Wolverine Digest

Predicting every game of the Big Ten Tournament following the bracket reveal

Trent Knoop

Dale Young-Imagn Images
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After four games of Big Ten basketball on Sunday afternoon, the regular season has concluded and the Big Ten Tournament is set. The Michigan Wolverines flopped down the stretch and not only lost a chance of winning the Big Ten, but the maize and blue lost the No. 2 seed to Maryland after getting beat by rival Michigan State on Sunday.

The five-day tournament is set to begin on Wednesday and we are going to do our best to predict the outcome of every game.

Round 1 (Wednesday)

No. 13 Northwestern vs. No. 12 Minnesota

Northwestern won the lone meeting this season and the 'Cats won the last three out of five contests, while the Gophers have one win in the last five games. Nick Martinelli could give Minnesota some trouble.

Winner: Northwestern

No. 15 Iowa vs. No. 10 Ohio State

Ohio State is far from a perfect team, but the Buckeyes can score the ball and Iowa has trouble playing defense -- worst in the Big Ten. Bruce Thornton and the Buckeye should get this one.

Winner: Ohio State

No. 14 USC vs. No. 11 Rutgers

Rutgers and USC are nearly identical in how many points they both score and give up. But USC has won just one game in the last seven tries. As bad of a season as the Scarlet Knights have had, they still have two potential top-three picks in the NBA Draft.

Winner: Rutgers

Round 2 (Thursday)

No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 8 Oregon

The Ducks and Hoosiers played earlier this month and Oregon came out on top. But both teams are playing good basketball right now with potential slots into the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers likely have more to play for, but which Indiana team will show up?

Winner: Indiana

No. 13 Northwestern vs. No. 5 Wisconsin

Although Wisconsin just dropped a home game against Penn State, the Badgers are clearly the better team of the two. The 'Cats should bounce out of the tournament after one win.

Winner: Wisconsin

No. 10 Ohio State vs. No. 7 Illinois

Illinois ended the season well beating both Michigan and Purdue and the highest scoring Big Ten team started drilling their 3s. Will that travel to Indianapolis for the tournament? Time will tell.

Winner: Illinois

No. 11 Rutgers vs. No. 6 Purdue

These two teams played twice this season and Purdue crushed the Scarlet Knights twice. The bigs of the Boilermakers will be too much for Rutgers -- again.

Winner: Purdue

Round 3 (Friday)

No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 1 Michigan State

Michigan State lost to Indiana in the lone game between the two. As it was mentioned above, the Hoosiers are playing for their NCAA Tournament lives, but it's hard to believe the Spartans are going to lose to Indiana twice.

Winner: Michigan State

No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 4 UCLA

Believe it or not, UCLA is 15th in the conference in scoring, but the Bruins play great defense. As they say, defense travels in tournament play. Wisconsin will need offensive output to win this game and good thing for the Badgers -- they already had one game under their belt.

Winner: Wisconsin

No. 7 Illinois vs. No. 2 Maryland

Maryland isn't having much trouble beating anyone right now and that includes Illinois. The Terps wiped the floor with the Illini earlier in the year. If Illinois doesn't hit its 3s, Maryland could see an easy victory.

Winner: Maryland

No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 3 Michigan

Michigan is a sinking ship right now and the Wolverines can't do anything right offensively. Michigan needs a reset and its sort of getting that, but Purdue spells trouble for the Wolverines on a neutral site.

Winner: Purdue

Round 4 (Saturday)

No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 1 Michigan State

Michigan State is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference and while the Spartans don't have a true scoring threat -- it's all hands on deck. Wisconsin has the team to unseat Michigan State, but once again, the Spartans are playing too well.

Winner: Michigan State

No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 6 Purdue

The two teams played each other one time but that was before Maryland was really Maryland. The Terrapins are a brand new team in the second half of the season and the Maryland bigs are a lot to handle -- even for the Purdue bigs.

Winner: Maryland

Final (Sunday)

No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 1 Michigan State

These two teams played each other one time this season and Spartans' Tre Holloman drilled a half-court shot to win. They are the two hottest teams in the conference and the two favorites to win the tournament. As the old saying goes, 'It's hard to beat the same team twice'.

Big Ten Tournament winner: Maryland

Maryland Terrapin
Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

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Trent Knoop
TRENT KNOOP

Trent began writing and covering Michigan athletics back in 2020. He became a credentialed member of the media in 2021. Trent began writing with Sports Illustrated in 2023 and became the Senior Writer for Michigan Wolverines On SI for the 2024 football season. Trent’s love of sports and being able to tell stories to fans is what made him get into writing.

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