Super Bowl Sunday Big Ten Basketball Preview: Ohio State at Nebraska
With the Super Bowl on the horizon this Sunday there’s a bit of Big Ten action going on in the lead-up if you’re interested in something of an undercard before today’s big game.
None of these teams are in contention, but a few are looking to boost their tournament resumes. Let’s talk about it:
All of a sudden Ohio State is among the hotter teams in the Big Ten with the Buckeyes being the winners of four of their last five.
Ohio State’s season looked to be on the brink of a collapse when a three-game losing streak solidified itself with a home loss to a less-than-good Indiana team. With a game against Purdue at Mackey looming, it didn’t look like much could be salvaged.
But somehow the Buckeyes left Mackey victorious. This team is a pretty balanced one offensively and defensively and will be a factor night in and night out.
Nebraska has similarly pulled itself out of a spiral. The Huskers snapped a six-game losing streak with a road win over Illinois and have won each of the two following matchups in a trip to the Pacific Northwest.
They’ve returned to Lincoln to find the Buckeyes waiting.
This one doesn’t look like all that much at first but could ultimately prove to be interesting.
Rutgers is almost certainly going to be on the outside looking in when the tournament rolls around, which is unfortunate for the most talented group in program history by a substantial margin.
But the Knights haven’t just rolled over, they’re still out here giving teams real trouble in the process. They’ve knocked off the likes of UCLA, Nebraska, Northwestern and Illinois now, so it’s not like they’re some free easy win on the schedule.
Maryland has improved substantially from last season’s disappointment and is among KenPom’s more metrically-favored teams in the league. What the Terps are missing is a substantial win over a great team, with the closest thing on their resume being a victory over Wisconsin. They won’t be getting that here.
These Terps will go dancing and it could be interesting to see how far they go. Just don’t trip today.
Maryland
