By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
The Big Ten Tournament tips off next Wednesday, with 15 of the 18 league teams descending upon Indianapolis.
The teams that play on that first day will need to run the gauntlet of five games in five days to make the postseason.
USC picked up a critical win last night in the home finale against Washington.
A loss to the Huskies would have put the Trojans behind the eight ball in their quest to be one of the 15 teams to play in Indy next week.
As it stands, the Trojans sit a half-game ahead of Iowa for the last spot in the tournament. At 7-12, USC is tied with Minnesota, Rutgers, Northwestern, and Nebraska in a log jam.
Iowa has two games remaining against first-place Michigan State tonight and at Nebraska over the weekend.
When thinking about tiebreakers, the Trojans would own the tiebreaker with Iowa via USC’s win over the Hawkeyes.
Any ties between USC and Northwestern, Minnesota, or Rutgers would not favor the Trojans. Should USC end up tied with Nebraska, SC would be the beneficiary.
Washington’s season will end after they host Oregon on Sunday. The Huskies join Penn State as teams guaranteed to be on the outside looking in.
Oregon is currently the eighth seed but could claim the seventh seed with a win over UW and a loss by Illinois.
UO’s win over Indiana on Tuesday night assured the Ducks of at least the 8 seed and a bye.
Oregon is currently 11-8 in Big Ten play and tied with Illinois in the standings. The Fighting Illini would own the tiebreaker should they remain tied after this weekend.
Oregon has an easier road with a trip to Washington in its conference finale. Illinois hosts Purdue on Friday evening.
Now, there is not a huge difference between the 8 seed and the 7 seed in terms of matchups. But the tip times could be big.
The 8/9 game opens the action on Thursday, and the winner would then open play on Friday against the top seed.
Both those games would tip off at 9 a.m. Pacific time. The 7 seed would open the second session each day at 3:30 p.m. PT. The time difference could be big for the West Coast teams.
Oregon enters the final weekend of the season with the longest active win streak in the Big Ten at six in a row and appears to be getting hot at the right time.
UCLA sits a game ahead of Oregon and Illinois in the standings at sixth place. The Bruins have a meeting with USC ahead of them this weekend.
Should the Trojans pull off the upset in Pauley, the Bruins would fall no lower than the 7 seed. That would keep them out of the top half of the bracket and the early games.
However, a win over USC coupled with a Wisconsin loss to Penn State would catapult the Bruins into the five seed.
Owning the five seed would offer a slightly earlier tip time, roughly 11:30 PT, but also offer a much smoother potential path to the semi-finals.
SuperWest Player Of the Week: Jackson Shelstad, G, Oregon
The Oregon guard averaged 18 points, two assists, and two rebounds in a pair of wins over USC and Indiana.
Against SC, he connected on five of his nine three-point attempts.
Against the Hoosiers, he not only knocked down two shots from deep, but one of them was also a 40-foot dagger in the closing minutes that put Oregon up for good.
SuperWest Freshman of the Week: Derik Queen, C, Maryland
Queen continues to shine for the Terps.
In a pair of wins at Penn State and Michigan, the freshman averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.5 blocked shots.
Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey may have more pro upside and could go higher in the draft in June, but Queen is becoming one of the best true big men we’ve seen in quite some time.
writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).
