The Big Ten Tournament won't just crown a champion. It will help determine which teams punch their ticket to March Madness and which stay home.
The conference expects to have a handful of teams represented with Michigan State, Wisconsin, Maryland, Purdue, Oregon, Michigan, UCLA and Illinois in good shape to get in. The Indiana Hoosiers and Ohio State Buckeyes are sitting in the bubble while Northwestern, Nebraska, Penn State and Iowa need a lot of help.
Of course, that help could come in the form of a deep tournament run at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. At the end of the rainbow is trophy presentation and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
Updated Big Ten Tournament bracket after first round games
In a stunning turn of events, Ohio State met their demise at the hands of No. 15 seed Iowa. The Hawkeyes were not expected to advance while the Buckeyes needed to keep going to improve their NCAA Tournament hopes. A 77-70 loss, OSU's seventh in 10 games, could knock them out of March Madness. It's no longer in their hands.
Northwestern was the first Big Ten team to win a tournament game this year. The Wildcats rode 28 points and seven rebounds from Nick Martinelli to a 72-64 victory.
Their reward for that win is a date with No. 5 seed Wisconsin on Thursday. The Badgers beat Northwestern 75-69 at the beginning of February. It was their only meeting of the season.
The winner of that game will go on to face No. 4 seed UCLA on Friday.
Other first round games on Wednesday include No. 14 seed USC against No. 11 Rutgers. No. 6 seed Purdue is waiting for the winner of that gamee respectively.
The Trojans and Scarlett Knights, they're going to need a miracle Big Ten Tournament championship run to extend their seasons.
Top four seeds Michigan State, Maryland, Michigan and UCLA won't be in action until Friday's quarterfinals. The semifinals are on Saturday while the champ will be crowned on Sunday before the Selection Committee completes the official March Madness bracket.