With Saturday’s win over Michigan, Purdue has seemingly punched its ticket to the Dance. At 9-7 in conference play, the Boilermakers are probably right where most expected them to finish this season–still solidly in the field of 68, but not a serious contender for the conference championship. But how they got to this point is very unexpected. Ever since the Baby Boilers arrived at West Lafayette, defense has been the calling card of this team:

On this week’s “The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2012,” at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, our cameras take you behind John Shurna’s record-breaking day as the senior became Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer last weekend against Minnesota. We also profile Calbert Cheaney, the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer, who has returned to Indiana following a career in the NBA, both as a player and assistant coach. Watch a bonus clip now and see what else we’ll be profiling on Sunday’s show in this post. Also, follow the show on Twitter: @BTNJourney.

With a little more than a week to go, it has come down to Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan in the race for the Big Ten title. But other story lines exist. Which four teams will secure first-round byes in the Big Ten tourney? The Spartans, Buckeyes and Wolverines look like locks for three of the slots. But who will get the fourth? Wisconsin? Indiana? Purdue? Or, how about white-hot Iowa?

Another night, another set of at-large hopes dashed. On Wednesday evening, Minnesota hoped to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, at least for another few days, with a crucial home matchup against Michigan State. Things were looking up when the Gophers took a nine-point lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. Maybe Minnesota really would pull this off and get back onto the bubble.

Matt Gatens scored 33 points and grabbed three rebounds to lift Iowa to a 67-66 upset win over No. 15 Wisconsin on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Iowa (15-13) shot 48 percent from the field (24-of-50). It was the second straight career-high for Gatens, who had 30 points in Iowa’s win over then-No. 18 Indiana on Sunday (full recap). Iowa fans rushed the court (see the video in this post) to celebrate the win.