No. 21 Wisconsin at Ohio State – Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS
Stay locked in on CBS Sunday for another Big Ten showdown between the Badgers and Buckeyes. Wisconsin has had an excellent season, with Ethan Happ hoping to help the Badgers earn a double-bye in the conference tournament.
This game is of vital importance to Ohio State, which has been limping down the stretch. The Buckeyes have dropped five of their last seven games, including an ugly 68-50 defeat at Big Ten cellar dweller Northwestern on Wednesday.
Ohio State is also working without leading scorer Kaleb Wesson, who was suspended for violating team rules. Wesson hasn’t played in the last two games for Ohio State (both losses) and it remains unclear when his suspension will be lifted, but the Buckeyes will need to find a way to earn a resume-boosting win without him.
Prediction: Wisconsin
Mid-Major Tournaments of the Weekend: Southern Conference (ESPN+ all weekend) and Missouri Valley Conference (semi-finals Saturday on CBS Sports Network, final Sunday at 2:05 p.m. ET on CBS)
As always, we end our weekly column with a spotlight on the little guys, and we have some conference tournaments to look forward to this weekend. There are a lot of one-bid leagues staging tournaments this weekend, but we want to call your attention to the Missouri Valley and the Southern Conference Tournaments.
Arch Madness, as the MVC likes to call it, features last year’s Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago. The Ramblers are the top seed in the tournament, but their resume isn’t nearly as strong as it was a year ago, meaning Porter Moser’s squad needs to win the tournament to punch their ticket to the dance. The top challenger for the Ramblers should be Drake, which tied Loyola-Chicago atop the MVC standings in the regular season.
The other tournament to watch is the Southern Conference tournament, which is unusually strong thanks to four elite teams. Wofford, which recently entered the polls, went 18-0 in league play during the regular season but has three top challengers to deal with: Furman (which has a road win at Villanova on its resume), UNC-Greensboro, and East Tennessee State.
The Terriers have probably done enough to earn an at-large bid, so there is a chance the SoCon could be a multi-bid league if Wofford loses in the final. That would be bad news for the bubble, so if you’re a fan of a team like Minnesota or Clemson you might want to check in on this tournament and root for Wofford.
Predictions:
MVC: Loyola-Chicago
SoCon: Wofford