The NCAA tournament selection committee looks pretty smart, so far, putting eight at-large Big Ten teams and its first-place team, automatic qualifier Minnesota, in its 64-team field.
Of course, that could change Saturday.
But on Friday, the only conference loser was Purdue. And the Boilersmakers, who upset the Gophers a few weeks ago, gave No. 3 overall seed Texas a tussle in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns won the second-round match, but the scores were 25-14, 14-25, 25-19, 27-15. A kill here, an attack error there and Purdue could have won the fourth set and forced a fifth.
Annie Drews had a match-high 18 kills for the Boilermakers (23-10) plus seven digs, three blocks.
Elsewhere, the big news was in Madison where No. 6 Wisconsin beat Iowa State 25-18, 25-15. 25-21 to advance to the Sweet 16 in the Austin Regional -- as did Texas with its win.
The Badgers (26-6) have won 14 matches in a row and drew 5,578 to the UW Fieldhouse for their sendoff to a regional. They hit a zissling .336 against the Cyclones. Next up, on Friday of next week, is No. 11 Florida which advanced with a 3-1 win over Florida State in its second-round match.
"I thought our players were patient, worked hard in transition and tried to go with what was given and that's a hard thing to do against a team like that," Badgers coach Kelly Sheffield said. "We're happy to still be playing and to give Taylor (Morey) her last home match a victory."
