Inside Indiana Board

Steve Helwagen has laid down his Big Ten Tournament prediction. Indiana fans would not be opposed, I think.

Courtside for Illinois-Minnesota. Go time.

Illinois brings a hard double on Mbakwe. He beats it and earns a Joe Coleman layup. Brandon Paul hits a long two, and we have points. It's all going off now.

Minnesota's offense, whatever it is, has completely stalled. Gophers struggling to get the ball into the paint and that's a problem. Also, the seven turnovers don't help.

This looks like an 8/9 game. It's not hopelessly disperate, but it's not that pretty either. 17-2 run by Illinois has been halted, sort of, but Minnesota can't do a thing offensively. It's not pretty basketball.

OK sorry, had to step away for a few minutes. Second half has seen the Gophers shoot their way back into this thing. Brandon Paul just shanked a 3-pointer. It is all going off. 34-all.

Well, this is getting fun. Or close, anyway.

Minnesota is starting to exercise its athletic dominance inside (read: Trevor Mbakwe is doing really good basketball stuff), and Illinois is still cutting into a rather suspect center of the Minnesota defense.

47-46 with five minutes left, Gophers up.

This game is awful, yet also awesome. It is everything that is badgood about the Big Ten.

Eight seconds on the shot clock, 16.3 on the game clock, Minnesota has the ball and the game is tied.

And hey, Tom Crean quotes pre-Illinois:

“We know Illinois will be a tremendous challenge tomorrow at the United Center. They play with great intensity, passion and execution. Playing the Illini in Chicago should excite the HoosierNation. We are going to need our fans to bring their colors, their energy and their voices.”

“We will be facing an excellent coach in John Groce with an excellent staff. There ball movement and spacing are very good. The pressure defense of the Illini is tough to prepare for. They really get into you and play with quickness. Illinois is very athletic. What they do is they take the lane away from you very well. I have a lot of respect for their defense

“For us on the defensive end, we’ve got to keep our chest in front of the ball and we’ve got to keep communication high You've got to have that commitment to what makes you good, which for us is early help, early recovery, and understanding what their strengths are, which is their three-point shooting.”

“When you're going against great talent, which this tournament is full of, you've got to stay engaged for 40 minutes. We have had a good week of practice and like I said last week, everything is a one-game season from here on out. That’s how we are preparing.”

Will have a more well-thought out Illinois preview eventually, and something on Brandon Paul as well. Stay tuned.

Penn State is just outworking Michigan right now, in part, I think, simply because it knows it can. Michigan still leads by one with 15 left.

So Penn State went down 83-66. Not a huge surprise, but it's always tough to watch that team lose, as hard as it plays.

We're in a break in the action at the moment, so I'm catching up on the VIP Room and other stories for tomorrow. Get excited y'all.