2009 Big Ten Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 12th annual Big Ten Conference Tournament begins on Thursday, March 12th with three opening-round games at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wisconsin is the defending Big Ten Tournament champion, having disposed of Illinois in last year's title tilt, 61-48. It was the Badgers' second championship, tying them with Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan State for the most tourney titles in the history of the event.

Michigan State won the 2008-09 Big Ten regular season title and coach Tom Izzo's Spartans own a stellar 25-5 overall record, which includes a 15-3 league ledger. Izzo has led his team to five Big Ten championship. The No. 2 seed went to Illinois (23-8, 11-7), while the third and fourth seeds fell to Purdue (22-9, 11-7) and Wisconsin (19-11, 10-8), respectively. The fifth seed belongs to Ohio State (20-9, 10-8), and each of the top five seeds receives a bye into the quarterfinals.

The opening day of tournament action features three games, the first being a clash between eighth-seeded Minnesota and ninth-seeded Northwestern. The winner moves of to face top-seeded Michigan State.

The Golden Gophers (21-9, 9-9) got off to a sensational start, going 12-0 against non-conference foes, among those triumphs being a 70-64 decision over a very good Louisville squad. A Big Ten-opening loss to Michigan State ended Minnesota's perfect run, but victories in its next four games had the Gophers at 4-1 in conference. Unfortunately, Tubby Smith's club would go on to lose eight of its final 13 games. Still a 21-win regular season is nothing to sneeze at so the team should come into this tournament a confident bunch. The Gophers, who pace the Big Ten in blocked shots (6.20 per game) and steals (8.47 per game), are led by Lawrence Westbrook and his 12.4 ppg. No other player is averaging double digits in scoring, although Damian Johnson is close at 9.4 ppg.

As for the Wildcats (17-12, 8-10), they recently had a three-game win streak snapped with a 52-47 loss at Ohio State in the regular season finale. Northwestern, which is the worst rebounding team in the conference (28.2 rpg, -5.1 rebounding margin) and averages just 64.0 ppg, boasts a pair of solid contributors in Kevin Coble (15.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and Craig Moore (14.4 ppg, .419 three-point FG percentage), both of whom were named All-Big Ten performers.

Game two of the first round pits the seventh-seeded Michigan Wolverines against the 10th-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes. A quarterfinal-round matchup with Illinois awaits the winner.

Michigan (19-12, 9-9) was another team that got off to a fast start, winning 13 of its first 16 games. From there however, the wheels fell off as the team dropped nine of its final 15 to finish at .500 in league play. Manny Harris (17.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg) is the Wolverines' top player, and he was recently named to the All-Big Ten First Team. DeShawn Sims (15.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg) is the only other double-digit scorer for a Michigan squad that owns a +3.8 scoring differential for the season. The Wolverines average a conference-best 8.58 three-pointers per contest.

Not that anyone thought that Iowa (15-16, 5-13) was going to make any significant noise in the conference this season, but the Hawkeyes disappointed on several fronts. The team was one of the worst offensive groups in the Big Ten, putting up a mere 60.7 ppg despite shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc. Jake Kelly (11.7 ppg), Jeff Peterson (10.6 ppg, 4.24 apg) and Matt Gatens (11.1 ppg) are the team's most consistent players. Gatens is the Big Ten's top free-throw shooter, converting 90.4 percent of his attempts.

The final first-round matchup pits the sixth-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions against the 11th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to face Purdue.

Penn State (21-10, 10-8) had a solid campaign, winning six more games this year than last, and claiming its first 20-win season since 2000-01. As a result, Ed DeChellis was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the media. MSU's Izzo was picked by the league's coaches, marking the first split of the Coach of the Year award in Big Ten history. PSU has a couple of top-notch performers on the roster, led by All-Big Ten First Teamer Talor Battle (league-leading 17.3 ppg). Jamel Cornley (13.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg), selected to the All-Big Ten Third Team, lends support for a team that is averaging 66.0 ppg and giving up just 61.9 ppg.

Indiana (6-24, 1-17) just completed its worst regular season in recent memory, and first-year coach Tom Crean certainly has his work cut out for him moving forward. The Hoosiers put up a league-worst 60.4 ppg this year while being outscored by an average of 10.4 ppg. Not one IU player made any All-Conference team, and Devan Dumes (12.7 ppg) is the only Hoosier ranked among the league's top-30 scorers.

The only quarterfinal-round matchup that is already set in stone has Wisconsin facing Ohio State. Under the tutelage of head coach Bo Ryan, the Badgers have played stingy defense, relying on that aspect of their game more so than loading the roster with offensive stars who can light up the scoreboard. As a result, Wisconsin continues to be one of the top teams in the Big Ten year after year. The Badgers rank second in the conference in scoring defense (58.9 ppg), while also sitting atop the league's rebounding defense list (28.1 rpg). UW is the league's second-best three-point shooting team (.371), and is led by the trio of Marcus Landry (12.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg), Trevon Hughes (11.9 ppg) and Jason Bohannon (10.2 ppg).

The Buckeyes' top player is All-Big Ten First Teamer Evan Turner (16.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.9 apg), a 51.6 percent shooter who simply knows how to the play the game of basketball. Lending Turner a hand for coach Thad Matta's club are double-digit scorers Jon Diebler (11.2 ppg) and Big Ten Freshman of the Year William Buford (11.1 ppg). Overall, OSU is hitting a league-best 48.4 percent of its field goal attempts and 37.1 percent of its three-point tries, but all that leads to just 66.6 ppg.

Michigan State is the No. 1 seed in this tournament for the third time, and the Spartans last won the whole thing in 2000. The Spartans are led by Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas, who ranks second among all players in conference games with 16.5 ppg. He also ranks among the Big Ten's top-10 in free throw percentage (.848), three-point field goal percentage (.389), assists (3.67 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.35). Other notable performers for MSU include Raymar Morgan (11.2 ppg), Goran Sutton (9.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg), Travis Walton (Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year) and All-Big Ten Freshman Team member Delvon Roe (5.5 rpg). As a team, the Spartans are netting a league-best 72.2 ppg while yielding a mere 62.5 ppg.

Second-seeded Illinois is the Big Ten's top defensive team in terms of points allowed (56.5), and the club also leads the conference in three-point field goal defense (.285), assists (17.77 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.42). In addition to their defensive efforts, the Fighting Illini rely on a balanced offensive attack which boasts three double-digit scorers in the form of Demetri McCamey (11.9 ppg), Mike Davis (11.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Mike Tisdale (10.8 ppg), the first two picking up all-conference accolades for their efforts. Trent Meacham is close to cracking the 10-point barrier with his 9.9 ppg, and he and McCamey are both shooting in excess of 41 percent from three-point range. McCamey and Chester Frasier have combined for 312 assists.

Purdue is among the Big Ten leaders in a number of statistical categories, not the least of which is scoring offense (69.3 ppg) and scoring defense (59.0 ppg). As a result, the Boilermakers lead the conference in scoring margin at +10.3. They also pace the league in field goal percentage defense (.388), while ranking third in rebounding offense (34.0 rpg), blocked shots (4.94 per game) and steals (7.23 per outing). Their +3.39 turnover margin is second-best in the conference. Offensively, the team is led by All-Big Ten First Teamer JaJuan Johnson (13.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, league-best 2.23 blocks per game). All-Big Ten Second Teamer E'Twaun Moore (14.0 ppg) and Third Teamer Robbie Hummel (12.3 ppg) complement Johnson perfectly.