UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (U-WIRE) — With the Big Ten women’s basketball regular season now over there is still one last chance for teams to impress the NCAA selection committee. That chance started Thursday when the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament began in Indianapolis.
One can usually count on an upset or two in any tournament, but this one could have more than its fair share. The Big Ten has seven teams with at least .500 records in the conference and only one that is below the break-even mark overall. The following are the teams who will be competing in the first half of the conference bracket.
No. 9 Michigan
The Wolverines were picked by many experts to win the conference and in the beginning of the season it looked like that would prove to be true. They won 10 out of their first 11 games and were ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation.
Then came conference play. Michigan fell in six of its first seven Big Ten games and never seemed to fully recover.
No. 8 Illinois
Illinois was one of the rare teams in the conference that got worse as the season went on. Illinois finished the regular season with three straight losses and went from a contender to a basement dweller in the Big Ten. Still, Illinois is 14-12 overall and could shake things up in the tournament.
No. 5 Indiana
The Hoosiers might be the sentimental pick this year. On Sunday, Indiana head coach Kathi Bennett coached just her first game since the car accident that broke the second vertebra in her neck.
The team has rallied around Bennett and closed the season with three straight wins. Bennett will coach Indiana at noon on Friday in a game against Iowa. She said she has been impressed with her team.
No. 4 Iowa
Iowa comes into the tournament as the conference’s second-highest scoring team after Minnesota. The transition game that the Hawkeyes use has given them the edge in some key games, including one each against the top two teams in the conference (Purdue and Penn State).
No. 1 Purdue
Purdue has now won the regular season conference crown in consecutive seasons and has been the most consistent team in the Big Ten this year. However, the Boilermakers lost to Minnesota and defeated Penn State in the last minute, showing that they can be beaten.
