Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, March 19, 2014

With the regular season in the rear-view mirror and the NCAA tourney underway, I decided it was a good time to share some of the things I didn't expect to see this season in the Big Ten – whether it be from a team, player or coach. See my list of 21 things in this post.

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1. Nebraska would be in the NCAA tourney.
2. Indiana wouldn?t be in the NCAA tourney.
3. Indiana wouldn?t be in any tourney.
4. Nik Stauskas would be player of the year.
5. Michigan would win the Big Ten title-let alone the outright title-with Mitch McGary playing zero conference games.
6. Michigan State would finish with the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tourney.
7. Purdue would finish last.
8. Northwestern would avoid the cellar.
9. Terran Petteway would be consensus first-team All-Big Ten.
10. Frank Kaminsky would be consensus first-team All-Big Ten.
11. Glenn Robinson III would only be honorable mention All-Big Ten.
12. Nigel Hayes would win Sixth Man of the Year.
13. The Big Ten would have no No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.
14. Penn State wouldn?t at least make the NIT.
15. Penn State would sweep Ohio State.
16. Nebraska and Illinois would win at Michigan State.
17. Northwestern would win at Indiana and at Wisconsin.
18. Penn State would win at Indiana.
19. Tim Miles would be coach of the year.
20. Nebraska would lose one home Big Ten game.
21. Northwestern would win four Big Ten road games.

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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