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This year’s B1G Tournament has proven to be entertaining and competitive
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If you’ve tuned into this year’s B1G Tournament, you haven’t been disappointed.
The past week has featured some of the most competitive basketball we’ve witnessed all season. It’s pretty fitting, considering this is do-or-die time for so many teams in the league.
Just how good has this year’s tournament been in Indianapolis? Here are a few numbers that break it down as we head into Sunday’s championship matchup between Purdue and Iowa (12 games):
- 10 games have been decided by 9 points or fewer
- 7 games have been decided by 5 points or fewer
- 4 games have been decided by 1 possession
The only two games that were decided by double digits both featured Iowa. The Hawkeyes defeated Northwestern 112-76 in Round 2 and knocked off Rutgers 84-74 in the quarterfinals.
Crunching the numbers, the average point differential through 12 games is 7.75 points per game. If you eliminate Iowa’s 36-point win over Northwestern, that average falls to 5.18 points per game.
That’s insanely competitive basketball.
Regardless of how Sunday’s championship game turns out, B1G fans have been spoiled by the competitiveness in Indianapolis this week. It’s been one of the more entertaining tournaments for the conference.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB