The biggest thing that everyone from the BTN to EsPN seems to be ignoring is that regardless of what happened today at the Breslin Center, Purdue controlled, and still controls, its own destiny.
Before today, if Matty's boys were to win out, Purdue would be the BT Champ, by itself. That's still the case- a win by MSU or aOSU did not change that.
But, there's confusion about the BT regular season title...So here goes.
Tonight's standings are as follows:
Purdue 11-3
OSU 11-4
MSU 11-4
Wisconsin 10-5
Illinois 9-5
So this evening, Purdue has a sole lead of the conference race. Great. But, this time next week, it might not look like as great.
But let's pretend for a moment that Purdue loses to Minnesota on Wednesday night...which is a real possibility as Goldy is playing well at home and fighting for their post-season life.
Come next Saturday, the standings will be:
OSU 12-4
MSU 11-4
Purdue 11-4
If Purdue beats MSU (Sat. or Sun.) and wins out while aOSU wins out, they'll tie with aOSU for the title. The head-to-head tiebreaker would be another tie. The second tie-breaker would be the team's record versus the next team, or group of teams in the standings. At that point, MSU & Wisconsin would most-likely be tied behind Purdue/aOSU with 5 losses. Purdue would win that tiebreaker for seeding in the tournament as they'd have a composite record v. Wisky/MSU 3-1, aOSU would be 2-1. But, aOSU and Purdue would tie for the regular season BT championship.
But, had aOSU lost today, and Purdue loses to Minny on Wednesday, the race would look like this next Saturday:
MSU 12-3
Purdue 11-4
OSU 10-5
Wisc. 10-5
Ill 10-5
If Purdue wins out from that point, including the game v. MSU, they would tie MSU for the BT championship. Purdue would have the head-to-head tiebreaker versus Sparty and would have the #1 seed for the tournament...plus, we as fans would have bragging rights...and we wouldn't have to hear Ohio State fans chirping about being equal to Purdue.
Purdue 14-4
MSU 14-4
OSU 13-5
Wisc 13-5
Let's be really clear though- A ton can and will happen between now and the end of the season.
I think Purdue will beat MSU...But Izzo, with 6 days to prepare for Matty, will have the Spartans ready and motivated...especially following today's loss...yet another reason I really didn't want to see MSU lose today.
Just win and this complicated group of circumstances all become quite simple.
Oh, one more thing- Thanks to Pitt for pushing Purdue into the top-3. Can anyone ever remember Purdue ranked that high? I cannot.