But I've heard Thursdays in Indianapolis are nice

Looks like things are falling into place for us to avoid Thursday play in the Big Ten Tournament again.

Minnesota blows a big lead and and loses to Michigan. Both finish 9-9 in the Big Ten.

Penn State can't close out Iowa and loses there in double overtime. They finish 10-8, but we beat them twice and own the tiebreaker.

If we take care of business tomorrow night against Indiana, we would finish 10-8 in the Big Ten. The other team with the potential to finish with that record -- Ohio State, which much beat Northwestern to do so -- lost its only game against us this year.

So, provided we send Tan Cream home with a loss tomorrow, I believe we would earn the fourth seed in the BTT and play either Penn State (if OSU loses to NU) or Ohio State (if they win tomorrow). Either matchup is one we could win easily or lose handily, depending which Badger team shows up at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Under these scenarios, it looks like we won't be heading to Indy until Thursday evening/Friday morning, which means one less half-day off work for me. No complaints here.

As long as we make the NCAA Tournament -- which seems like a solid probability if not a lock -- I hope all the rest of these teams get in somehow. It would be a big win for the Big Ten if seven or eight teams made the tournament, and then a couple of them won a couple games once there.