NU takes care of business, matches 09-10 conference record

NU did what they should have done up at the barn. Namely defeat a mediocre Minnesota squad. It was a new cast of heroes on senior day--the Italian Stallions from greater Detroit. Juice Thompson came up big in the second half which--shock--is when NU made its run.

At 17-12 NU's magic number for the NCAAs stands at three. That translates into NU smashing through its B10 tourney glass ceiling to make not just Saturday's semis but the final game. If NU defies the odds and makes it to Sunday you have to know the folks in Indianapolis will be watching the results with much intent.

To get there NU must first defeat the goofers again. Doable? Check.

Next up is rested OSU. We do think Carmody has shown that he can coach up his guys to compete against the athletically superior bugeyes. Doable? As odd it sounds, we like NU's chances better against OSU than PSU. Which admittedly is not saying a whole heck of a lot. But it would not shock us nearly as much as pretty much all but the biggest purple koolade drinkers.

The Saturday game with NCAAs hopes on the line would be against the winner of the #4/5 game. It looks like that will be either Illinois or Michigan State. Neither of those teams are unbeatable and their motivation would be less than NU's with an NCAAs bid already sewn up. Doable? If NU makes it this far, a resounding YES!!!!!!

The clincher on Sunday would be against either Wisconsin or Purdue in all likelihood. Wisconsin is all but unbeatable for NU so we would hope Painter gets his squad to Sunday somehow. Doable? We have a hard seeing the magic carpet ride leading to an automatic berth, though there is a slim chance against the boilers.