Tourney will be anyone’s guess

Bracket time is just a few days away.
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket will be unveiled Sunday, with 68 teams selected to vie for the Division I championship. And for three days after that, fans across the country will fill out brackets in hopes of winning everything from bragging rights in the work pool to big money in national contests.
Winning that big money is nearly impossible, because it requires a perfect bracket. But this year, figuring out what is going to happen in the Big 10 Tournament may be nearly as difficult.
Sure, sixth-ranked Wisconsin is the clear favorite, although it does have a loss to bottom-feeder Rutgers on its resume. But what do we make of the mess behind the Badgers?
Newcomer Maryland is ranked eighth, but has four conference losses. The following pack is made up of six teams — Michigan State, Iowa, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois — currently expected to be slated as No. 7 seeds or lower for the NCAA Tournament, with the Illini on the outside looking in.
And for some of them, this week’s performance could make a big difference.
Let’s start with IU.
A month ago, the Hoosiers (19-12) seemed like a tournament lock. They had won four in a row, including victories over Ohio State and Maryland.
But Indiana has gone 4-8 since then and heads into the postseason on a three-game skid that started with a loss to Northwestern.
Purdue’s trajectory has gone in the opposite direction. The Boilermakers won 8-of-9 games after a Jan. 21 loss to Illinois and have picked up victories over Iowa, Ohio State and Indiana (twice).
Most predictions have both in-state teams in the NCAA Tournament, but they could easily fall out. And they could just as easily climb several rungs on the ladder with a run to the Big Ten final.
Each of the other contenders has suffered at least one significant Big Ten upset. Ohio State lost to rival Michigan. Iowa fell to Northwestern. Michigan State and Illinois both stumbled against Nebraska.
So, when we look at the Big Ten bracket, are we supposed to be confident Iowa will cruise past the Nebraska/Penn State winner, Ohio State will top the Minnesota/Rutgers winner or Indiana will easily vanquish Northwestern? At this point, confidence in any result seems silly.
It would also be foolish to forget Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers went just 6-12 in conference play, but they’ve made a habit of knocking off teams in the top half of the league. They beat Purdue 62-58, Iowa 64-59 and most recently Michigan State 93-90 in overtime.
Perhaps the only thing that’s clear at this point is that Michigan State and Purdue did themselves big favors by securing the No. 3 and 4 seeds, meaning they get a bye to the quarterfinal round while Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State and Illinois all have to play an extra game.
As for predictions, forget it. It seems as if I’d be more likely to choose the right numbers for tonight’s Mega Millions drawing than figure out what’s going to happen when the Big 10 Tournament begins Wednesday.
But all of the uncertainty should make for a fun week of basketball.