Of all the 1-seeds in the tournament, the experts seem to be the most down on UConn.  The Huskies lost shooting guard Jerome Dyson, but start a pair of capable seniors in A.J. Price and Craig Austrie, not to mention a frontcourt of Adrien and Thabeet.  UConn doesn’t seem to have a lot to worry [...]

The tournament actually starts in the Midwest bracket with a game of almost no significance tonight between Morehead St. and Alabama St.  No offense to these teams, but this is not something that people want to watch, but watch we will.  The winner of this game will be greeted by Louisville and their full-court press. [...]

ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber’s last column for the WWL.  She was one of the most overlooked, underappreciated, and brilliant voices in sports media.  [ESPN] Another vote for the Bears trading for Jay Cutler.  Your move Angelo.  [Sun-Times] Chester Frazier a “long shot” to play in the NCAA Tournament.  So you’re telling me there’s a [...]

Last week we let you know about a couple of things we have planned here at NQTC for the NCAA Tournament.  Since I completely jumped the gun on posting that, here we go again.  First, we have a group set up on ESPN.com for the Tournament Challenge.  It’s free, easy, and you can win a [...]

Illinois pulled the much maligned 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament and they’ll play the 12-seed Western Kentucky in the first round.  The Hilltoppers of course have the best mascot in sports history. So already you have to be worried.  The Hilltoppers should actual give Illinois plenty to think about this week, judging by a quick [...]

The early games are just about finished, with Michigan State beating Minnesota 64-56 and Ohio State and Wisconsin still going at it and it looks like it could go down to the wire…. 5:30 pm (2) Illinois vs. (7) Michigan- The first issue that comes to mind with this game is the availability of Chester [...]

Day one of the Big Ten Tourney was pretty boring, to put it bluntly.  Minnesota led pretty much the whole way and ended any hopes Northwestern had for their first ever tournament  berth.  Then Michigan jumped out to an early lead and never looked back against Iowa, all but clinching their first tournament appearance in [...]

Some slogans, ad campaigns, and catchphrases just get old.  I’ve always thought March Madness would be one of those things.  Great advertising tool and apt name for a time of the year every sports fan can get into, but it’s so omni-present this time of year from everything from sports shows to used car ads.  [...]

In the spirit of Michael Scott and the Office, we roasted the Chicago Bulls a while back and got a pretty good response.  It’s probably because the Bulls are so hilariously awful, but here we go again with the basketball teams of the Big Ten. Purdue, every time someone slips on the court, I still [...]

The Big Ten Tournament starts at 11am today.  There are seven or eight teams that have a legitimate chance to win this thing, and any of today’s games could feature an upset. All times Central: 11:00 am (8) Minnesota vs. (9) Northwestern The teams split games during the regular season, with each winning at home.  [...]

There are times during the year that are just plain awesome.  I’m not sure that any of them are quite as good as the middle of March through the start of April.  This week we have conference tournaments, bubble talk, and Selection Sunday at the tail end of the weekend.  Then we get a few [...]

The logjam that made up the Big Ten standings was finally sorted out yesterday afternoon when Wisconsin beat Indiana.  Going into the weekend Penn State could have been seeded as high as the two, but the Nittany Lions ended up with the six.  Ohio State could have been as low as the eight seed, but [...]

The first tickets for the NCAA Tournament will be punched this weekend, as at least a couple of conference tournaments will wrap up.  And Cornell is already in!  There is also plenty of bubble action and some games vital to seeding in the Big Ten Tournament.  Hey, Duke and North Carolina play this weekend, how [...]

That four seed looked pretty good next to Illinois in the latest bracketology from ESPN.  Well after last night it will take quite a bit to get a four seed or better in the big dance. Last night I was hearing how Penn State was trying to play its way into the tournament, while Illinois [...]

It’s a little hard to believe, but some of the smaller conference tournaments start this week and teams will be punching their tickets to the Big Dance soon.  Sometimes it’s a little tough to keep track of who’s in and who’s out, so here’s a rundown of how the Big Ten is looking. In: Michigan [...]