CHICAGO — There is one day in the year — and that's it, just one — where you can grab a chair at the local arena and watch four basketball games from noon to midnight that involve eight of the best college basketball teams in the country.

For Big Ten fans, that one day was Friday at the United Center in Chicago. It was quarterfinal Friday, and the building was rocking. It's a cool Midwest thing, even though we've got interlopers from coast to coast now. Still, since the bracket's gone all chalk so far, it was nice to have eight teams left in the field that have spent time in the top-25 this season.

Since the top-four teams in the league get triple byes into the quarterfinals, this was the first we've seen of them on Friday. They've been great all year, but here's the pure joy of the Big Ten Tournament. They didn't hang around long.

No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Illinois all got upset on Friday, and they headed back home with their bags barely unpacked. Even No. 1 seed Michigan, who went 19-1 in regular-season league play, barely got past Ohio State.

It was a heck of a day. And night. 

Here's what happened, along with some quick thoughts from ahigh. (That's the level-7 press box up in the rafters, not some reference to heaven.) 

* No. 1 Michigan Wolverines 71, No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes 67
* No 5 Wisconsin Badgers 91, No. 4 Illinois Fighting Illini 88 in overtime
* No. 7 Purdue Boilermakers 74, No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers 58
* No. 6 UCLA Bruins 88, No. 3 Michigan State Spartans 82

The Final Four in Indianapolis is in three weeks, and I'm expecting to be there along with the Michigan Wolverines. They've proven all year that they're one of the best teams in the country — and are legit title contenders. They are 30-2 now, reaching the milestone for just the sixth time in school history.

They've done some historic things this year, most notably finishing undefeated on the road in the Big Ten, which is really hard to do considering all the raucous and iconic venues around the league. They were the first team to do it since Indiana in 1976, the year they won it all as a perfect unbeaten at 32-0.

But we keep learning things, too. They showed us on Friday that they can win in a lot of different ways, beating Ohio State 71-67. Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg only scored six points — but they won anyway. Four others were in double figures.

"I thought our defense down the stretch was the difference. We were able to buckle down, force some really tough shots, and finish with rebounds,'' Michigan coach Dusty May said. "I think everyone knows, when you have a team that's this talented and this connected, a lot of guys are capable.''

Lendeborg has scored in single digits eight times this year. What's it mean? Not much. Michigan is 8-0 in those games.

Kudos to Ohio State for playing so well. Now that they're healthy, they've been playing some good ball of late. They were 4-0 in March and they're a team to circle when you're filling out your bracket. I always like teams with veteran guards, and Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. are clutch. 

The best game of the regular season might have been that 92-90 Wisconsin-Illinois overtime thriller on Feb. 10 in Champaign. It was so good that they did it all again on Friday.

Wisconsin erased a 15-point second-half deficit and stunned the Illini 91-88 in overtime again, winning despite being a 9.5-point underdog.

You know how I like veteran guards in the postseason? Well, you had to love what the Badgers backcourt of Nick Boyd and John Blackwell did. Boyd had 38 points and Blackwell had 31. Boyd's 38 is a Big Ten Tournament record — set exactly one day earlier by Blackwell, when he had 34 in the win against Washington.

I had Illinois as a Final Four team when they won 12 games in a row from Dec. 22 to Feb. 4. They lost OT games to Michigan State and Wisconsin back-to-back, but then I watched them beat Indiana by 20 with my own eyes, and then went to Los Angeles and beat USC by 36.

But they lost another overtime game at UCLA and got roughed up by Michigan when they were trying to get back in the Big Ten race. Throw in Friday's loss and they are just 4-5 in their last nine.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood is disappointed, of course, but he knows they'll be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament, and that's all that matters right now. But they need to be better rebounders, and be better defensively. They are now 0-8 when they give up 80 points or more. They're 24-0 otherwise.

"You get out rebounded, you go home. If we're not consistent on the defensive side, we'll go home,'' Underwood said. "Again, offensively we've been gifted, and we are. 

"We're really good. We've lost some where we're a possession away in a lot of games from being one of the best teams record-wise in the country. I still think we're one of the best teams in the country. It's just one possession here or there. That's what this group has to understand. Today I thought it was just a lack of focus.''

There's no margin for error now for Illinois. I thought their zone defense was ineffective against Wisconsin, which kept finding gaps and scoring. Good on the Badgers, who now get another shot at Michigan. They're the only Big Ten team to beat the Wolverines this season, winning 91-88 on Jan. 10.

Saturday will be fun.

This was the upset that really wasn't. No. 7 seed Purdue was actually favored over No. 2 seed Nebraska, and they played like it, too, winning 74-58. It wasn't close. Purdue dominated throughout, with Fletcher Loyer leading the way with 19 points.

Purdue has been struggling of late, losing four of their last six regular season games. But they've been great here in Chicago, beating Northwestern by 13 and Nebraska by 16,

This senior-laden team was preseason No. 1 in the country, so let's not forget that they are very talented. This was no upset, obviously. And I won't be surprised if the Boilermakers are playing for a league title on Sunday.

I'm not going to make much of this loss for Nebraska. They've had a great year, going 25-5 and 15-5 in the league. No Nebraska team has ever won 15 Big Ten games before.

They are really good, but now the pressure's really on in the NCAA Tournament. Any result that doesn't include playing into the second week will be a disappointment.

"This was a good learning opportunity for our guys, and we'll build off of this one,'' Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Obviously our inability to finish off the possessions in the second half really did us in. Our first shot defense was really good, I thought, in the second half. But just inability to finish it off and get the rebound, and we need to fix that.''

No one in the Big Ten owns the postseason like Michigan State's Tom Izzo, but he had a quick trip to Chicago. UCLA played great and sent the Spartans home after just one night. The Bruins won 88-84, but it really wasn't that close.

UCLA has been playing great lately, winning four in a row and six of seven, including three wins over ranked teams (Illinois, Nebraska, Michigan State). Donovon Dent has been great in Chicago, going for 23 points, 12 assists and six rebounds against the Spartans a night after posting the first-ever Big Ten Tournament triple-double against Rutgers.

And now the Bruins are off to the semifinals.

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