To the NCAA Tournament, they go — shafted Big Ten champ Michigan, Milwaukee-bound Illinois and all the rest

INDIANAPOLIS — Eyes up and ears open, class. It’s time for a lesson on what things are really like at the laughable intersection of the Big Ten tournament and Selection Sunday.

It’s not going to be easy to grasp just how ludicrous it is that Michigan, the Big Ten’s No. 3 seed, cut down the nets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse after beating Wisconsin, the No. 5 seed — 59-53, like it matters — and yet will enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed while Wisconsin does so as a 3 seed. But, please, give it a shot.

Michigan tied for second place in the Big Ten with Maryland during the regular season. Wisconsin was a game back, tied for fourth with UCLA and Purdue. Michigan played the Badgers once in the regular season, with the Wolverines winning 67-64 on the road in Madison. And now they’ve had a rematch, and guess what happened? See the previous paragraph if you’ve already forgotten.

But the ridiculousness only expands. En route to the title here, Michigan blew away 6-seed Purdue and then nipped 2-seed Maryland at the buzzer. Naturally, both those teams, too, are seeded higher than the Wolverines in the Big Dance — on the 4 lines in the Midwest and West regions, respectively.

Anything else? Sure. Oregon, which Michigan beat the only time they played and which was the 8 seed in Indy after tying for seventh place during the regular season, is the 5 seed — just as good as the Wolverines — in the East.

Wisconsin, too, is in the East and seemingly has a friendly opening draw against 14-seed Montana. Michigan, in the South, has to tangle with 12-seed UC San Diego, a fierce mid-major with great metrics that will be a common pick to make a Cinderella run. And with first-week sites hosting games from outside the regional, guess who’s going to Denver? Both Wisconsin and Michigan. The Wolverines can watch the Badgers with envy.

So, the lesson? It’s actually quite simple: The NCAA selection committee doesn’t watch the Big Ten title game, doesn’t care about it, doesn’t even give it a moment’s thought when building an official bracket that goes public minutes after the game ends. The committee won’t admit this — ever — but the Big Ten crowning a postseason champion is a complete waste of time where the national tournament is concerned. And judging by where all the Big Ten teams were seeded in the Big Dance, the whole conference tournament might as well not even have happened.

“Denver is one of my favorite cities on the planet,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “We’re going to go out there and, hopefully, run up and down like the Nuggets.”

If he was being diplomatic, it was better than the NCAA deserved.

Three-dot dash

BUT THEN THERE’S ILLINOIS, which should ship each member of the committee a frozen Papa Del’s deep-dish pie for treating the Illini and their fans to the absolute best-case scenario. Best-case, the Illini would be on the 6 line after getting destroyed by Maryland in the Big Ten quarterfinals. But to be both a 6 and in Milwaukee? God bless America.

“We’re excited to be in Big Ten country, in Milwaukee,” coach Brad Underwood told reporters, smiling while he said it. “A place to play very close to us should be an exciting opportunity.”

Friday’s first-round opponent will be either Texas or Xavier, depending on the winner of their First Four matchup in Dayton, Ohio. The Musketeers are slight favorites in that game. If the Illini advance, they’ll likely get Kentucky — a dangerous but beatable opponent, especially given the location of the game.

Illini fans will flock to Fiserv Forum. And Kentucky’s “Big Blue Nation” fan base is famous for showing up in March. What a thrilling environment it would be. . . .

AUBURN MIGHT BE THE No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, but keep in mind the Tigers have tasted defeat three of the last four times they’ve taken the floor. They were beaten soundly by Texas A&M, fell at home to archrival Alabama and got dismissed from the SEC tournament by Tennessee. It might not take much more than that to split their mojo down the middle. . . .

I THOUGHT MICHIGAN STATE’S path to the Elite Eight was easy. Then I got a load of Alabama’s, which is even easier. Using “easy” loosely, of course, but if you want to roll with a No. 2 seed going all the way, I’d suggest either of this pair. . . .

HOW ABOUT PORTER MOSER and Oklahoma getting a crack at Danny Hurley and two-time defending national champion UConn in the first round? This is the biggest opportunity Moser has had since the 2018 Final Four with Loyola. . . .

SPEAKING OF COACHES, the committee outdid itself by pitting Kansas against Arkansas in the first round, with the winner lined up to get West No. 2 seed St. John’s. Bill Self
vs. John Calipari for the right to match wits with Rick Pitino? Oh, what theater. . . .

AMONG AT-LARGE TEAMS, North Carolina was the very last team in the tournament. And among all teams in the field, North Carolina is the least deserving. It pays to be a blue-blood. . . .

THINGS TO KNOW, in one obnoxiously long paragraph: A 1 seed has won 25 of 39 championships since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. A 2 seed has won it all of five times, a 3 seed four times, a 4 seed twice and let’s not bother talking about the rest. Oddly enough, an 11 seed has gone all the way to the Final Four five times, a real statistical outlier. And have I mentioned the Big Ten hasn’t won the title since Michigan State did it all the way back in 2000? Been a long time, people — way too long.