The 2nd day of the tournament is complete. There were no upsets for the quarterfinals, and all 4 top teams advanced. It was a day of career scoring performances.
MSU dominated Iowa for the second time this season. They couldn't do anything wrong, and looked like the team to beat in this tournament. Draymond Green had another double double, and looked like the player of the year in the conference for most of the game. Payne had a career high of 19 points, and looked like one of the most athletic big men in the nation and is starting to show off his McDonalds All-American status.
Wisconsin beat IU for the 10th straight time to give Jordan Taylor his first BTT win. Rod Wilson had a career night with 30 points (7-10 on threes). Wisconsin outshot IU out of the gym to win 79-72. It was one of the highest scoring games from the Badgers this season. If they continue to shoot that well, they will be a tough out moving forward. I doubt they will be able to shoot as well against MSU today.
Michigan started out the game shooting very poorly, and was carried by Trey Burke during the first half. Lucky Minnesota is so bad because the Wolverines should have had a chance to win the game like they did. Michigan missed 8 free throws for the game and should have put the victory away in regulation. Instead they needed a late 3 pointer to tie and a last second missed shot by the Gophers to take the game to OT. Once OT started a lot of shots began to fall and Michigan went on to a 73-69 victory. Burke finished with a career high 30 points, barely missed a shot (except for free throws).
Ohio had a very tough game with Purde for 30 minutes of the game last night, but then Purdue couldnt make a shot and Jared Sullinger had a 30 point 12 rebound game. OSU was able to sit their starters toward the end of the game, which should help them stay fresh for today. Hummel had a bad night offensively, and he needed to be in the 20s for OSU to win.
Todays games should be very exciting. The best 4 teams are left and most of them are playing very good basketball. Any combination of a finals game would be good for the conference. I think MSU will end up beating Wisconsin without much trouble today. I know both teams are good, but Wisconsin will not shoot as good as yesterday. And if Payne is going to play like yesterday, MSU wont be losing a game until New Orleans. That might be a big if, but I think he continues today. Michigan vs OSU rematch will be interesting. Which Michigan shows up for the game? Can Tim Hardaway continue his 2nd half yesterday and be a force to stop on offense? I think the extra 5 minutes of OT yesterday will come back to hurt us today, the shots will likely be a little off for some of the game. One thing though is Smot should have plenty of energy since he fouled out again yesterday. Also, the refs will play a big factor in this game as well, will they let Morgan battle Sullinger down low or will they coddle the 6'8" 260 big man? If its the latter, then it will be a long night.
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