Back-And-Forth Big Ten Race

Throughout the past few weeks, three teams have been playing a game of tug-of-war for the Big Ten Championship: the Maryland Terrapins, the Indiana Hoosiers, and the Iowa Hawkeyes. These three teams have had remarkable seasons thus far, and each team has incredible players, that could potentially lead them to an outright Big Ten Championship.
Currently, the Iowa Hawkeyes have the lead in the Big Ten with a conference record of 11-2. They are one game ahead of both the Maryland Terrapins and the Indiana Hoosiers who both only have a conference record of 10-3. However, both Maryland and Indiana have beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes on their own floors so they both hold the tiebreaker over the Hawkeyes. Luckily for Maryland, they only had to play the Hawkeyes once this year, and it was a home game, so if Iowa and Maryland finish at the top by the end of the season, the Terrapins will automatically win the Championship due to the tiebreaker. However, the Hoosiers in Indiana are not so lucky. On March 1, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena where Iowa will have their chance to even the series. Each of the three teams who have a decent shot at the Big Ten Title have five remaining games with a varying range of difficulty regarding the opponents they will face.
Indiana has arguably the hardest path to win the Big Ten Championship. They start off with a fairly easy home game against Nebraska that will most likely be a confidence booster game for them. Next, they host the Purdue Boilermakers, who definitely have a shot at handing them another loss. After that, they head over to face a pretty bad Illinois team who sit at the bottom half of the conference. This schedule does not seem too difficult yet, but they play the two best teams in the Big Ten to finish off their season. On March 1, as stated above, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, and then, just five days later, they will play their final regular season game against the Maryland Terrapins.
Maryland's path to Big Ten Championship is considerably less difficult than that of Indiana's, however, the Hawkeyes schedule is about the same range of difficulty. In order to win, they will need the Hawks to stumble somewhere during their five remaining games. After a loss to Wisconsin, the Terrapins will look to rebound against a bad Golden Gophers team in Minnesota. Next, they will have to face the Michigan Wolverines, who defeated them earlier this year in Ann Arbor. Then, they travel to face Purdue on the road. After that, they play an easy game at home against Wisconsin, and then they finally finish their season in Indiana against the Hoosiers.
The Hawkeyes, as I mentioned before, have a similar strength of remaining schedule as the Terrapins. First, they travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions. Then they will host a Wisconsinteam that has bested both of their two foes in the Big Ten Race. This will be a must-win game for the Hawkeyes who cannot afford a misstep to close out the season. Following that game, they will travel to face a Buckeye team that has the same conference record as the Boilermakers. Finally, they will finish off their season at home against Indiana, and then on the road against Michigan.