March 23, 2006

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Two Big Ten teams -- Michigan State and Purdue -- have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2006 NCAA Championship.

No. 4 seed Michigan State plays top-seeded Duke in a Sweet 16 matchup on Sunday, March 26 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Spartans (24-9) are making their second straight trip to the Sweet 16 after defeating No. 13 seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 65-46, in the first round and No. 5 seed Kentucky, 67-63, in the second.  Should the Spartans advance, they would battle the winner of No. 2 seed Connecticut (31-4) and third-seeded Georgia (23-8) in the regional final. The Bridgeport Regional final will be Tuesday, March 28 on ESPN.

Purdue (26-6), also a No. 4 seed, will meet No. 1 and top-seeded North Carolina (31-1) in an NCAA Sweet 16 showdown Sunday in Cleveland. Tipoff is slated for approximately 2:30 p.m., one-half hour following the Tennessee-Rutgers contest. The Boilermakers and Tar Heels last met in a 1999 regional semifinal in Normal, Ill. Purdue won that contest, but North Carolina won the other meeting in the 1994 Final Four.

In addition to the Spartans and Boilermakers, three other Big Ten squads competed in NCAA Championship play.  Ohio State, one of four No. 1 seeds, got past first-round opponent Oakland, 68-45, but fell to Boston College, 79-69.  No. 8 seed Minnesota fell to No. 9 seed Washington in first-round play, 73-69, while 10th-seeded Iowa fell to BYU in the first round, 67-62.

INDIANA CONTINUES TO ROLL IN POSTSEASON WNIT
Two Big Ten teams -- Illinois and Indiana -- were invited to participate in the 2006 Postseason WNIT and the Hoosiers are the lone team remaining.

Indiana (19-13, 9-7) will battle Big East foe Marquette (20-10, 9-7) in the quarterfinals of the WNIT on Friday, March 24 in Milwaukee, Wis., at the Al McGuire Center. Tipoff with the Golden Eagles is set for 8 p.m. (EST)

Indiana is making its third appearance at the WNIT and its first since the 2000-01 season.  The Hoosiers are 5-2 in WNIT play and earned their highest finish in 1998 after capturing third place.

Illinois (16-15) defeated Western Illinois in a play-in game, 58-37, but fell to Marquette, 64-44, in the first round.

This year the WNIT added eight teams to bring the field to 40 for the first time. The Illinois-WIU game was one of eight preliminary round games that fed into the round of 32. The eight additional slots were added to reward teams that won their regular season conference title but did not win the conference tournament or get an NCAA at-large bid.