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By Nate, March 14, 2009 4:04 pm

Ohio State (5) v. Michigan State (1):

OSU seems to have saved it’s Big Dance dreams with the win over Wisconsin yesterday (developments in the A-10, Big 12 & MWC Tourneys have made the bubble teams start to sweat – In the Big Ten PSU, Minny, um & Wisconsin will have a nervous Sunday) – MSU just outlasted Minny, as I posted yesterday it wasn’t pretty but in March you win and don’t worry about style points – despite what the yutzs in the ESPN studio may say about seeding – but I’ll talk more about seeding in tomorrow’s preview when we have most of the conference tournaments final results in hand – for now let’s all agree that Jimmy’s hero Digger Phelps is just a giant homer douche and move on.

Today’s game should be another slugfest, it won’t be pretty both teams like to bang and scrap but if you like Big Ten hoops it will be a great game. Evan Turner meet Travis Walton – on the defensive side that’s the key match-up for MSU. For MSU to win Suton and Raymar need to have better games – G had his way with the young Mullens in MSU’s prior to victories and that will need to continue. Raymar usually plays well against his home state’s team so I expect his performance will improve. Roe and Lauderdale should be a good match-up (and Day-Day Green and Quise and the Dunk Police when they’re subbed in). If Mullens is playing well against G don’t be surprised to see ID – Idunk Iblock – get some minutes. Diebler will challenge MSU’s tough perimeter defense and I have no doubt he’ll get some good looks today. The last time these teams played Durrell Summers went off – here’s to hoping he can do it again.

It will be a battle but I think MSU is set for a March roll and they will outlast the Buckeyes and move onto Sunday (then we can let the seeding talk commence).

Pick: MICHIGAN STATE

Purdue (3) v. Illinois (2):

Both of these teams played well last night – but both will face tougher competition in each other today. Purdue had a bit of an offensive re-awakening last night and Illinois ground Michigan into the floor. Illinois is historically the toughest out in the BTT and they seem to be upholding that tradition without Chester Frazier’s services – it will be interesting to see how his absence plays out today. For Illinois Mike Davis is again the key and Hummel is the spark plug for Purdue. The match-up to watch will be Johnson versus Tisdale in the low post, two very skilled young big men playing against each with a trip to BTT Finals on the line – who could ask for anything more? In the end I give the edge to Purdue due to Frazier’s absence but the Illini swept the season series so it’s hard to get really excited about that pick. Should be a good defensive Big Ten battle – if ESPN doesn’t like that they can eat my shorts.

Pick: PURDUE

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By Nate, March 13, 2009 6:45 pm

Noon Quarter Game:

MSU defeated Minny by 8 – Chet and I enjoyed the game with a Hot and Ready in the basement on the plasma. It was an ugly game – lots of missed throws, on both sides – MSU outlasted Minny with solid D and some nice sets exploiting an opening in Minny’s D on the baseline.

Marquise and the Dunk Police were in full force today – some real quality minutes from Quise in the first half (oh, and Chris Allen too). G and Ray seemed to play with their heads in the clouds today and Kalin was not fully himself – so to get a win in those circumstances is nothing I’ll complain too much about.

Odds and Ends from the game:

The old dudes sitting behind Lavin and Mushburger were top notch. The one old timer loved to ham it up for the cameras.

By my count at least 100 dolphins were killed during this contest – nice work Eddie

Other BTT items:

Word is that Chester Frazier is out for the weekend and possibly next week for the 1st weekend of the NCAAs with a practice related hand injury – this gives UM and edge tonight, I’d now call this game a push – the Illini need someone to step up on D to clamp down on Harris.