Thursday night's results in the Big Ten went a long way toward clearing up the 2012 Big Ten Tournament picture. Five of the six bids have been sewn up, leaving just one spot left and three teams battling for it. The tournament begins next Wednesday at Huntington Bank Park in Columbus, Ohio.
The Purdue Boilermakers clinched the No. 1 seed and the outright regular season title with an 11-8 win over Iowa Thursday night. Purdue is now 17-5 in the league and 41-10 overall, and will be in the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in Columbus, likely as a regional host too. As of right now, they are the conference's only lock, and they own the best record overall in the country.
The surprising Indiana Hoosiers locked up a berth Thursday, and with a victory coupled by a Penn State loss on Friday, IU will lock up the No. 2 seed and first round bye in the six team affair. Indiana came from behind to beat Ohio State Thursday 10-8 with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. The Hoosiers are now 28-26, 14-8 on the season.
The Penn St. Nittany Lions are tied with Indiana for second after beating Michigan State 3-2 on Thursday. The Hoosiers hold the tiebreaker of Penn St. (28-24, 14-8) by virtue of winning the regular season series between the two.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers (32-20, 13-9) will play in their first Big Ten Tournament after a 15-2 win over Michigan on Thursday. Their RPI in the mid-70's, however means they have to win the tournament to make the NCAAs via the automatic bid.
The Michigan St. Spartans are the only team other than Purdue with a chance at large spot in the NCAA Tournament at 34-18, 12-10. Their loss on Thursday was crippling to their profile. Their RPI is in the low 40's, but to be totally safe the Spartans would do well to at least reach the tournament final, if not win the automatic bid. They were left at home last season after sharing the regular season title with Illinois.
Ohio State, Minnesota, and Illinois are the only three teams that can take the last spot. The Buckeyes (31-23, 11-11) would be in the at large discussion if they had a better league record. They currently lead Illinois and Minnesota by a game in the standings. They also have the tiebreaker over Minnesota via a sweep of the Golden Gophers (25-26, 10-12). The Fighting Illini (27-24, 10-12) did not play OSU this year, and they are currently playing Minnesota, winning 7-5 on Thursday night.
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