Big Ten Tournament Schedule 2012: Sleeper Teams That Will Shake Up the Tourney

No other conference in America has the depth at the top that the Big Ten has.

Five teams in the conference finished with a Top 15 ranking, and as a true testament to the difficulty of the league this year, three teams (Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan) were tied atop the conference with 13-5 records.

It's rare that regular-season champions have five losses in conference.

So, yes, there is a possibility that a sleeper could emerge from the depths of the first-day bracket and actually win this whole thing—or at least make a deep run.

Let's take a look at who I think those sleepers might be.

Illinois or Iowa

It turns out two of my sleeper picks heading into this tournament are playing each other in the first round, and making a definitive prediction between the two is about as scientific as a coin flip.

On one hand, it's hard to get behind Illinois right now, which has faltered down the stretch and lost 11 of 13.

On the other hand, those two wins came against Michigan State and—you guessed it—Iowa (in the only meeting between the two this year).

Illinois has the better overall record (17-14 to 16-15), but Iowa has the better conference record (8-10 to 6-12).

Like I said, a coin flip.

No matter. Either squad is capable of going on a deep run in this tournament. Along with its win over the Spartans, Illinois also has quality wins over Ohio State, Northwestern and Gonzaga this year.

Meanwhile, Iowa beat Wisconsin twice and also has wins over Michigan and Indiana.

Expect the team that survives the first round to shake up this tournament. They've each proven they can hang with the big boys this year.

Northwestern

If Northwestern could have closed a few games this year, we probably wouldn't be talking about it as a sleeper.

The Wildcats twice lost to Michigan in overtime. They also lost to Ohio State by a bucket after Jared Sullinger hit the game-winner with 3.1 seconds left. They lost to Illinois by one after Drew Crawford had what would have been the game-winning shot blocked by Meyers Leonard. John Shurna missed a potential game-winning three against Purdue in a two-point loss too.

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom for the Wildcats. They did beat Michigan State, and they did prove they can hang with anyone.

If they win their first-round game, they'll get a chance to avenge their two overtime losses against Michigan.

I say they do and make a deep run in this year's tournament.

Here's your Big Ten tournament schedule (all times Eastern):

Thursday, March 8th

Game 1: No. 8 Iowa vs. No. 9 Illinois, 11:30 a.m., BTN

Game 2: No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 12 Penn State, 25 minutes after Game 1's conclusion, BTN

Game 3: No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ESPN2

Game 4: No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 11 Nebraska, 25 minutes after Game 3's conclusion, ESPN2

Friday, March 9th

Game 5: No. 1 Michigan State vs. Game 1 Winner, Noon, ESPN

Game 6: No. 4 Wisconsin vs. Game 2 Winner, 25 minutes after Game 5's conclusion, ESPN

Game 7: No. 2 Michigan vs. Game 3 Winner, 6:30 p.m., BTN

Game 8: No. 3 Ohio State vs. Game 4 Winner, 25 minutes after Game 7's conclusion, BTN

Saturday, March 10th

Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 1:40 p.m., CBS Sports

Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 25 minutes after Game 9's conclusion, CBS Sports

Sunday, March 11th

Game 11: Tournament Championship, 3:30 p.m., CBS Sports

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