My Two Cents: My 5 Favorite Things About Big Ten Tournament

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Big Ten puts a bow on its 2023-24 season when No. 2 seed Illinois takes on No. 5 Wisconsin in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Target Center.

It's been a fun week here in Minneapolis in the last full-field conference tournament as we've known it since 1998. Next year, when the league expands to 18 with the addition of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, only the top 15 teams make the field.

There's no getting around it without adding a few days to the event, and it's already plenty long enough. And even though it doesn't mean a lot to the top teams who are off the to the NCAA Tournament anyway, it's still an event that matters.

Here are my five favorite things from this week.

When you're a basketball junkie like I am, it's a lot of fun to have so much going on in a short window. 

The full-day four-game schedules on Thursday and Friday are awesome, and Saturday's two semifinal games were great, especially Wisconsin's upset win over No. 1-seed Purdue. And I'm really looking forward to the final on Sunday.

The joy of covering Indiana and Purdue and the rest of the league is that you really get to know all these coaches and players well. It's great to have a chance to see them all in one spot. And the games, for the most part, have been pretty good.

There's a cooling off period after each game, and then the locker rooms are open to the media for 30 minutes. That doesn't happen during the regular season, It gives us a chance to talk to several players, often one-on-one. It's a rare treat. We don't get that option anywhere any more, except here and the NCAA Tournament.

It sure helps to do my job.

After Indiana home games, we get one or two players at a podium for two or three minutes, and that's it. You don't really get to know them well that way. It's even shorter on the road. So this was nice to have some longer conversations. It was also nice, for instance, to say goodbye to a few people after a season-ending loss. I got that chance with Indiana, and said farewell to Xavier Johnson. It was also great catching up with players on some other teams. I wish it was this way every game.

The reporters who cover their Big Ten teams most thoroughly were all here in Minneapolis, and these are folks you see a game or two at a time during the season. All in one big work room here, it's been great to visit with dozens of people and get caught up.

Sure, watching games and doing press conferences together is nice, but it's even better to share a meal and/or a drink, or just sit an chat for a few minutes. It's great bonding time, especially for guys that you won't see for another year — if at all in this crazy business we call journalism.

Sure, there's a lot of geographic bias in play when I say I wish this tournament was in Indianapolis every year, because it's a great host city for all sporting events. Being able to walk EVERYWHERE always sets Indy apart.

But I also get how you need to move this event around a little bit, and Minneapolis has done a great job. The Target Center, home to the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, is a great building and a wonderful place to watch basketball, but much like Indianapolis, there's plenty to do right downtown, too. There's been lots of good food to be had, and great drinks, too. 

It's doubtful the tourney will be back here any time soon, but this has been a good week. Future sites will be announced soon, and I'm sure we'll see more of Indianapolis and Chicago, but don't be surprised if it moves out west occasionally, too. We'll be in Los Angeles or Las Vegas some time soon. 

Illinois and Wisconsin are safely in the NCAA Tournament, but making a run to the finals has probably helped them move up a spot on the seed line. That's always good. That's why this tournament still matters.

Michigan State came here probably on the good side of the bubble, but beating Minnesota on Thursday probably sealed their deal. A loss would have made for a stressful Selection Sunday show.

Iowa and Ohio State came here with some work still to be done to get in, so their games really mattered. But the No. 7 seed Hawkeyes lost to No. 10 seed Ohio State and then the Buckeyes lost the next day to Illinois. Neither will be going dancing now.

Indiana probably had a chance to reach the postseason without winning the title, but they would have had to at least beat Nebraska and Illinois to get there. That didn't happen, of course. The Hoosiers beat Penn State, but lost by 27 to Nebraska. So, yeah, that game mattered, too. 

it's been fun, and we'll wrap it up today.