Big Ten Tournament 2020: Round 2 Schedule, Live-Stream Info, Bracket Predictions
Despite a surreal scene all over the American sports map, the Big Ten Tournament kicked off unimpeded Wednesday night with two matchups. In the early game, 12th-seeded Minnesota defeated 13th-seeded Northwestern by a 74-57 final, while 11th-seeded Indiana crushed 14th-seeded Nebraska to the tune of an 89-64 score.
In light of the increasing caution shown by leaders of the sports world, whether the Big Ten Tournament even continues remains a major question. But for now, let's assume that the show goes on. Thursday will see four second-round matchups, highlighted by the two late games: Ohio State vs. Purdue and Penn State vs. Indiana.
As the Big Ten projects to have 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament, per ESPN's Joe Lunardi, most of the conference tournament games after this round will likely feature outfits certain to see their names listed Sunday night.
Those aforementioned games, however, feature two bubble teams in Indiana (a member of Lunardi's Last Four In) and Purdue (a team mentioned in his Next Four Out), so they are of particular importance.
Big Ten Tournament
Thursday, March 14
2nd Round
Game 3: No. 8 Rutgers vs. No. 9 Michigan (12:00 p.m. ET, BTN)Game 4: No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 12 Minnesota (2:25 p.m., BTN)Game 5: No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Purdue (6:30 p.m, BTN)Game 6: No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 Indiana (8:55 p.m., BTN)
Friday, March 15
Quarterfinals
Game 7: No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Game 3 winner (12:30 p.m. ET, BTN)Game 8: No. 4 Illinois vs. Game 4 winner (3 p.m., BTN)Game 9: No. 2 Michigan State vs. Game 5 winner (6:30 p.m., BTN)Game 10: No. 3 Maryland vs. Game 6 winner (9:00 p.m., BTN)
Saturday, March 16
Semifinals
Game 11: Friday afternoon winners (1 p.m. ET, CBS)Game 12: Friday evening winners (3:30 p.m., CBS)
Sunday, March 17
Championship
Game 13: Saturday winners (3:30 p.m ET, CBS)
Live Stream: Hulu Live TV, fuboTV (free trial)
Bracket Predictions
It bears repeating that the NCAA Tournament may be canceled, which would essentially render the results of the Big Ten Conference Tournament moot. However, as that has not happened, let's go forth with some predictions for Thursday's games.
The early game, featuring Rutgers (20-11) and Michigan (19-12), should be entertaining. The matchup to watch has to be the Wolverines offense, led by Zavier Simpson (12.9 PPG, 7.9 APG) and Isaiah Livers (12.9 PPG, 40.2 3PT%), against the Scarlet Knights' sixth-ranked defense, per KenPom. Michigan has scored 80 points 10 times this year, while Rutgers has limited opponents to fewer than 60 points 13 times.
The old adage about unstoppable forces and immovable objects seems to apply here, but we we will take Michigan based on its slightly more balanced roster and two regular-season victories over Rutgers.
That 8-9 battle is followed immediately up with Iowa taking on Minnesota, a matchup that the Hawkeyes are favored in by just one-and-a-half points despite arguably boasting the National Player of the Year in Luke Garza (23.9 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 1.8 BPG).
Despite playing the Hawkeyes close in their only matchup, losing 58-55 and boasting an ostensibly good matchup for him in Daniel Oturu (20.0 PPG, 11.4 RPG), the Golden Gophers should be considered heavy underdogs here. They have a losing record, have lost six of their past nine games and are one of the few teams in the Big Ten that needs to win the conference tournament to make it to March Madness.
As discussed, the latter two matchups of the slate may be the most interesting based on the status of two of the participating teams, but their opponents may have other ideas.
For instance, Purdue, despite needing a win over Ohio State to solidify its postseason credentials, should be considered a long shot to beat the Buckeyes. They lost by 16 points in Columbus in February and come into the conference tournament playing some of their worst ball of the season, losing five of their past seven games, whereas OSU has won six of eight, including wins over three ranked opponents.
However, Penn State taking on Indiana should be the best game of the day. The teams split the season series, with the Nittany Lions winning the first game by 15 points and the Hoosiers winning the second by eight points.
As the higher seed—and a team that was ranked for much of the season—Penn State might seem to have this one in the bag but has lost five of six. Indiana hasn't done much better, going just 3-3 over its past six games, but if it continues to be a top-30 defensive team the way it has all season under Archie Miller, then the Hoosiers might be able to pull an upset and kick off a nice little run through the Big Ten.
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