And yet at this moment Iowa (36-18) is playing Michigan (30-26) in the final elimination game of the Big Ten Tournament. The winner (probably Michigan the way this is going) will play Rutgers for the conference tournament title this evening. The loser can pack up the equipment for the season. The consensus is that both teams are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament and the bubble will burst for the loser of this game.

(Then again, as a long time Hawkeye fan I could see them making it to the NCAAs only to lose to New Mexico State or some other mid-level conference auto-bid in the first round.)


Post script: A 9 run 7th inning and application of the tournament's 10 run rule will burst the bubble as fast as anything....

And the WAC gets two teams in the NCAA Tournament....Grand Canyon in as a wild card.

They need to do something about that WAC tournament. That a team with such a poor record would get into the tournament is ridiculous. Maybe they should reduce the field to four teams (the best 2 from each division) or six (with the top in each division getting a bye). The WAC is already a weak conference in baseball, evidenced by the fact that teams transitioning from D-Ii (Grand Canyon and Cal Baptist have done this) just walk right in and wipe the floor with the existing teams. Utah Valley needs to go back to the D-II or JC level.

The Canadian Football League has something called a crossover. The league has nine teams, with five in one division and four in the other. The basic playoff schedule is that the first place teams in each division get a bye and the second place team plays the third place team in it's division in a first round game. At the end of the regular season if the fourth place team in one division has more points in their standings than the third place team in the other division, that fourth place team crosses over and replaces the other team in the playoffs.

There is talk that the Big Ten may tweak it's football championship game to get the top two teams in the game without regard to division alignment. Currently the Big Ten East is stronger than the West. Of course this could lead to Michigan and An Ohio State playing their rivalry game the last weekend of the regular season and then meeting again in the championship game a week later. (That may take a change in NCAA rules, as well.)