also met in the last two Big Ten tournament finals. And they’ve each won six tournament games, more than any other conference member. The Spartans and the Fighting Illini haven’t quite turned the league into the Big Two and the Little Nine, but they’re heading that way.
That’s why the 2001 Big Ten tournament, which tips off Thursday at the United Center, is shaping up as a battle over banners and bragging rights and, perhaps most important, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Illinois drew the Big Ten tournament’s top seed by virtue of its 77-66 victory over Michigan State in the schools’ lone meeting Feb. 6 in Champaign.
“They’re both favorites to get to the championship game,” said Iowa coach Steve Alford, whose sixth-seeded Hawkeyes face No. 11 Northwestern on Thursday night. “But there are a lot of quality teams. Nobody is going to lay down and let them get to the Sunday game. A lot of work is going to have to go into it for them to get there.”
The Spartans and the Illini have a lot in common. Both rely heavily on home-grown talent, but neither has a single player from the largest city in its state.
Both teams can win in traditional Big Ten style, with bloody noses and bandages. Or they can run you off the floor.
“Both are, in my opinion, Final Four-caliber teams,” said Wisconsin coach Brad Soderberg, whose fifth-seeded Badgers meet No. 4 Indiana on Friday morning. “Both teams have so many weapons. They’re both athletic enough to compete against the great athletic teams you see across the country. Not only that, their depth is extremely good.
“And both teams are motivated. They’re both in pursuit of something. Michigan State is not defending a national championship, they’re pursuing something. And Illinois is as hungry a team as there is in the country.”
But as strong as they are, neither the Spartans nor the Illini should expect to waltz to the Big Ten final. The brief history of the tournament suggests that one, if not both, of the league’s powerhouses will be on their way back to campus before the weekend is half over.
The top two seeds have never met in the Big Ten tournament, and in the event’s first three years, the No. 1 seed has won exactly as many games as the No. 11 seed–three.
“That’s the absolute beauty of college basketball,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. “It takes one 10-minute stretch for an Illinois or a Michigan State not to be on top of their game for [an upset] to happen. It’s not like an absolute miracle to knock one of those two teams off. That’s what makes it an exciting tournament.”
Monson’s ninth-seeded Gophers meet No. 8 Purdue on Thursday afternoon. The Boilermakers (14-13) need to run the table this weekend or miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991-92.
The Illini and the Spartans figure to coast in the quarterfinals–Illinois meets the Purdue-Minnesota winner and MSU faces Penn State or Michigan–but after that things could become interesting.
Illinois would meet either No. 23 Wisconsin or Indiana in the semifinals. The Illini won their two games with the Badgers and the Hoosiers by a combined seven points. Michigan State, meanwhile, could face a semifinal against No. 24 Ohio State, which upset the Spartans on Jan. 27 in Columbus.
If the Spartans and the Illini survive to Sunday, they will play for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, almost certainly in the Midwest Regional. It’s also possible both teams could grab No. 1 seeds, although that would depend on results in the Atlantic Coast, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference tournaments.
The Illini and Spartans can’t take anything for granted in Chicago. High seeds have a tendency to get blown away in the Windy City. “They’re going to be a handful for anybody, but certainly they’re beatable,” Purdue coach Gene Keady said.
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Follow the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament on the Internet at: www.chicagosports.com/go/bigten2001
