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On Women's Basketball

Big Ten tournament pairings set

Posted by: Tony Bleill

Sunday, March 1, 2009 9:41 PM

Pairings for this week's Big Ten tournament at Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse:

THURSDAY

No. 7 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Northwestern (11 a.m. CT), with the winner to play No. 2 Michigan State

No. 6 Indiana vs. No. 11 Michigan (30 minutes following), with the winner to play No. 3 Purdue

No. 8 Penn State vs. No. 9 Illinois (30 minutes after the previous game, sometime between 3:30-4 p.m. CT), with the winner to play No. 1 Ohio State

FRIDAY

Wisconsin/Northwestern vs. Michigan State, 10:30 a.m.

Indiana/Michigan vs. Purdue, 30 minutes following

Penn State/Illinois vs. Ohio State, 5 p.m.

No. 4 Iowa vs. No. 5 Minnesota, 30 minutes following

Semifinals begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, with the final at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

First impressions:

--Illinois' road to the final is tougher than it was in '08. The Illini once again are the No. 9 seed, but this time they'll face a Penn State team that has been playing reasonably well of late, winning two of its last three. Plus, Penn State swept the Illini this season, including a win in Champaign on the Illini's Senior Day.

In my humble opinion, the Illini didn't receive two breaks that might have been beneficial:

--First, Wisconsin and Penn State finished in a tie for seventh place, and the Badgers won the tiebreaker, leaving Penn State to play Illinois. I like Illinois' chances better against Wisconsin, which swept the UI. But the Badgers are reeling (losing 8 of 10) and I'm not convinced they're good enough to beat Illinois three times. Alas, it matters not.

--Second, I think Illinois might have been better off had it slipped to the No. 10 seed, where it would get a potential second-round matchup against Michigan State. As it turned out, the Illinois would face Ohio State, which not only is playing very well of late (five straight wins), but handled Illinois twice and is a far more talented, experienced team.

A year ago, Illinois beat OSU in Champaign and should have beaten the Buckeyes in Columbus, so the Illini's victory in the Big Ten tournament wasn't a shocker. This season, Illinois has yet to demonstrate it is in the same league as OSU.

--Who came out smelling like roses? Michigan State and Purdue, which are in the top half of the bracket. That half includes slumping Wisconsin and slumping Indiana, along with Michigan and Northwestern, which tied for the bottom spot in the league. Meanwhile, Ohio State might have to get past a dangerous Penn State team that has the league's top scorer (Tyra Grant), and either Minnesota or Iowa, each of which defeated the Buckeyes this season.

--The All-Big Ten awards will be announced live at 6:30 p.m. Monday on the Big Ten Network. I'll list my ballot on the blog on Monday afternoon.