Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, January 17, 2014

It?s mid-January. Seems like a good time to start taking a look at some mock NCAA brackets. Things are looking good for Wisconsin and Michigan State, which are primed to be No. 1 seeds.

Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State also are solid tourney teams for now. But teams like Minnesota and Indiana may bob in and out of these mock brackets all winter.

First, there?s Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com, my personal favorite because he?s a Purdue grad who studied computers and played in the All-American Marching Band. And, I know how smart those guys are, having gone to Purdue myself. This was updated today by Palm.

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East

No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 14 Stephen F. Austin

No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Saint Louis

Midwest

No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 16 play-in team

South

No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 16 Chicago State

No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 11 Georgetown

West

No. 8 Minnesota vs. No. 9 Gonzaga

Palm has Indiana in his ?last four out.?

Here is a look at the bracket of Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com, last updated on Jan. 16. So, you can see, it doesn?t reflect Ohio State?s loss at Minnesota. No doubt, Lunardi will bump down the Buckeyes. Palm has them as a No. 8. That?s about right. The Buckeyes have few ?good? wins.

East

No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 14 Delaware

Midwest

No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 16 IPFW

South

No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 16 Southern

No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Cal

No. 12 Minnesota/Stanford vs. No. 5 Cincinnati

West

No. 4 Iowa vs. No. 13 Louisiana Tech

Minnesota is one of Lunardi?s ?last four in.? Illinois is among his ?first four out.? Indiana is among the ?next four out.?

I have no real issues with these brackets, but I wouldn?t have Illinois anywhere near my tourney field right now.

About Tom Dienhart BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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