I have to admit that doing this preview is a little bittersweet for me as an IU fan. This season’s Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament will most likely mark the first (and hopefully only) time that Indiana comes in as the #11 seed. As IU fans, we all understand that It is the price we have to pay for the era of the lying-cheating-bastard-who-shall-not-be-named, but it does not make it any easier to handle.

Still, there will be a twinge of excitement come March 12th when the Hoosiers tip off against whoever the #5 seed winds up being in this topsy-turvy season of Big Ten basketball. Maybe Devan Dumes and Matt Roth can get hot from the outside and the Hoosiers can pull off an upset. Not likely, I know. Still, the Hoosiers will have a definite home-court advantage playing in front of their fans in Indianapolis, and after last season’s heartbreaking loss to Minnesota on a wild last-second shot, the Big Ten Tournament owes us one.

Anyway, enough pipe-dreaming from me. Onto the particulars of the 2009 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament:

• Dates: March 12-15
• Location: Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana
• TV: Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS Sports (see below)
• StubHub Tickets: Buy Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Tickets
• StubHub Tickets:2009 NCAA Tournament Tickets

And let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and count down the past Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champions: 1998 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #4 seed Michigan defeated #3 seed Purdue 76-67
• Chicago, IL

1999 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #1 seed Michigan State defeated #11 seed Illinois 67-50
• Chicago, IL

2000 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #2 seed Michigan State defeated #4 seed Illinois 76-61
• Chicago, IL

2001 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #6 seed Iowa defeated #4 seed Indiana 63-61
• Chicago, IL

2002 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #2 seed Ohio State defeated #9 seed Iowa 81-64
• Indianapolis, IN

2003 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #2 seed Illinois defeated #8 seed Ohio State 72-59
• Chicago, IL

2004 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #2 seed Wisconsin defeated #1 seed Illinois 70-53
• Indianapolis, IN

2005 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #1 seed Illinois defeated #3 seed Wisconsin 54-43
• Chicago, IL

2006 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #2 seed Iowa defeated #1 seed Ohio State 67-60
• Indianapolis, IN

2007 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #1 seed Ohio State defeated #2 seed Wisconsin 66-49
• Chicago, IL

2008 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #1 seed Wisconsin defeated #10 seed Illinois 61-48
• Indianapolis, IN

2009 Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament Champion:

• #3 seed Purdue defeated #5 seed Ohio State 65-61
• Indianapolis, IN

Who will this year’s Big Ten Mens Basketball Tournament? At this point, it looks like a major toss-up. Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Penn State have looked capable of winning it at different points this season. And if history is any indicator, a dark horse may emerge once the balls get rolled out on March 12. Four times in the brief ten-year history of the Big Ten Tournament, a team seeded #8 or lower has played in the championship game. The lowest seeded team to ever win the Big Ten tournament, however, is #6 seed Iowa in 2001. So the smart money would go on one of the teams listed above.

Either way, I’m sure it will be an exciting weekend — and the only chance for Indiana to crack this year’s field of 64. No, it isn’t likely. But you better believe Hoosier Nation will be out in droves on March 12th hoping their undermanned Hoosiers can pull off an unlikely first round upset.

There were spells during the game that it felt like Mizzou might actually get something going but then OU would make an adjustment and immediately shut things down. On the flip side I saw nothing that led me to believe Mizzou was trying different schemes or options to try and slow OU down. The most puzzling to me was how far off the line the corners were playing. They were giving OU receivers 5 to 8 yards of cushion the entire game. I mean come on, you’re down 38-7 at the half, what is there to lose by jamming some receivers and getting a little more physical?

Now, I will say that Oklahoma is very impressive; this squad is clicking on all cylinders right now. I keep hearing that Oklahoma will be an underdog to Florida in the Championship game. I don’t see it. Florida is a very good team as well but I honestly don’t see any college team beating the Sooners right now. You can’t tell me that OU’s defense is not good enough to hang with Florida. There’s no doubt Mizzou didn’t do themselves any favors by turning the ball over 3 times, but still, the OU D held the 6th ranked offense in the nation to only 21 points.

I do think this will be a great matchup between the Sooners and Gators but I have to give the edge to Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Mizzou has accepted an invite to play in the Alamo bowl against Northwestern on Dec. 29th. Two teams with completely different expectations coming into the season, Missouri was a preseason National Championship favorite while Northwestern was just hoping to get into and win a bowl game.

These two teams have not faced each other since 1987 when the Tigers beat the Wildcats in Columbia 28-3. These teams have previously faced off 8 times and are split at 4 wins apiece.

Again, the strength of Mizzou is its explosive offense and its weakness is the 100th ranked defense. Mizzou has losses to three top 25 teams, getting beat by an average of 23 points. Northwestern has losses to two top 25 teams by an average of 26 points. Both teams faced Illinois this year with Mizzou winning by 10 and Northwestern winning by 17.

This should be a good ballgame. Mizzou has several seniors in which this will be their last hoorah, so I am sure they will want to go out on top and give Mizzou their first back to back 10-win seasons in school history.

Northwestern will be playing to reach that 10-win mark as well. Like Mizzou, Northwestern has 23 seniors that will be looking to go out on top. It has been 59 years since Northwestern has won a bowl game.

I have to give the edge to Mizzou on Offense and Northwestern on Defense. Should make for an interesting game. Go Tigers !!

coop92 is a contributing author to Midwest Sports Fans, as well as the editor at Midwest Sports Junkies. Check out his site for additional analysis of the St. Louis Cardinals, the BCS, and Missouri Tigers football.

Being the ACC man that I am, I ensure that I will maintain a fair and balanced approach to the game (because I don’t believe in the Big-Ten that much. We will discuss that come bowl season.)

The Cats show up 5-0 but let’s run down the opponent list – Syracuse, Duke, Southern Illinois, Ohio and Iowa. Had the Cats dropped any of those games no one would have been shocked, but they haven’t. They won all of those games. They have proved to be a consistently higher caliber but those aren’t great teams.

The Iowa win was big, but the Hawkeyes coughed the ball up 5 times, giving up their 14 point lead. One of those came on a Wildcat punt, right before the first half. Iowa mishandled the punt on the 33 yard line with a minute to go. Northwestern managed to get 7 on the board right before the half, and cut the deficit in half. You can’t underestimate that momentum change going into a locker room. If Iowa could have kept NW on the ropes until halftime, the home team may have had the confidence to finish the game. They didn’t. Iowa needs to put in a call to Rich Rodriguez for the memo he already received: you can’t win games when you don’t have the ball.

The Cats are certainly an opportunistic team, a balanced team with a quality quarterback in CJ Bacher and a running game that averages almost 5 yards per carry. Really, they can manage to win games. This isn’t Oklahoma we’re talking about. So the defense is the real question for the Cats. Can they hope to stop, or even slow Javon Ringer?

Off the top of your head you would say, “Have you seen Ringer? There’s no way.” That’s not an unreasonable claim. He is a horse, he has three 200 yard games. Those came, though, on an average of 40 plus carries and against ND, Florida Atlantic and Indiana.

The reality is the Wildcats could slow him down. Iowa did it last week. Ringer touched the ball 25 times and only went for 91 yards. The Spartans came away with the W, but if the Cats can limit the time of possession for MSU and play with a lead this week, then State will be forced to give the ball to QB Brian Hoyer rather than Ringer.

Then again, the Wildcats secondary has to stop Brian Hoyer, who, while he has only found the end zone 4 times this year, has thrown for almost 1200 yards this year. He can move the ball. He’s not Juice Williams or Terrelle Pryor but he’s a quality QB. If the Spartans can convert first downs and get in the red-zone you can be sure Ringer will do his best to find the end zone, he has 12 times this year.

On the other side of the ball, defense has had quite a bit to do with the 5-0 record of Northwestern. They haven’t given up more than 20 points this year and on average give up on 12 points a game. They did however allow 400 plus yards of offense for Iowa and I’m sure Hawkeyes fans agree, if Iowa held on to the football like they should have, the Wildcats would be sitting at 4-1.

Let’s cut to the chase. Northwestern has been tough to this point but if the Northwestern defense slips and Hoyer and Ringer get a lead then Dantonio’s Spartans won’t fall in Evanston. On the other hand, if Fitzgerald’s boys get on the board early, and scrap for some turnovers than the Wildcats could come out 6-0. It will be a battle, but I say look for mistakes, letting up big plays or turnovers are what will decide the game.

Personally, I’m siding with Ringer, any dude that is 5’9” and can carry a workload like his, has my respect. I say he brings his lunch pail to work gets 130 on almost 30 touches and breaks one for at least 40 yards. That breakout is the difference maker.  21-13, Spartans win.