With two weeks remaining in conference play, the Big Ten has become a three-team race, with No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Iowa and (barely) No. 14 Indiana vying for the regular season conference championship.
Since our Zachary Draves closely chronicles the favored Hawkeyes, we’ll focus on the Buckeyes and Hooisers here. What are their chances of finishing the regular season at the top of Big Ten, winning the conference tournament and advancing far in the NCAA Tournament?
The Buckeyes keep getting better
It was a disappointing start to the season for the Buckeyes. Ranked No. 7, Ohio State was upset by then-No. 21 USC, 83-74, on opening night. A little more than a month later, OSU was felled by the other LA squad, with then-No. 2 UCLA beating the Buckeyes, 77-71. Big Ten play also began with a thud for Ohio State, as they suffered a nine-point loss to rival Michigan.
But since those speed bumps, the Buckeyes have been cruising, riding a 12-game winning streak that includes dropping 100 points on then-No. 2 Iowa in an eight-point overtime victory on…
