2009 Big Ten Basketball Tournament
Printable & Viewable Bracket Link: 2009 Big 10 Mens Basketball Tournament Bracket
Participants/Overview: The 2009 Big Ten Tournament will pit all 11 conference teams rewarding the winner with automatic entry in the 2009 Mens NCAA basketball championship tournament. With an 11 team format the schools with the top 5 records in conference play start play in the Quarterfinals. The other 6 teams have the daunting task of winning 4 games in 4 days.
The Big Ten tournament is one of the youngest conference tournaments in existence, as this will only be the 12th annual conference tourney championship. It will once again be hosted at the Conseco Field House in Indianapolis.
In the preseason there was the talk about the Big East conference getting 10 teams into the 09 Tournament. How much would you have laid down at the beginning of the season if a sportsbook posted the prop which team will send more teams into the 2009 NCAA Tournament, The Big Ten or Big East. I imagine the Big East would have been a 20-1 favorite in that proposition scenario. Well guess what Big East bettors you can start sweating. I only count 7 Big East teams dancing at this point and unless Providence can make a run the Big Ten should have more while squeaking in 8 teams.
Michigan State won the league with a 15-3 regular season record while finishing with a 25-5 overall record. The number 1 seeded Spartans are streaking entering the tournament current on a 5 game run. Tom Izzo's club is lead by Big 10 Player of the Year Kalin Lucas. Lucas finished the season with top 10 stats in points per game, free throw percentage, 3 point percentage, and assists. With a Big 10 Tourney win the Spartans could solidify a 2 seed in this years Big Dance.
Michigan State's stiffest competition should come from Illinois and Purdue. Both play nasty defense and are well coached teams. Traits that show up big in tournament games. The 4 and 5 seeds are Wisconsin and Ohio State who meet in the quarterfinal game on Friday. Both are solidly in the tournament field of 65.
The 3 bubble teams seeded 6,7,8 are Penn State, Michigan, and Minnesota. Although Penn State is the 6th seed, they are the team that is closest to the bubble. A first round win over Indiana should be enough, but a win over the Boilermakers in the quarters will relieve all doubt for Nittany Lion fans. In fact as long as all 3 teams win their opening round games I doubt any one of them will be left out come selection Sunday.
Our pick to win will be Purdue. The Boilermakers likely have the easiest draw to the finals as Penn State is rated lower in our ratings than Michigan or Minnesota. Painter's crew has battled injuries all season long and have under preformed thus far. After an early loss in last years Big Ten Tournament, the team should be focused playing for seeding. The cards are setting up right for a deep run for a team that hasn't made the final in 10 years.
Venue: Conseco Fieldhouse
Sponsor: The Big 10
Dates: March 12h-March 15th
TV: The early opening round game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The 2 late opening round games will be televised on ESPN2. On the 13th the 2 early quarterfinal games will be televised on ESPN TV, with the 2 late quarterfinal games seen on the Big Ten Network. The Semifinals will be shown on CBS along with the Championship game at 3:30 eastern time Sunday the 15th.
Big Ten Tournament Schedule
March 12th - Opening Round
March 13th - Quarterfinals
March 14th - Semifinals
March 15th - Championship
Click
here for the updated Big 10 tournament bracket
Last Years Winner
Wisconsin Badgers. The number 1 seeded Badgers defeated the Illini
61-48 to sweep the big ten regular season title and conference tournament
for the first time in school history. Bruce Weber put his 10th seeded
Illini in a position to steal a bid for some bubble team with wins
over Penn State, Purdue, and Minnesota, but the tank ran dry against
the #5 AP ranked Badgers.
Wisconsin would earn a 3 seed and reach the sweet 16 before losing to cinderella story Davidson. It was another masterful coaching job by Bo Ryan whose team was not expected to do much but ended the season on a 12 game winning streak before falling to the Wildcats.
Previous Years Big 10 Tournament
Bracket
2008 Champion: Wisconsin
2007
Champion: Ohio State
2006
Champion: Iowa
2005
Champion: Illinois
2004
Champion: Wisconsin
Off Site Links
Big 10 Conference Official
Website
Conseco Fieldhouse Venue
Website
Start reading up on the rest of the 2009 March Madness tournament addition from MadduxSports.com. Some of the info you can find includes brackets, free picks, and live betting lines. Maddux Sports is the complete source for this years tournament.
