Biggest story line on Selection Sunday for the Big Ten will be if bubble teams can make it nine bids

The Big Ten could be flexing its muscles with a record-tying nine NCAA men's basketball tournament bids this season, but all eyes will be on bubble teams to make that happen.

Wisconsin, Illinois and Purdue could earn top-four seeds or higher on Selection Sunday, even though none of them won the conference regular season title outright.

Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State haven't been consistent enough to be considered Final Four contenders like past seasons, but they're projected top 10 seeds in this year's 68-team field.

The Big Ten could finish with the most NCAA tourney bids of any major conference Sunday, but it's all about those borderline teams on arguably the biggest night of the year for college basketball.

And in the Big Ten that means Indiana, Michigan and Rutgers, who will either celebrate or have their bubbles burst in front of everyone on national television.

"I've been here for the past four or five years and we haven't made it," Minnesota native and Indiana senior Race Thompson said Friday from the Big Ten tournament. "It's definitely a special moment for us to be able to be a part of this."

CBSSports' bracket analyst, Jerry Palm, said Indiana would "most likely" get an at-large bid, when asked after their 65-63 upset over top-seeded Illinois in Friday's Big Ten tourney quarterfinals.

Fellow bubble teams Texas A&M and Virginia Tech reached the SEC and ACC tournament title games, respectively. But Indiana lost Saturday to Iowa in the Big Ten semifinals.

Hoosiers first-year coach Mike Woodson seemed in disbelief when a reporter in Friday's postgame news conference told him he'd definitely get the program's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016.

"Are you sure we're in the tournament?" said Woodson, who led Indiana to multiple Big Ten tourney wins for the first time since 2003. "We've lost a lot of close games. We are very, very competitive. From a coaching standpoint that's all you can ask for, but I think it's great for our program. It's fantastic that we're back in the Big Dance."

Indiana lost another close one Saturday, 80-77 to Iowa in the Big Ten semifinals.

Rutgers should have felt the most comfortable of the Big Ten's bubble teams entering postseason play with six Quad 1 wins, the highest quality victories on resumes.

"If we're not in, I don't know what to tell you, man," Rutgers senior Ron Harper Jr. said Friday. "I feel like this team has proved itself, proved we've gotten better day in and day out. Every time we come off a tough loss, we always bounce back. So this team definitely deserves to play in March. We're a great team and I feel like we can make a lot of noise in March."

In back-to-back NCAA men's basketball tournaments, the Big Ten set records for bids, including eight teams when Minneapolis' Final Four in 2019 included Michigan State. The Spartans, in 2000, are the last Big Ten team to win the NCAA title.

After the 2020 NCAAs were canceled during the start of the pandemic, the Big Ten set another high mark with nine tourney teams last year, but only Michigan advanced to the Sweet 16 before bowing out in the Elite Eight.

Wolverines coach Juwan Howard only recently returned from a five-game suspension after hitting a Wisconsin assistant in a handshake line scuffle. They also blew a 17-point second-half lead in the Big Ten tournament-opening loss against Indiana on Thursday.

So unlike last year, Michigan will be among the teams sitting uncomfortably on this Selection Sunday.