Back out here at the United Center for Day 2 of the Big Ten tournament and four big-implication games. The late session is must-see TV with plenty of bad blood between Michigan State-Wisconsin and Illinois-Indiana. The early session has two play-out games, where Michigan needs a win over Ohio State to be considered for a bid. Ditto for Purdue versus Iowa.

I'll be here all day glogging again - that's in-game blogging for the one or two of you less Internet savvy than me. First, a few Birkett bubble thoughts:

As unimpressive as Michigan, Michigan State and Illinois were in their wins yesterday, at least they got through. The same can't be said for half of the nation's other bubble teams. West Virginia, Alabama, Clemson and UMass were among Thursday's big losers. All will be sweating come selection Sunday.

I haven't been buying the Air Force or Butler hype for a while. Most bracketologists think those teams are still locks, but I can't understand why. Air Force finished third in the Mountain West, has lost a couple bad games (at Utah and TCU) and hasn't been playing particularly well of late. Butler peaked in December, and I'm not even talking about Tuesday's loss to Wright State. The Horizon League is mediocre, and while I don't expect any team to go undefeated in league play four losses is a lot to stomach in an RPI conference ranked a notch below Conference USA. Both teams will make the tourney, but I'm not sure either will win a game.

Lastly, it's a bit confusing to me that Duke is still considered such a lock with an 8-8 conference record, a 4-6 mark in its last 10 games, few great wins (Georgetown and a season sweep of Boston College are the best) and a Thursday loss to North Carolina State. Colleague Steve Grinczel and I were talking the other day that Duke's resume sounds an awful lot like Michigan State's, and most considered the Spartans just shy of a lock before Thursday's win over Northwestern. Funny to think MSU and Duke, two of the nation's premier programs, could meet in the first round.