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Big Ten tournament preview 
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By Greg
Taylor
[MARCH 9, 2006]
The ninth annual Big Ten conference tournament
will take place at Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis
beginning today (Thursday) and running through Sunday. Six of the
previous eight tourneys have been played in Chicago, with 2002 and
2004 finding the tournament in Indianapolis. After this tournament,
the conference will select a permanent tourney site, choosing
between Chicago and Indy.
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Three games will be played on Thursday:
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Game 1 -- No. 8
Penn State vs. No. 9 Northwestern, 11 a.m.
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Game 2 -- No. 7
Michigan vs. No. 10 Minnesota, 1:30 p.m.
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Game 3 -- No. 6
Michigan State vs. No. 11 Purdue, 4:05 p.m.
The winners on Thursday will advance to the Friday quarterfinal
round. Friday's action will include two sessions. The first session
will feature games at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and the games in the
evening session will tip at 5:40 and 8:10. Illinois, the No. 3 seed
in the tourney, will play the winner of the Michigan State-Purdue
game in the final game of the day on Friday.
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 Illinois has had great success in past conference tournaments,
winning the title in 2003 and 2005 and finishing second in 1999,
2000 and 2004. Illinois has never lost an opening game in the
tourney and has been seeded lower than this year only twice: a No. 4
seed in 2000 and a No. 11 seed in 1999. Coach Bruce Weber goes into
the weekend 5-1 in conference tournament action while coaching at
Illinois.
The Illini appear to be playing for a high NCAA seed. Most expert
projections seem to have Illinois seeded either as a two or a three,
and a strong weekend of action can only help those projections.
While Illinois will not have the benefit of the friendly travel
triangle of 2005 (Indy, Chicago and St. Louis), the boys in orange
would love to play the first weekend at either Dayton, Ohio, or
Auburn Hills, Mich., the two closest venues in NCAA action this
year.
[Greg
Taylor]
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