Hey Joe: Mailbag on seniors, future, alternative reality

Before we get to the questions, a Big Ten tournament seeding update: Iowa’s win Tuesday at Indiana complicates the Spartans’ pursuit of a double-bye. For those who don’t know, this is the first year of the double-bye in the Big Ten, with Maryland and Rutgers making it a 14-team league and Wednesday games added to the tourney (No. 11 will play No. 14 and No. 12 will play No. 13 on that day).

Then Thursday sees Wednesday’s two winners and the Nos. 5 through 10 seeds in action. The value of being one of the top 4 seeds is to avoid a Thursday game against one of the Big Ten’s worst teams. The No. 5 seed will play the No. 12 or 13 on Thursday. That’s a game that can’t help, it can only hurt. If you start Friday, you’re likely playing an NCAA-caliber-ish team, which means that a win actually can help you, and a loss won’t be an ugly smudge on the NCAA resume at the last minute. That’s the value of the double bye. - Read more at Freep.com