Purdue Basketball: Five storylines to follow for the 2017 Big Ten Tournament

He had a season-high 11 blocks against Penn State on February 25, leading the Williams Arena crowd to chant his name. As a result, there has been much parity throughout the league.

And it promised both schools at the time of their admittance to the Big Ten that at some point it would host a men’s basketball conference tournament nearby. Expect a wild tournament where anything can happen.

Even Rutgers, which won three Big Ten games this year, can still boast about being the top rebounding team in the conference. It was not a fluke title either. He becomes the second Gopher to claim Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year recognition, and the first since Travarus Bennett in the 2001-02 season. He scored a season-high 31 points in a January upset at Purdue, the team that went on to win the Big Ten.

Maryland. With 10/1 odds, Maryland is the best bet (or has the best value) to win the Big Ten Tournament. The sophomore has 16 points in the last eight games and has 19 multi-point games on the year (ranking second in the nation in the category).

In fact, the Cornhuskers won just three more conference games and lost seven by double figures – the last four losses to cap off the year were each by at least 15 points. But this Michigan State team never seemed to find its groove in the regular season.

Rutgers. Don’t throw away your money. It should also set things up nicely for the Big Ten Tournament, especially considering how unpredictable play has been for the league’s top teams.

This team’s shot selection is not good and the worst culprits are upperclassmen who should be most sensible. The game between IN and Iowa also looks great, after the sole regular season meeting between the two went to overtime this season.

The regular season may have ended with a beatdown by the Badgers, but that doesn’t diminish the Golden Gophers incredible turnaround this season. He’s averaged 17.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists over that stretch, with five straight games with 20-plus points and four double-doubles. “He takes tremendous pride in being the guy that guards the other team’s best player, whether it be a point guard, a wing, sometimes a small power forward”.

Think about Virginia, Purdue, Michigan State and Wisconsin if you want to feel good about the journey Ohio State basketball hopes it’s about to embark on. However, since that start, they’ve completely fallen apart. Imagine the buzz surrounding the Wolverines if that were the case.

The Terps took care of business at the Big Ten Tournament, beating Minnesota, Michigan State and Purdue to take the crown. Get past the Boilermakers, and watch out.

Welcome to Conference Championship week, when automatic bids get stolen, bubble teams make their final push and top contenders look to affirm their status. They are confident. They are hungry. This is the first time they’ve had the No. 1 seed. Rutgers has some young talent but I just can’t see them being a winning team this year. The 6-foot-10 big man doesn’t use as many post-up possessions as someone like Caleb Swanigan, but he’s been slightly more efficient and used a few more possessions than IN big man Thomas Bryant on the low block, per Synergy.

John Groce, Illinois. Groce appeared to have saved his job.

But while the Pac-12 might end up with four NCAA bids, the Big Ten now has seven and could wind up with eight, according to the bracketologists.

After these two years, the Big Ten will go back to Chicago in 2019 and 2021, and Indianapolis in 2020 and 2022.

Purdue projects as a No. 4 seed by CBSsports.com’s Jerry Palm and a No. 5 seed by ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi, with Milwaukee as the likely opening-round destination. But, the Gophers say they are ready for anyone and anything.