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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 24 • 8 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com F or a bunch of Big Ten teams, the Big Ten Tournament might be the gateway to the NCAA Tournament. Purdue and especially Indiana and Illinois head to the United Cen- ter in Chicago on tenuous standing in the eyes of those who make their living bracketologizing, meaning that any of the three could need to win at least one game in the league tournament to secure their footing. Purdue seems to be in the best shape of the three, coming off a 12- win conference season that landed the Boilermakers in a third-place tie. Most projections have Purdue in the Field of 68 right now, as would logi - cal thinking, considering the way it played this season in one of college basketball's pre-eminent leagues. But bad losses and a very pe- destrian RPI remain scarlet letters on the Boilermakers, so there are no guarantees. Some good news: Purdue more than likely averted the po- tential of a disastrous bad loss on Thursday by earn- ing one of the event's cov- eted double byes to Friday. A win over fifth-seed- ed Iowa or Penn State or Nebraska, should one of those two teams upset the Hawkeyes, would almost certainly lock up Purdue's at-large berth. Illinois might need to win two games and Indi- ana has to win a game, if for no other reason but to stop the bleeding after a late- season swan dive that put the Hoosiers on the bubble and may put Tom Crean be- fore the firing squad. A team-by-team look at the Big Ten Tournament field: 1. Wisconsin: The best, most complete team in the conference and one of college basketball's elite teams, the Badgers are playing for a No. 1 seed to the NCAA Tournament and no longer have to play on the road, where it lost to Maryland and Rut- gers, the latter being the season's one result most likely to have been most of- ten mistaken for a typo. Here's an interesting dynamic for Bo Ryan: Point guard Traveon Jackson is about due to return to the floor for the first time since breaking his foot in that weird loss to the league's worst team on Jan. 11. Wis- consin's done fine without him, as was pretty obvious in the regular-season finale when the Badgers won at ranked Ohio State by two dozen. But do the Badgers use the Big Ten Tournament as a platform to work Jackson back in? Regardless, the Bad- gers are the clear favorite here, with the No. 1 seed possibility being all the in- centive they should need to bring their best. 2. Maryland: The Terps have had a great season in their Big Ten debut, led by brilliant freshman point guard Melo Trimble and All-Big Ten senior Dez Wells. Maryland is just playing for seeding at this point in the season and should be considered a legiti- mate threat to win this thing. Maybe surviving a thriller at Nebraska Sunday night got the Terrapins' blood flowing at just the right time. 3. Michigan State: A couple weeks ago, Michi- gan State wasn't neces- sarily being viewed as being on the bubble but should have been. No longer. The Spartans rallied from a nine-point first half deficit to beat Purdue last week then won at Indi- ana by the slimmest of margins to close the season strong. It's been an uneven year for Michigan State, but it seems to be playing well at the right time, though it could really use forward Branden Dawson back from the head injury suffered against the Boilermakers that's sidelined him most of the past two games. B I G T E N T O U R N A M E N T P R E V I E W Tom Campbell Sam Dekker is one of the leaders of a Wisconsin team that was domi- nant during Big Ten play. Proving Ground Big Ten teams head to Chicago needing wins