The Big Ten Tournament is already a success. Its brief fling in New York has brought Howie Hoops out of hibernation one week earlier than usual.
As we begin another postseason run, which has resulted in six winning campaigns over the past seven years, remember that this column is for entertainment purposes only — Hey, the Feds are watching.
Minnesota (-2½) over Rutgers: The Big Ten began drawing up plans for its invasion of Madison Square Garden upon sending its generous league invitation to the Scarlet Knights, but the unofficial hosts never made the most of their relative proximity while playing in the Big East, and the fan base claims the lowest average home attendance of any team in the conference, without having to cross a bridge or tunnel.
The first meeting between these teams is irrelevant — an 89-67 win by Minnesota, on Dec. 3, when it still had its third- and fourth-leading scorers — since each team has only one win in the past month. At least the Golden Gophers can count on Jordan Murphy, the nation’s leader in double-doubles, and senior Nate Mason, who recently passed Kevin McHale on the school’s all-time scoring list. Every made shot by Rutgers feels like the final one before the 337th-ranked offense goes on another lengthy scoring drought.
Iowa (PK) over Illinois: The Hawkeyes just ended a six-game losing streak with a win over Northwestern in the regular-season finale, and recovered from a double-digit road deficit to claim an overtime win, 104-97, in the lone meeting against the Illini this season. Though Iowa surrenders the most points in the league, Illinois allows its opponents to shoot better than any team in the conference (46.9 field-goal percentage), and the Hawkeyes are better-suited to take advantage, shooting nearly 48 percent as a team, and better than 37 percent on 3-pointers.
Iowa is due, winning its most recent conference tournament game in 2013.
2011-17 record: 199-155-8
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