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Big Ten Tournament Iowa basketball vs. Wisconsin live stream, odds, channel, prediction

By Mike Phillips

Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images
Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images /
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Iowa basketball is set to begin its run at the Big Ten Tournament with a showdown against Wisconsin.

There are a lot of storylines set for the Big Ten Tournament but one team that has flown under the radar a bit is the Iowa Hawkeyes. Once considered to be the favorite in the Big Ten, Iowa hasn’t quite lived up to the preseason hype they generated but is still well-positioned to end up on the two-line in the NCAA Tournament.

There were also fears about a seemingly annual February fade for the Hawkeyes when they lost three out of four games to start the month. Iowa quickly assuaged those fears, however, by ripping off seven wins in their final eight games to prove that they are a legitimate national title contender.

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Two of those wins came against Wisconsin, who Iowa is set to face today in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal. Like the Hawkeyes, the Badgers were a highly regarded team in the preseason but their play showcased that they were a notch below the conference’s elite teams.

Wisconsin has pretty much taken care of the teams they are supposed to beat, including a tight win over Penn State last night. That game was a bit too close for comfort after the Nittany Lions almost erased a ten-point deficit and had a chance to take the lead in the final second before the Badgers stole the inbounds pass and called a timeout in a nifty sequence to secure the win.

There seems to be a ceiling for Wisconsin of the Sweet 16 based on how they have performed against elite competition. Scoring a win over Iowa today could be a sign that the Badgers could still live up to the vast promise that they had shown in the preseason.

How to bet and watch Iowa vs. Wisconsin

    • Date: Friday, March 12
    • Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
    • Location: Indianapolis, IN
    • Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium
    • TV: Big Ten Network
    • Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
    • Line: Iowa -4 (FanDuel)
    • Prediction: Iowa 78, Wisconsin 72

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