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The Big Ten Tournament is coming your way later this week and believe it or not the Gophers will be participating. Regardless of whether or not Minnesota's run is long or short-lived, this is an outstanding tournament to watch and should be a lot of fun. Sure this weekend is supposed to be pushing 60 degrees, but if you want to win your NCAA Tournament Pool, consider this research.
WHO
All 14 teams of the Big Ten, yes this includes Rutgers and Maryland. In fact the Gophers get to face Rutgers in their first ever Big Ten Tournament game (we should make a rivalry trophy).
Interesting that as long as we win, we already know our first three opponents.
- Rutgers (10-21) - worst team in the Big Ten (based on record) and KenPom gives us an 83% chance to move past the Scarlet Knights.
- Ohio State (22-9) - The six-seed and will either looking ahead to their NCAA Tournament seeding or will be pissed off after Wisconsin panced them by 24 on senior day.
- Michigan State (21-10) - gets to wait a couple extra days to see their opponent. They are the 3-seed and the Gophers swept the season series (yeah, yeah, I know it was one game and we got away with one).
If we are still alive, then we will just have to see how things play out.
WHAT
Well, everyone is trying to survive and advance through this...
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Your Golden Gophers have the daunting task of winning 5 games in 5 days (heck UConn did it and then went on to win the NCAA Tournament...OK technically they had 6 days to do it, but you get my point...OK there is no point).
WHEN
It all begins on Wednesday (6:00 on BTN for us) and you will have Big Ten basketball through Sunday afternoon. Times and what channels to watch will vary, I suggest you follow this...
| WEDNESDAY | CHANNEL | TIME |
| Nebraska (12) vs. Penn State (13) | ESPN2 | 3:30 CST |
| Minnesota (11) vs. Rutgers (14) | BTN | 6:30 |
| THURSDAY | CHANNEL | TIME |
| Illinois (8) vs. Michigan (9) | BTN | 11:00 AM CST |
| Iowa (5) vs. Neb/PSU | BTN | 25 min after |
| Indiana (7) vs. Northwestern (10) | ESPN2 | 5:30 CST |
| Ohio State (6) vs. Minn/Rutg | ESPN2 | 25 min after |
| FRIDAY | CHANNEL | TIME |
| Wisconsin (1) vs. Ill/Mich | ESPN | 11:00 AM CST |
| Purdue (4) vs. TBD | ESPN | 25 min after |
| Maryland (2) vs. Ind/NU | BTN | 5:30 CST |
| Michigan St (3) vs. TBD | BTN | 25 min after |
| SATURDAY | CHANNEL | TIME |
| Semi-final game 1 | CBS | noon CST |
| Semi-final game 2 | CBS | 25 min after |
| SUNDAY | CHANNEL | TIME |
| Championship Game | CBS | 2:00 CST |
WHERE
United Center
Chicago, IL
WHY
I can think of a few good reasons.
1 - Winner gets an automatic ticket punched to the NCAA Tournament.
2 - Several other teams have a chance to either play themselves into the Tournament with a couple wins and other are playing for a better seed.
3 - Cause it is fun both for the teams and for fans.