All-Big Ten Teams Announced

The Big Ten released its all conference picks earlier today. Manny earns a first-team nod from both the coaches and the media, while Peedi gets second-team honors from the media and third-team from the coaches.

The Tourney is Upon Us (No, Not That One...Yet)

Well, as we for the most part already knew, Michigan will play 10th seeded Iowa on Thursday as the 7th seed. The game will be at 2:30 ET (11:30 my time) and televised on ESPN2. Should they win, they would play 2nd seeded Illinois the very next day (Friday) at 6:30 ET on the Big Ten Network. After that, well, we'll get to that when/if they get there.

As a Michigan fan, you've got to have mixed feelings about this match-up. On one hand, Michigan dominated Iowa earlier this season at Crisler. On the other hand, the Wolverines lost at Carver-Hawkeye arena in OT just a week or so ago. The unknown here is that Iowa has been injury-plagued this entire season, but seems to be getting healthier each and every game. Cyrus Tate should be a go for this one, which means DeShawn will most certainly have to take his defense with him to Indianapolis. Also, someone will need to actually guard Jake Kelly this time. Since he has moved to the point, Iowa has been a totally different team. Here's to thinking/hoping CJ Lee can have a Gary Payton-esque (in his younger "The Glove" years) game against him.

If Michigan advances past the Hawkeyes, they would meet a slumping 2nd seeded Illinois team that the Wolverines split with during the regular season. Two things scare me about the Fighting Illini -- Frazier and Tisdale. Chester Frazier has been a thorn in Michigan's side for a couple years now, with his on the ball defense and don't-forget-about-me offense. Tisdale pisses me off because I keep seeing James Augustine and I thought he moved on last year. Yeah, Tisdale's only averaging 10 ppg, but he dropped 24 pts on Michigan last game.

Though Illinois presents some slight mismatches, I think it's safe to say that the bottom half of this BTT bracket was the best draw Michigan could have received. They have beaten every team they could potentially play until the championship game. Should they advance past Illinois, for example, they would get the winner of the Purdue and PSU/Indiana game. They split with Purdue and PSU and had the remarkable comeback at Indiana during the regular season.

Let's get past Iowa first, then we'll get more into depth with other scenarios later...

Go Blue from AZ!

Elimination Time Finally Here

The time to put up or shut up is now here. Michigan must take care of business tomorrow at the barn. With Penn State's last second victory against Illinois and Northwestern pulling off a couple upsets, tomorrow's game has become even bigger since last Saturday. Finishing with a 8-10 record in Big Ten play and a possible finish of 8 or even 9 (ouch), would make it really hard for the tournament committee to put Michigan in the field of 65.

There are a number of scenarios that have to play out yet before we know what seed Michigan will be in the Big Ten Tournament. Over at umhoops.com, there is a nice analysis of 4 possible outcomes, placing Michigan anywhere from the 6 to 9 seed in Indianapolis. One surprising note, Penn State has a chance to enter the tourney as a 2 seed. Ideally, that sets up a 7-10 game with Michigan playing Iowa and facing Penn State the next day. Those are two definitely winnable games.

How about the depth of the Big Ten this year? Top to bottom, there is really no weak team. Iowa has pulled off a couple of upsets, and even Indiana has managed to stay close in some games. I had written off Northwestern a couple weeks ago, but man, those guys will not go away.

Tomorrow will be an early one for me, 9 A.M. college gameday, 10 A.M. game (remember I'm two hours behind Eastern Time). It'll be nice to not have to sit around waiting for the game to come on.

I know there's an mgoblog curse on live blogs, but is anyone interested in doing one here? Let me know, I'm always interested in in-game discussions.