IOWA CITY, Iowa – You’d be hard pressed to find one individual, one aspect, or one play that changed the course of Tuesday night’s game.

Both Iowa and Minnesota have been reeling this season. One of these teams needed to come away with a win. The injury-laden Gophers hoped they were in line for a dire victory.

Instead, it was a collective effort from the Hawkeyes that led to a 94-80 Iowa win.

Collective and cohesive. Two words to best describe Iowa on this night. How’d the Hawkeyes manage to play what is quite possibly their cleanest game of the season?

To start, there are the individuals.

Jordan Bohannon dazzled yet again with a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists. The Iowa point guard played 48 minutes and only committed one foul and two turnovers. He also went 4-of-4 from the free throw line, putting his consecutive makes streak up to 30, just four behind Chris Street’s Iowa record.

Opposing teams throw everything they can at Bohannon, and it doesn’t seem to faze him. Bohannon is often the guy to stop the bleeding with a big, timely shot. No moment seems too large.

“He has supreme confidence in his ability to make that shot,” Fran McCaffery said. “The situation is sort of irrelevant to him, and that’s what you want.”

There’s also Tyler Cook, also with a double-double. Cook’s 17 points and 10 rebounds were huge factors that led to Jordan Murphy getting into foul trouble, trying to body up Iowa’s big man.

Okay, but what about Isaiah Moss? The streaky shooting guard was confident on Tuesday, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three, notching 16 points.

Yeah, it’s great to get Moss going, but there’s also Luka Garza, Nicholas Baer, and Cordell Pemsl. Each of them had 10 points as well.

Jack Nunge also brought some energy. He had six points, three rebounds, and even two big blocks.

Who sparked this Iowa win? Tough to say when the entire team is on their respective games.

Clearly, the offense was solid, but so too was the defensive aspect of the game. Iowa has played some of the worst defense in Division I this season, but managed to get enough stops Tuesday night.

“We were better defensively, but I think we need to be even better than we were tonight,” McCaffery said. “There are still some areas that need improvement so that we can be better connected. But we were better than we’ve been.”

Iowa still gave up 80 points while Minnesota was without one of their top scorers in Amir Coffey, but the effort on defense was clear and present. There have been moments this season in which that wasn’t the case.

Finally, the big plays. While Moss’s steal and breakaway dunk with 1:34 was the ultimate dagger, it wasn’t what led to the win. 94-80 sounds like Iowa controlled the game, but the two sides were pretty evenly matched.

The Hawkeyes had to weather multiple storms from the Golden Gophers, who had three separate scoring runs of seven, eight, and nine points throughout the game. Iowa stayed composed and didn’t let those turn into 15-0 runs that have plagued them multiple times this season.

Iowa also turned the ball over just eight times and made 12 three-pointers, the teams most in a Big Ten game this season.

Controlling the big moments helped Iowa earn its third conference victory.

The win was Fran McCaffery’s 400^th win as a head coach, but he didn’t put much stock in himself after the game.

“All it does for me in remind me of the great players I’ve coached, the great athletic directors I’ve had,” McCaffery said. “You don’t get to 400 wins being a great coach. You get 400 wins when you have great players who are committed to one another.”

McCaffery wasn’t concerned with the distant future either. The Hawkeyes are still trying to play their way out of the bottom four of the conference to avoid having to play a Wednesday game at the Big Ten Tournament, but McCaffery is merely evaluating this team one game at a time.

“We were better tonight than we were on Saturday. That means we had some maturity,” McCaffery said. “Now we have to play a team that beat us already… let’s see if we can do that on the road. That would be a big step for us to play better than we’ve been playing before on the road.”

Iowa (12-12, 3-8 Big Ten) travels to University Park, Pennsylvania on Saturday for a rematch with the Penn State Nittany Lions (15-8, 5-5 Big Ten). Tipoff is set for 5:00pm CST on Big Ten Network. Penn State beat Iowa 77-73 in Iowa City on December 2 to open Big Ten play.

Penn State plays at No. 5 Michigan State on Wednesday night at 5:30pm CST on Big Ten Network.

The post Hawkeyes Run Over Gophers for Much-Needed Victory appeared first on KRUI Radio.

One month ago, the College Football world told itself that the 4-team playoff would be filled with ease once again. At the time, the SEC, ACC, Big 10, and Big 12 conferences each presumed to be represented by their champion. Only the Big 12 conference’s presumed representative is the same as prior with the top of the rankings left to chaos. Oklahoma continues to hum past the remainder of the Big 12. The following list withhold the schools who were in the top 6 a month ago and still are today: Alabama. That’s it. The cast of teams surrounding the dominant

Alabama squad has shifted a great deal week by week. However, the phrase of “dominant” cannot be attached to Nick Saban’s team following last weekend’s contest. Upsets shake the world of College Football once again.

Throughout the previous month, the shapings of the playoffs have begun to take form. No team outside of Wisconsin and Central Florida makes out of the regular season unscathed. #1 Alabama fell to #6 Auburn in the Iron Bowl. The same outcome befell #2 Miami as they lost to an unranked Pittsburgh. Just two weeks prior, #9 Washington fell. #1 Georgia steamrolled #10 Auburn and #3 Notre Dame exposed by #7 Miami.  #6 TCU battles and loses to #5 Oklahoma. And lastly, #6 Ohio State received a beating in Iowa City to the unranked Hawkeyes.

Penn State fell off the planet after being ranked second in the nation a month earlier before losses against #6 Ohio State and #24 Michigan State. Upsets have completely ravaged the top 10 of the College Football rankings week after week.

Playoff Ramifications

Despite all of these upsets eliminating teams from playoff contention, eight teams still have a chance at making the playoffs. This amount of teams is the highest by such a large margin in the history of the playoffs. The following teams are currently contending for the top 4 spots: Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Auburn, Alabama, Miami, Georgia, and Ohio State. Among these, there are no certains. None whatsoever. Here are all the likely possibilities.

If Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Auburn all win in their respective conference championship games, each of them will compete for the playoffs in no particular order. This particular scenario plays out with Alabama being the first team out of the playoffs. Alabama losing to Auburn head to head and Auburn winning the SEC championship defends this scenario. If Clemson loses, Miami will make the national semifinal game in Clemson’s place. If Wisconsin or Oklahoma lose, however, the outcome may not be so simple. Alabama may take one of those places, so Ohio State or even potentially Georgia could retain the spot. If Auburn loses to Georgia, Georgia simply replaces Auburn in the playoffs. However, of all these contingencies, as a lifelong sports fanatic since birth and self-proclaimed expert since, the following is my prediction for the playoffs.

#1 – Auburn. After beating Georgia and Alabama in three weeks with both teams being ranked one at the time and defeating a #7 Georgia again in the upcoming week in the conference championship, Auburn rises the number one slot in the playoffs.

#2 – Clemson. First, this Saturday, Clemson will defeat Miami for the ACC Championship. Second, I cannot put Clemson at number one in the nation for only two reasons. Syracuse and schedule strength. The lone loss in Clemson’s repertoire is facing Syracuse. A loss against Syracuse is inexcusable. Despite Clemson defeating Auburn in a head to head matchup and Auburn having two losses to Clemson’s one, Auburn has proven in the last three weeks and will continue to prove once again this week that Auburn is the hottest and the best team in the nation.

#3 – Oklahoma. The Sooners hold strong in a rematch against TCU in the Big 12 Championship game and retain their previously given slot from the College Football Playoff Committee. Oklahoma deserves to be in the Playoffs but does not own the resume to be placed higher than here.

#4 – Alabama. The Big 10 will miss out of the playoffs for the first year. A two-loss Ohio State Big 10 champion will not make the playoffs as a two-loss Big 10 champ in Penn State missed out on the playoffs in 2016. Wisconsin has not faced a single worthy opponent all year and Ohio State has faced Oklahoma and Penn State as well as rivalry games against Michigan and Michigan State. The Big 10 will do as the Big 12 has done multiple times and beat itself out of the playoffs. This leaves Alabama to enjoy a rematch of the Iron Bowl against Auburn in the National Semifinals on New Year’s Day.

This Saturday will without doubt deliver with multiple conference championship throughout the day. Oklahoma-TCU at 11:30 CST on FOX. Georgia-Auburn at 3:00 CST on CBS. Clemson-Miami at 7:00 CST on ABC and Wisconsin-Ohio State at the same time on FOX. Each of these games will determine College Football Playoff selections with the official ranking show occuring on Sunday, December 3rd at noon.

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1. Iowa in November is a very scary thing

Entering the game, Iowa had won three out of the last four match-ups against AP Top 5 teams, the lone loss to Penn State earlier this year. One team that has always seemed immune to Kinnick’s “voodoo” is the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes have only lost in Iowa City once in the last 30 years, losing in 2004, 33-7. What has always seemed as an easy road trip, turned into a house of horrors on Saturday for Urban Meyer and company. The Hawkeyes set the tone right away with Amani Hooker’s pick-six on the first play of the game. Nate Stanley was at his finest, completing 20 of 31 passes for 226 yards and five touchdowns, including one with Sam Hubbard grasping for his ankles.

Someone forgot to tell Nate Stanley that Sam Hubbard is a feared pass-rusher. #CoolCalmCollectedpic.twitter.com/6QqXABEQhS

— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) November 6, 2017

Iowa’s defense made their presence known against Heisman-contender J.T. Barrett and made him look like a third-string quarterback for most of the day. Joshua Jackson had one of the most dominant games an Iowa defensive back has had in a long time. Jackson recorded three interceptions for the Hawkeyes, the last one possibly being a candidate for “Catch of the Year” in College Football.

Another one.

And this latest @HawkeyeFootball interception by Joshua Jackson might be the Pick Of The Year: pic.twitter.com/arsEEViZ84

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 4, 2017

November has always been the time that Kirk Ferentz coached Iowa teams perform at their best. Anyone who draws the Black and Gold in November should at the very least have great respect for them. Iowa travels to Madison on Saturday to face the undefeated Badgers, Paul Chryst will have to have his troops ready for the Hawkeyes.

2. Michigan State is back

Following the Spartans surprising 3-9 finish in 2016, many didn’t expect the Mark Dantonio and company to improve much in 2017. But as he’s done for most of his career in East Lansing, Dantonio has proved the doubters wrong. The Spartans are 7-2 following their upset win over #7 Penn State in a game that featured a three hour and 22 minute lightning delay. Those who stuck around saw freshman kicker Matt Coghlin drill a 34-yard field goal, dashing any remaining hope of Penn State’s playoff hopes.

Slip ‘N Slidin’ Spartans.

Go Green, Go White, let’s Go Home. @MSU_Football edges No. 7 Penn State with Matt Coghlin’s game-winner: pic.twitter.com/wIpxh7b8jh

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 4, 2017

Michigan State quarterback Ben Lewerke was slinging the ball left and right, completing 33 of 56 passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Junior receiver Felton Davis III had a monster game with 12 catchers for 181 yards and a touchdown, clearly becoming Lewerke’s favorite target. The Spartans next travel to Columbus to take on a beat up Ohio State team that is essentially a de facto division title elimination game. It should be a heavyweight fight for sure come Saturday.

3. Northwestern is Clutch

Another week, another overtime win for Pat Fitzgerald’s crew in Evanston, this time stunning Nebraska at Memorial Stadium. With their win over the Huskers, Northwestern became the first school in college football history to win three consecutive overtime games. All four Wildcat touchdowns came on the ground, as senior running back Justin Jackson carried the load for Northwestern. Jackson finished with 31 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Clayton Thorson finished with two rushing touchdowns, along with throwing for 243 yards.

Once again, Tanner Lee struggled for Nebraska. While he did throw two touchdowns, Lee also fired three interceptions, two of them going to Northwestern safety Kyle Quiero. The Husker running game was stagnant once again as running back Devine Ozigbo finished with 23 carries and 72 yards. Nebraska only finished with 112 yards rushing as a team. But this Northwestern team showed that they can answer the bell when called upon, as Thorson was able to lead the drives that tied and ultimately won the game. The Wildcats take on a stingy Purdue team next Saturday at Ryan Field.

The post Big Ten Football: Week 10 Takeaways appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Penn State, with no time left on the clock, beat Iowa 21-19 on a seven-yard reception from Juwan Johnson.

“That game is illustrative of what it takes to win in the conference,” said Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz. “We’re disappointed with the loss; its going to hurt for a while, but we’ll move on.”

As the game neared its close, flashes of the Michigan game from 2016 began to swirl in the heads of Hawkeye fans. Instead, the heartbreaking loss forces fans to recall the 2015 Big Ten Championship Game versus Michigan State.

In that game, it was L.J. Scott who reached over the goal line with under a minute left to shock the Hawkeyes. This time, it was Trace McSorely and Juwan Johnson.

The Hawkeyes had a lead over No. 4 Penn State with under a minute to play, even after sputtering offensively in the first half. That’s because the Iowa defense rose to the occasion yet again.

In the first half, the Iowa offense had absolutely nothing going, and the defense was forced to be on the field for nearly 20 minutes. Even on short rest, they held the Nittany Lions in check.

The defense surrendered just three points in the first half even though they allowed 219 total yards. When it came time to make big plays, the defense was making them.

After forcing a three-and-out mid-second quarter, Penn State pinned Iowa at the one-yard line, where Akrum Wadley was dropped in the end zone for a safety, making the score 5-0. On the next drive the defense forced a turnover on downs at their 32-yard line, but again, the Iowa offense was forced to punt.

With under a minute to play in the half, the defense came up big again. Sam Brincks forced a quarterback hurry, and Josey Jewell picked off a pass and returned it 33 yards to the Penn State 21-yard line.

On the next play, Nate Stanley found Nick Easley for just his third completion of the game. Just like that, the Hawkeyes were taking a 7-5 lead into the locker room.

In the first half, the Nittany Lions possessed the ball for nine more minutes than the Hawkeyes, outgained the Hawkeyes by 165 yards, and had nine more first downs. Yet, they trailed at the break.

Jewell and the defense held their own in the first half and competed hard in the second half, but one player made the difference after intermission.

That player was Saquon Barkley.

The Heisman hopeful was held to 63 rushing yards and 47 receiving yards in the first half. For Barkley, these numbers are relatively low. It was in the second half that he truly found his rhythm.

Barkley finished the game with 305 yards from scrimmage – 211 rushing (a career high), 94 receiving.

“He’s a good player,” said Brincks. “He’s a Heisman candidate for a reason.”

Barkley’s signature play came mid-fourth quarter. The running back caught a screen pass, then hurdled over would-be tackler Josh Jackson. Amani Hooker lowered his shoulder into Barkley while he was in the air, but Hooker just bounced off. Barkley landed on his feet and picked up four more yards for a first down.

It’s those plays that define a Heisman season.

Barkley only managed to find the end zone once in the game on an eight-yard touchdown run to put the Nittany Lions up 15-7. The drive was set up by a fumble from Akrum Wadley.

Wadley more than made up for his mistake. Five minutes later, he caught a pass from Stanley and took it 70 yards up the field for a touchdown, diving through two defenders to reach the end zone. Iowa trailed 15-13 after a failed two-point try.

With under two minutes to play, Wadley struck again.

The defense held as Anthony Nelson blocked a short red zone field goal with 2:42 on the clock. Working quickly, the offense drove down the field, and Wadley capped the drive with a 35-yard run through the left side.

Hawkeyes in front, 19-15. Jubilation inside Kinnick Stadium. Another monumental upset under the lights was imminent.

Or so it seemed.

McSorely led the Nittany Lions down the field, completing seven of his 11 passes to pick apart the Iowa defense that had caused him so many problems all night. With four seconds left, McSorely found Johnson for the game-winning score as the ball sailed no more than a centimeter above the outstretched hands of Hooker.

Elation turned to devastation in just four seconds. Kinnick stadium was silent.

As the Hawkeyes left the field, they were treated to a standing ovation from the home crowd.

Effort and heart recognized and appreciated.

Many fans stayed standing in their seats for more than 10 minutes after the game ended. It hadn’t sunk in yet.

“This game sucks, but you have to move on from it,” Jewell said somberly in his post game conference.

If you go look at a box score and leave scoring plays aside, one would think Penn State bowled over Iowa. But under the Kinnick lights, statistics usually take a backseat to grit.

“The guys expended a lot tonight,” Ferentz said. “Win, lose, or draw you’ve got to move on and make sure we don’t miss an opportunity next week.”

Losing sucks. Nobody says it doesn’t. But the Hawkeyes looked good against one of the top teams and top players in the country. That’s encouraging moving forward.

Iowa (3-1, 0-1) travels to East Lansing next Saturday to take on Michigan State (2-1, 0-0). Game time is 3:00pm CST at Spartan Stadium.

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A four-point loss at home to Illinois on Feb. 18 was the team’s third straight loss, and the remaining schedule was not exactly favorable.

The schedule didn’t get easier, but the Hawkeyes did get better.

After beating Indiana 96-90 in overtime, Iowa had to hit the road for two games in a row, both versus ranked opponents. First, the Hawkeyes blew then-24th-ranked Maryland out of their own gym. Next, they took down #22 Wisconsin thanks to a three-pointer by Jordan Bohannon with less than 10 seconds to play.

Just like that, the Hawkeyes were starting to work their way back into the conversation for an at-large big. Beating Penn State 90-79 on Sunday to close the regular season on a four-game winning streak has them fully immersed in the bubble talk.

“There’s no better time to click than in March,” said senior Peter Jok following his 21-point performance in his (could-be) final game inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

As of Monday morning, the Hawkeyes’ rating percentage index (RPI) has jumped to 72 and the team’s record versus teams in the RPI top 50 is 5-7. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Iowa listed as one of the “First Four Out,” along with Rhode Island, Kansas State, and Illinois. Thanks to the late-season push, the Hawkeyes have put themselves in contention for an-large bid.

“I think we deserve to be in,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery after the Penn State game. “What you have to do is not focus on thinking about it and talking about it.”

For a young Hawkeyes team, it may be tough to block out all of the noise and bubble talk that will undoubtedly swirl around them as they prepare for the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa’s leaders know they have to help keep the team focused on what they can control and nothing else.

“Young guys probably think about (the bubble) but I try not to let them think about it,” Jok said. “You just have to keep winning and whatever happens happens.”

While there has been some doubt from those outside the locker room, the team thought of themselves as a tournament team all season. They just needed to play like it every time they took the floor.

“We thought that we were (a tournament team) the whole season, we’ve just been playing inconsistently,” said freshman Cordell Pemsl. “I think we finally got that rhythm and that swagger back as a team.”

The team is certainly playing some of their best basketball right now. The four-game winning-streak is the longest of the conference season for Hawkeyes, and they’ve done it as a unit. Six different players have scored in double figures in the last four games, three of them have come off the bench to do so.

“If you look at how we’ve played these last four games, we’re a top team in the country,” said sophomore Nicholas Baer who has scored in double figures each of the last four games, including a career-high 20 points versus Penn State. “You want teams that are hot in in NCAA Tournament, teams that are playing their best basketball. If you look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, we’re playing our best basketball right now.”

Still on the outside looking in, the team knows there is still work to be done. The late push has been great, but they can’t let up yet.

“We do have a sense of urgency,” Baer said. “Every game is our biggest game.”

It is the general consensus that Iowa will have to win two games in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament if they want to move in to the field of 68. Iowa, the seven-seed, will face off with the 10-seed Indiana on Thursday at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. If they survive that, they will meet Wisconsin, the two-seed, in the quarterfinals.

“We’ve got our hot streak going at the right time,” Pemsl said. “We’re hoping to carry that over into next week.”

There’s no way to predict exactly what the Selection Committee will do with Iowa until Selection Sunday arrives. The Hawkeyes know they have to keep winning, and if they win enough games, there won’t be anything left to chance.

“We just tell ourselves ‘we might as well just go win the Big Ten Tournament,’” Pemsl said. “They have to put us in then.”

Iowa plays Indiana Thursday at 5:30 PM CST on ESPN2.

The post Strong Finish to Regular Season Has Hawkeyes Eyeing Tournament Bid appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Dynasty” is term loosely tossed around to describe successful teams after championship runs. In most modern sports, the talent pool has proven too deep to have a classic, 20^th-century, dynasty such as the 50s Yankees, 60s Celtics or 90s Cowboys. Those squads dominated and left little question as to which team was the best in their respective eras. While that same scenario may not exist in all major United States sports, we can garner at least a debate.

In this piece we will dive into the top dynasties since the first season post-2000 started of each major sport between the college and professional levels and decide which recent squad has had dominated its respective sport the most. There are rules that will be followed.

1. There will be a qualified team picked out of each individual sport before jumping to a final debate on who is the king of kings.
2. One team must be chosen out of each major sport – college football, men’s/women’s basketball, baseball, wrestling, volleyball, MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL.
3. Seasons that are currently in progress (2014-15 college hoops, NBA, NHL) are not included. For example, Kentucky’s current undefeated record in college hoops cannot be applied to their opportunity to be considered college basketball’s top dynasty on the men’s side.
4. Dynasty is a term used far too often. Are the Seahawks a dynasty because of how great their defense is in the past two years? No, because Seattle struggled through a lot of down seasons beforehand. In this piece, a dynasty will be defined as “Dominating a respective sport, while simultaneously competing for championships to the tune of being the greatest team in the discussed era.”
5. A team must consistently be in championship contention, but in order to be a dynasty in this span – a team must have won at least a single title.
6. I cannot compare teams between sports, as that will happen in the follow up article, where I will rank the selections from each league.

Let the games begin.

NBA

The NBA has always had a lack of parity.  We may no longer be limited to just the Lakers and Celtics, but the situation is still heavily lopsided.

Starting in the 2000-01 season, just three out of 14 Western Conference champions haven’t been named either the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks made two Finals appearances, and the Oklahoma City Thunder briefly showed up before being ousted in five by the LeBron James-led Miami Heat.

The Eastern Conference has been more diverse, but less successful. Seven teams (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando) have won the conference, but just three (Detroit, Miami, Boston) have managed to end the postseason with a victory.

The Heat have an impressive five title appearances and three championships to make a case for a potential top-NBA dynasty in the last 14 seasons. However, they fall well short of the Western Conference rivals from California and Texas.

The Spurs have a cumulative regular season record of 804-328 (.710), a postseason tally of 129-80 (.617), and four championships in five appearances since 2000. Their worst record in that span is 50-32 in 2009, and yet they still made it to the Western Conference Semifinals. Gregg Popovich has led this team to being easily the most consistent of all NBA squads in this era.

Los Angeles, albeit currently in its lowest moment in franchise history, also has an argument to be the representative for professional hoops. While their 690-442 (.610) overall regular season mark is well below San Antonio’s, their post season record of 108-66 trumps the Spurs. In six Finals appearances, the Lakers have taken home four titles – equal to the Spurs. If the 1999-2000 season and the first third of the Shaq-Kobe three-peat were included, my final decision may not have been…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, led by a long-time coach and familiar players, have (somehow quietly) been one of the most consistent teams in all of American athletics. Their YMCA-style of play may not captivate casual audiences with oohs and awes, but their record says all that is needed. The Lakers have missed the playoffs as many times (two) as the Spurs have missed the second round. The ability to avoid down years is what makes the difference. San Antonio and Los Angeles have the same highs, but the Spurs have yet to hit a low this century.

Honorable mention: Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat

NFL

Baltimore, New England, Pittsburgh and the New York Giants have all won multiple titles since Super Bowl XXXV, thus obviously deserving of recognition in this analysis. Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Green Bay and Seattle will also be included as to compare all Super Bowl victors.

Looking based simply off of this, the answer is penciled in. Let’s engrave it in stone with this next chart. I gave every team a point total for each category – the top team receiving nine points and the bottom receiving one – (regular season win percentage, total postseason wins, postseason win percentage, division titles and Super Bowls). The point total depended on where a team finished in each respective section.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: New England Patriots. New England swept the board in each measurable category. It’s hard to tell if they’re farther ahead of the pack than Tampa Bay is behind. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have created a dynasty and are two absurd catches from having six Super Bowls in this span, including the Brady-Randy Moss 2007 combination that was the best team in NFL history to not win it all.

NHL

The NHL has experienced more parity than its professional counterparts this century. Ten teams have won a Stanley Cup in the last 13 occurrences (plus the 2005 lockout season). The Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche have all taken home one championship, while the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings all have a pair of titles. To avoid confusion in the following chart, the NHL did away with ties during this span and therefore the records will be Win-Loss-Overtime Losses-Ties.

  We have seven categories (Stanley Cups, playoff appearances, playoff series victories, postseason wins, postseason win percentage and regular season win percentage and points). The best team in each category will receive 10 points and the worst will pick up just one. In order to put a stronger emphasis on advancing in the postseason, playoff series victories will count as a point for each accumulated. This should counteract disciplining teams for advancing on to tougher rounds just to be swept.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Detroit Red Wings. Outside of postseason win percentage, Detroit swept the board since 2000. Its 17 postseason series victories is even more impressive when factoring in the lockout season and the fact that no other franchise has more than a dozen. Despite parity among Stanley Cup victors, Detroit has easily been the most consistently dominant in all of professional hockey. Not much of an argument can be made for any other squad from this chart, and therefore none are honorable mention worthy.

Men’s college basketball:

After a relatively easy start, we reach what might be the most complicated of all sports we list. College basketball is about as random as they come (see odds of making a perfect bracket). Of course, Kentucky seems like an obvious choice after winning a national title in 2013-14 and going undefeated so far in 2014-15 (void). Don’t let fresh tastes discount distant memories.

Recent impressions can’t influence this decision, but the Wildcats have enough beyond that to make a pretty decisive statement. A 369-124 overall record is tough to argue with. What’s even harder? Twelve NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Sweet Sixteens, three Final Fours and a 1-1 record in the championship. Take away the two seasons Billy Gillispie coached Kentucky to a 40-27 overall record with zero NCAA Tournament victories and an NIT berth, and the Wildcats may blow the competition out of the water.

One team has been so remarkably consistent in its conference that it’s impossible to leave off this list: The Kansas Jayhawks.

After transitioning from a Hall of Fame coach, Kansas found a fate much simpler than Kentucky. Bill Self took over Roy Williams’ squad and didn’t miss a beat.

Williams’ last three seasons resulted in a 42-6 conference record that was overshadowed by a Sweet Sixteen, Final Four and a championship appearance. Since? Self has given the Jayhawks a 325-69 mark with a 151-31 stretch in the Big 12.

Self’s initial tournament resume left much to be desired with two first round exits sandwiched between a pair of Elite Eight showings. That turned around quickly with Kansas’ lone national title during this span in 2008.

Kansas boasts similar marks to Kentucky, with one extra championship loss thrown in, and its down years were first round exits over being completely left out.

So how about ex-Jayhawk coach Williams’ new squad – North Carolina? The Tar Heels have two national titles and another Final Four on their record and they may not even be the best dynasty in their own state.

Recent 1,000 game winner Mike Kryzewski’s Duke Blue Devils are.

Duke has a pair of national titles, has appeared in the tournament in each covered year, and has lost in their opening matchup just three times. Their conference dominance may not be as high as a team such as Kansas, but the competition is relatively stellar each season.

The Blue Devils hold an absurd 412-87 (.826) record in this span. So it has to be them, right?111

Let’s head over to Big Ten country where Tom Izzo is standing by for a quick lecture on postseason play. Michigan State, although missing its 1999-2000 national championship by just one season, has made nine Sweet Sixteens, five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, and has won one title. They haven’t missed the tournament a single time, and have been eliminated before the Round of 32 just four times.

What about UConn’s three title runs? Florida’s star-studded squads? Kentucky’s heated-rival Louisville? We need a way to rank these teams accordingly as to put all bias aside and assign an overall score. Postseason play in college basketball has always taken precedence over any other measurement of success. Here is the scoring chart to decide the top NCAA Tournament team since 2001’s tournament when solely considering those whom have a title to their name in this span:

Round of 64 loss: 0 points
Round of 32 loss: 1 point
Sweet 16 loss: 2 points
Elite Eight loss: 4 points
Final Four Loss: 8 points
Championship loss: 12 points
Championship: 16 points

NCAA Tournament champions results since 2000-01 March Madness: Kansas 68, UConn 67, Duke 59, North Carolina 56, Florida 55, Kentucky 55, Michigan State 51, Louisville 44, Syracuse 37, Maryland 30.

Shockingly, outside of its three titles runs, UConn only scored 19 points on this scale. The Huskies fell just a point shy of claiming this all important statistic in pushing forward to choosing men’s college hoops’ most dominant dynasty of the 21^st century. Despite just one title, consistency overcame roller coaster levels of postseason success and your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Kansas Jayhawks. Not only has Kansas (almost surprisingly) performed as the top overall team in March Madness, but it also has the most eye-popping accomplishment. I’m going to type this out to make it even more drastic: Kansas has won at least a share of (ahem) back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back regular season Big 12 championships. That’s 10. Read that out loud and you’re likely to need to catch your breath. This isn’t Kansas playing in the Summit League or intramural athletics – this is a major conference with a tough road to the top every season. Ten?! In a row? And just for the record, it’s also 12 of 13, but who’s counting? The Huskies have a legitimate argument when it comes to this discussion due to three incredible runs to the championship, but Kansas has been a more consistently feared team. Welcome to a new postseason tournament, Jayhawks. Let’s see who else is joining you.

Honorable mention: Duke, UConn

Women’s College Basketball

I went from one of the more difficult sports to choose to what might be the easiest. UConn women’s hoops is out of this world. Seven championships since the turn of the century. Average margin of victory in those title-winning contests? 15.4 points. That’s 15 points better than the second best team in the country. Talk about a talent gap. I can’t put into words how unbelievably incredible the Huskies’ overall record has been, so I’ll leave two simple numbers on its own.

486-38.

That’s a .927 winning percentage.

I could play myself in checkers and not win 93 percent of the time.

Connecticut has missed out on the Sweet Sixteen in this span only…well, they haven’t. And just once were they limited to that. On top of the Sweet Sixteen and seven titles, the Huskies have made two Elite Eight appearances along with four Final Fours. Therefore, your clear cut winner without any hesitation is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Connecticut Huskies.

College Wrestling

If the 70s, 80s and 90s were included, this wouldn’t even be a competition. The Iowa Hawkeyes took home 20 titles from 1975-2000. Despite those all being out of the picture, Iowa is still in contention for the 21^st century title post-Dan Gable. The Hawkeyes have three titles to their name, which comes shy of Penn State and Oklahoma State, who put together four each. With the overall team title competition so close, our answer comes from individual championships. The Nittany Lions have nine, Hawkeyes 13 and Cowboys 18.

Oklahoma State’s 2005 season was the best of the era, fielding five individual champions in 10 weight classes, and scoring 153 points – best since the 1997 Hawkeyes scored 170. Therefore the winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys are tied for the lead in titles, have the best overall team of the era and can claim having the most individual titles. They may be fortunate to wrestle outside the Big Ten, but national titles don’t lie.

Honorable Mention: Iowa Hawkeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions

MLB

Four teams have won multiple titles since 2000 – the Red Sox (three), Giants (three), Yankees (two) and Cardinals (two) – to give a clear starting point when trying to declare the top 21^st century dynasty of professional baseball.

It’s clearly visible that this is a dead heat. You know the drill. In order to decide, I assigned a point total to each stat category. The top finisher in each category – World Series victories, division titles, regular season winning percentage, playoff appearances, total playoff wins and postseason playoff winning percentage – receives four points, followed by three for second place and so on. I also gave teams an extra point for each playoff series they won. The final tally came out as followed:

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: St. Louis Cardinals. Any fan of one the final four teams can state a statistic on how their team deserved to be the one represented. New York dominated the AL East. Boston and San Francisco won a third World Series and were more efficient in the postseason when they did make it. None of that jumped out the way this did:

The Cardinals took the cake with 16 postseason series victories.

That’s out of this world consistent. The Yankees came close, carried by consistently owning the division crown, whereas the two teams that take advantage of playoff appearances the most, Boston and San Francisco, found themselves looking up.

Honorable Mention: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants

College Volleyball

Some of these don’t take much time. Penn State has six championships, including two 38-0 seasons. USC, Stanford, Nebraska, Texas and UCLA have had strong programs, but none have approached the dominance by the Nittany Lions. Let’s just get to the point. Without a hint of doubt, your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Penn State Nittany Lions.

College Baseball

Unlike most of the other sports in the discussion, the full 2000 season is included since it began post-millennium. Texas, South Carolina and Oregon State all have a pair of titles, with nobody else claiming more than one. Naturally, only those three are in consideration. However, the Beavers have only made four CWS appearances compared to six for South Carolina and eight for Texas. Typically that would lead one to believe that the answer is obviously the Longhorns.

Take a look at overall winning percentage: Texas is 661-294 (.664) in this millennium, lagging considerably behind the Gamecocks at 713-289 (.712). So what do we value? Winning more regular season games against what is typically stronger competition, or taking overall postseason play? The latter carries more weight. Here is how each team fared in NCAA Tournament play with its overall statistics tallied at the bottom.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Texas Longhorns. In what ended up being the closest contest of any sport so far, Texas prevailed because of one statistic: CWS appearances. South Carolina may hold a relatively significant advantage in regular season record and have a slim lead in postseason record, but they couldn’t get the job done in enough Super Regionals. One could argue that Texas’ lows were below South Carolina’s, but they consistently made the trip to Omaha and that familiarity with getting to the final eight put them over the edge.

College Football

Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, and Florida all have multiple FBS championships to their names, while Appalachian State and North Dakota State have dominated the FCS level well enough to be included in the discussion. USC vacated one of its two national championships and will not be considered. As we’ve come to find out, tables can be really useful when measuring statistics of multiple teams. Unfortunately, college football has more variables than most so let’s compare like it is 2000 (and we’re using WordPad).

Alabama: The Crimson Tide are the only team in this span with three FBS national title victories. Their overall record takes a hit because of 21 vacated wins, but stands at 116-57, including a 6-5 bowl mark – which is also hindered by one vacated victory and two seasons in which ‘Bama was ineligible for the postseason. They have garnered three SEC titles and five SEC West crowns – most of which have come under Nick Saban. The pre-Saban era was somewhat dark for Alabama, which had a (now shocking) 3-8 season in 2000. The loss of 21 victories could really come back to bite the team that is likely the first one on everybody’s college football power shortlist.

Florida: Florida boasts two national titles (thanks, Tebow) complemented by a 137-56 overall record. If Alabama had kept its wins, Florida would be one game ahead in the loss column and tied with the Tide for overall victories. In bowl play, Florida has a lackadaisical 7-6 mark. They have picked up three SEC Titles and have headed the SEC East four times.

LSU: Consistency in a more than tough conference is what could separate LSU from the group. Like every team on this list besides Alabama, the Tigers have a pair of national championships. Their overall record of 151-45 is only topped by Ohio State. They’ve won nine bowl games compared to six losses and have not missed out on the postseason. They’ve picked up four conference titles and five SEC West titles along the way to top both Florida and Alabama in those areas.

Ohio State: Surprised to see a Big Ten team here? You shouldn’t be. Despite a negative stigma built around the conference in recent years, Ohio State has been among the most dominant teams lately. The Buckeyes’ 157-36 overall record is hard to argue with. An 8-7 bowl record with a few postseason embarrassments could be improved on. What really couldn’t be is a sensational seven conference titles – which reasonably would be eight if not for a postseason ban on a 12-0 squad in 2012. The Buckeyes may not have the numbers to claim best of this century now, but with Urban Meyer pulling the strings, it might not be too long until they do.

North Dakota State: If we were only talking about the last four years, the Bison would breeze through the competition. Their 63-3 record with four national titles is, well, absurd. Before that? North Dakota State swiftly comes back to Earth with a more reasonable, but still strong, 74-40 mark. Did you already do the math? That’s an overall record of 137-43

…and I should probably mention they have a 20-2 postseason record.

20 wins. Two losses.

The Bison made the move from Division II to FCS in this time period and were ineligible for postseason play in multiple 10-1 seasons, otherwise they very well could have added to that title total. Which, quite frankly, is a little scary. One thing that isn’t as scary is this game. And this one in the same season. Sometimes you find things while researching that you wish you never did. Those qualify.

Appalachian State: While the Bison were fiddling around with moving up from Division II, another squad was busy winning national championships and knocking off the winningest-program in FBS history. That was the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. Their record of 131-52 is a modest amount below North Dakota State’s. It isn’t the regular season that separates these two FCS programs. The Mountaineers postseason mark, despite a three-peat from 2005-2007, is 19-8, considerably worse than the Bison’s…let me say it again…20-2.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: North Dakota State Bison. I get it. Strength of schedule for the Bison isn’t anywhere near what Ohio State, let alone Alabama, Florida and LSU, face on a week-to-week basis. Their national titles are much less publicized and viewed. They don’t have NFL prospects filling up the first round. They weren’t even in the FCS for part of this era. There are a lot of reasons not to pick them.

Go ahead, write an article on why LSU’s consistency in the SEC makes them the best dynasty of this century, or why Alabama’s three titles set it apart, or how Ohio State’s conference dominance make them the frontrunner. They all have strong cases to disprove my choice.

To me, these issues have to be made relative, not directly compared. Of course North Dakota State doesn’t have to play the LSU defense, the Tim Tebow offense or Nick Saban’s game plan on an annual basis, but they ought to be held to the standards of their competition, not of a league above them. North Dakota State has simply dominated about as much as a modern college football team can in this span. 137-43 in the regular season? Incredible – just as incredible as the others on this list, especially considering transition seasons. That doesn’t set them apart.

A .909 winning percentage in the postseason will. When the Bison play the best competition, they don’t just compete – they absolutely own everyone. Alabama doesn’t. Florida doesn’t. LSU and Ohio State don’t. They’re all tremendous teams, but have not set themselves apart at any part this century the way the Bison have.

Conclusion

The aforementioned follow-up article will now include the St. Louis Cardinals, San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots, Detroit Red Wings, Kansas Jayhawks men’s hoops, UConn Huskies women’s basketball, Oklahoma State wrestling, Penn State volleyball, Texas baseball and North Dakota State football. Those ten dominant teams will be ranked to determine an ultimate “dynasty of the 21^st century.”

Be sure to check out Night Stuff on KRUI at the stroke of midnight Wednesday mornings as we discuss topics such as this, other sporting news and a few outrageous topics mixed in with a phone always ready to hear your takes. Did you like the article or happen to disagree with some of the choices? Tweet @TheMainStevent or @KRUISports to share your opinion.

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The post B1G Predictions: Week 4 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Weight Classes:

125
NCAA Qualifiers: 6
1. #1 Matt McDonough (Iowa)
2. #2 Zach Sanders (Minnesota)
3. #8 Nico Megaludis (Penn State)
4. #6 Jesse Delgado (Illinois)
5. #10 Levi Mele (Northwestern)
6. #17 Johnni DiJulius (Ohio State)
7. Camden Eppert (Purdue)
8. Brenan Lyon (Michigan State)

Tournament Seeds:
Favorite: McDonough (Iowa)
Sleeper: Delgado (Illinois)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: All ranked wrestlers listed
The 125 weight class is McDonough’s to lose in this tournament. He boasts a 27-1 record, with his only loss coming to Illinois’ Delgado in early December. McDonough consistently wrestles Sanders (Minnesota) very well and he should be the favorite to win this weight class. Beyond that, Sanders (Minnesota) should be the favorite to get 2nd, as he wrestled very well against the other top opponents over the year. He should have a 3rd shot this year at McDonough in the finals on Sunday.

133
NCAA Qualifiers: 7
1. #2 Logan Stieber (Ohio State)
2. #3 Tony Ramos (Iowa)
3. #4 B.J. Futrell (Illinois)
4. #7 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota)
5. #8 Cashe Quiroga (Purdue)
6. #14 Zac Stevens (Michigan)
7. #18 Ridge Kiley (Nebraska
8. Frank Martelotti (Penn State)

Favorite: Stieber (OSU)
Sleeper: Dardanes (Minnesota)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: All previously mentioned ranked wrestlers
At 133 the top 3 spots should be the most competitive for a B1G title with Futrell, Ramos, and Stieber. Stieber defeated Ramos convincingly in the dual where Ohio State dominated the Hawkeyes, but Ramos has been very hot winning his last 7 matches over quality opponents and will look to capture a Big Ten title for himself. Dardanes has come on strong at this weight class toward the end of the year and the redshirt freshman could make an appearance a lot higher on the podium than expected.

141
NCAA Qualifiers: 5
1. #1 Kellen Russell (Michigan)
2. #4 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State)
3. #5 Montell Marion (Iowa)
4. #8 Nick Dardanes (Minnesota)
5. #9 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska)
6. Daryl Thomas (Illinois)
7. Matt Ortega (Indiana)
8. Bryan Pearsall (Penn State)

Favorite: Russell (Michigan)
Sleeper: Marion (Iowa)
Probably NCAA Qualifiers: All previously mentioned ranked wrestlers
Russell boasts a 25-1 record, his only loss coming on a 5-6 decision to Stieber early in the season. The only real downfall for Russell is that he has not wrestled a lot of close matches down the stretch, so his conditioning and ability to score in close matches could be tested, but he still remains the favorite because of he is able to dismantle opponents. This weight class could be interesting because Marion and Russell did not wrestling during the regular season, so the grappler from Des Moines could make some noise in this bracket as he will probably get the #3 seed and will face Russell early on in the tournament.

149
NCAA Qualifiers: 9
1. #1 Frank Molinaro (Penn State)
2. #7 Eric Grajales (Michigan)
3. #9 Dylan Ness (Minnesota)
4. #12 Ivan Lopuchanski (Purdue)
5. #16 Cam Tessari (Ohio State)
6. #18 Taylor Walsh (Indiana)
7. #19 Eric Terrazas (Illinois)
8. Kaleb Friedley (Northwestern)
9. Dan Osterman (Michigan State)
10. Mike Kelly (Iowa)
11. Skylar Galloway (Nebraska)
12. Frank Baer (Wisconsin)

Favorite: Molinaro (PSU)
SleeperL Grajales (Michigan)
Probable NCAA Qualfifiers: Molinaro, Grajales, Ness, Lopuchanski, Tessari, Walsh, Terrazas, Friedley (Northwestern) Osterman (Michigan State)
Molinaro should win this bracket and punch his ticket to St. Louis easily. He is 25-0 and has been about as dominant as any wrestler at thier weight class this season. He has a great ability to score bonus points and Penn State will need those bonus points in the team score. Beyond Molinaro, there is a nice cluster of talented guys that could make a push for an NCAA tournament bid. The 149 weight class will qualify 9 wrestlers for nationals and that should take some pressure off a lot of these guys, but there will be a fight in wrestle-backs to try and get in, as well as score bonus points for the team score.

157
NCAA Qualifiers: 6
1. #2 Jason Welch (Northwestern)
2. #5 Dylan Alton (Penn State)
3. #8 James Green (Nebraska)
4. #9 Anthony Jones (Michigan State)
5. #18 Josh Demas (Ohio State)
6. #20 Derek St John (Iowa)
7. Tommy Churchard (Purdue)
8. Jackson Morse (Illinois)

Favorite: Welch (Northwestern)
Sleeper: Jones (MSU)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: All the ranked wrestlers previously mentioned
Welch has not lost this year and has been elite at this weight class over all opponents. The undefeated Junior should not have a problem winning this tournament and getting some much needed points for Northwestern, but a solid sleeper pick at this weight is Anthony Jones because he wrestled Welch extremely tough the first time they faced each other. If Jones can get an upset early, we could see these two face off in the championship bout for a B1G title. Another interesting storyline is Derek St John who battled injury for a good chunk of the season, but is back and has been wrestling very well for the Hawkeyes. He will need to score some big time points as the Hawkeyes look to get ahead in the team scores. Keep an eye on Alton as well. He wrestled Kyle Dake from Cornell (#1) very well, only losing 3-0.

165
NCAA Qualifiers: 8
1. #1 David Taylor (Penn State)
2. #6 Mike Evans (Iowa)
3. #7 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska)
4. #11 Ben Jordan (Wisconsin)
5. #12 Conrad Polz (Illinois)
6. #13 Dan Yates (Michigan)
7. #14 Cody Yohn (Minnesota)
8. Derek Garcia (Ohio State)

Favorite: David Taylor (PSU)
Sleeper: Mike Evans (Iowa)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: Taylor, Evans, Jordan, Kokesh, Polz, Yates, Yohn, Derek Garcia (Ohio State
This weight class will showcase some great match-ups for qualifying spots. Evans should have the #2 seed which opens up a great opportunity for him to run through the first couple rounds as Jordan from Wisconsin will probably be the #4 seed and Evans has beaten the Badger twice this year already. Harger from Northwestern has been wrestling very well down the stretch and should be able to compete strongly for the final NCAA berth.

174
NCAA Qualifiers: 9
Ranked Wrestlers:
1. #2 Ed Ruth (Penn State)
2. #6 Logan Storley (Minnesota)
3. #5 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa)
4. #8 Justin Zeerip (Michigan)
5. #10 Nick Heflin (Ohio State)
6. #18 Curran Jacobs (Michigan State)
7. #17 Tyler Koehn (Nebraska)
8. #9 Nick Blanton (Illinois)
9. #14 Lee Munster (Northwestern)

Favorite: Ed Ruth (PSU)
Sleeper: Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: All previously mentioned ranked wrestlers
This bracket will be fun to watch because these wrestlers, with the exception of Ruth really beat up on each other this year. Ruth will be the favorite, after plowing through the competition en route to an undefeated regular season, picking up bonus points for Coach Sanderson and his team. The Nittany Lions will need Ruth to get a lot of extra points over the course of the weekend for the team score. This could be a huge bracket for team score, with the top teams, all having very competitive wrestlers in the upper echelon of the weight class.

184
NCAA Qualfiers: 7
1. #6 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota)
2. #2. Quentin Wright (Penn State)
3. #7 Josh Ihnen (Nebraska)
4. #11 Grant Gambrall (Iowa)
5. #9 C.J. Magrum (Ohio State)
6. #20 Braden Atwood (Purdue)
7. Tony Dallago (Illinois)
8. Ian Hamilton (Michigan State)

Favorite: Wright (PSU)
Sleeper: Gambrall (Iowa)
Probable NCAA Tournament Qualifiers: Wright, Steinhaus, Ihnen, Magrum, Gambrall, Atwood, Lucas Sheridon (Indiana)
This weight class is interesting because after a disappointing season for Gambrall plagued with injuries and struggles on the mat he is in a good position to get a low seed, upset some wrestlers and get some momentum going. Gambrall faced off against Steinhaus in the dual and it was a huge match, which Grant ultimately lost. Wright is the favorite in this bracket, but Steinhaus gave the Nittany Lion one of his two losses, and will be chomping at the bit to get at him again.

197
NCAA Qualifiers: 7
1. #7 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota)
2. #3 Matt Powless (Indiana)
3. #12 Morgan McIntosh (Penn State)
4. #14 Max Huntley (Michigan)
5. #18 Mario Gonzalez (Illinois)
6. Andrew Campolattano (Ohio State
7. James Nakashima (Nebraska)
8. A.J. Kissel (Purdue)

Favorite: Powless (IN)
Sleeper: Huntley (PSU)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: Yohn, Powless, McIntosh, Huntley, Gonzalez, Campolattano, Kissel
The 197 weight class at the top is very balanced between Yohn, Powless, McIntosh, and Huntley. These guys have beaten up on each other. Yohn beat Powless this year so he grabbed the #1 seed, but he will need to prove his worth in this tournament.

HWT
NCAA Qualifiers: 10
1. #3 Tony Nelson (Minnesota)
2. #5 Cameron Wade (Penn State)
3. #11 Ben Apland (Michigan)
4. #8 Tucker Lane (Nebraska)
5. #12 Mike McMullan (Northwestern)
6. #13 Bobby Telford (Iowa)
7. Adam Chalfant (Indiana)
8. Roger Vukobratovich (Purdue)
9. Peter Capone (Ohio State)
10. Steve Andrus (Michigan state)
11. Pat Walker (Illinois)
12. Cole Tobin (Wisconsin)

Favorite: Nelson (Minnesota)
Sleeper: Capone (Ohio State)
Probable NCAA Qualifiers: Nelson, Wade, Apland, Lane, McMullan, Telford, Chalfant, Vukobratovich, Capone, Andrus
The big boys should be a fun bracket to watch because there is a lot of chance for upsets. Capone from Ohio State was the closest in the Big Ten to beating Nelson, but at the same time, Capone went 12-13 on the season. This should be a fun one to watch, especially since it will qualify 10 of the 12 competitors for the NCAA’s

Team
Seed, National Rank (Number of Ranked Wrestlers)
1. #1 Penn State Nittany Lions (8)
2. #2 Minnesota Golden Gophers (9)
3. #3 Iowa Hawkeyes (8)
4. #6 Michigan Wolverines (7)
5. #T-8 Ohio State Buckeyes (7)
6. #14 Nebraska Cornhuskers (7)
7. #16 Illinois Fighting Illini (6)
8. #T19 Northwestern Wildcats (4)
9. #31 Indiana Hoosiers (2)
10.#35 Purdue Boiler Makers (3)
11.#T-42 Michigan State Spartans (2)
12.#T-45 Wisconsin Badgers (1)

The Big Ten is the strongest conference in the College Wrestling world and that plays a large part in the 74 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA tournament, with a good chance of getting another few in with at-large bids. The team title will be interesting. #1 Penn State won last season because of a lot of bonus points by underdogs, like Quentin Wright, who ended up winning the tournament after coming in as the #8 seed and unranked on Intermat. Cael Sanderson said in his post tournament interview that he was extremely proud of his guys for scoring extra points when they needed to. One of the biggest stressed for the Hawkeyes and Gophers, in order to overthrow the Nittany Lions, is to score when they should score and get bonus points when possible. The top spots in nearly all weight classes will belong to Penn State, Iowa, or Minnesota, and that will supply each team with a good number of points to build a nice foundation for a good score on. The key is in the wrestle-backs and in the late-round, NCAA qualifying matches. The winners of those matches will end up giving their team the points to be in the hunt at the end.

All 4 sessions of the tournament will be covered on The Big Ten Network. ALL sessions will be streaming live Here  Live Television coverage will begin 3PM Eastern on Saturday on BTN and online as well.

Follow me on Twitter: @TX3Hawkman and @KruiSports
Also, Follow our live blog all weekend long right here on KRUI.FM
Be Sure to tune in to B1G talk Monday March 5 from 11am-12am on 89.7 in Iowa City for a full analysis and recap of the tournament

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