Big Ten Championship: Rutgers is the No. 4 seed, bye twice | Who will face the Scarlett Knights in Indianapolis?

nightmare scenario Rutgers Access Big Ten Championship He lives.

The The Vermilion Knights (18-12, 12-8) made history on Sunday, finishing fourth in the Big Ten — her highest score since joining the conference in 2014 — and earning the No. 4 seed double bye in the Big Ten tournament for the first time after that. Defeat Pennsylvania And watch Ohio and Iowa lose.

But they also saw the potentially disastrous rivalry in Indianapolis become a reality.

Rutgers opened their run in the conference session against the winner of the second round encounter between the Hawkeyes, the No. 12 Northwest U.S. or No. 13 Nebraska seeded Hawkeyes around 2 p.m. Friday, March 11, at Ginbridge Fieldhouse.

Buy tournament tickets here

The Crimson Knights hope to see Wildcats or Hawkeyes, as the alternative puts them at high risk of suffering from CV loss.

The Cornhuskers are the hottest team in the Big Ten, finishing their season with three straight victories on the road over Ohio State, Penn State and convention champion Wisconsin. But they stay solidly within Quadrant 3’s range on neutral ground, which Gainbridge Fieldhouse will serve as. If Rutgers ends up losing to Nebraska – that’s Closer to Lincoln after Exploding peels In Piscataway – she risks letting a public bid for the NCAA Championship fall out of their grasp.

If Rutgers can dodge Nebraska in Indianapolis, he will play with the house money. Barring any odd scenarios of bid-stealing across other leagues in the country or losing to the Cornhuskers, the Crimson Knights are marching into their second consecutive NCAA Championship bid after their first-day win over the Nittany Lions, a startling development considering how vulnerable they are. They started their season.

Here is the full arc:

Rutgers pulled off a three-game losing streak against DePaul, Lafayette and UMAs in November, a 35-point loss to Illinois and a COVID halt in December, big losses for basement residents in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Minnesota in January, and a three-game losing streak in late February to get into these the point. She has six wins in Quad 1 – only 11 teams in the country have more – and avoided a disastrous third-quarter loss to the Nittany Lions.

Rutgers will learn whether to qualify for the championship next Sunday, but coach Steve Bikell and his Crimson Knights believe They’ve already proven to be the stuff of Mars madness.

“We will not only be involved in this thing, but we will win some games as well,” Bikel said on Sunday.

Thank you for counting on us to provide journalism you can trust.

Brian Fonseca can be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.