Harold Shelton III, BTN Studio Researcher, March 12, 2018

The NCAA tournament bracket is out, and four Big Ten teams will be dancing starting Thursday.

[ MORE: View the 2018 NCAA Tournament bracket ]

If you're wondering, the four tourney teams are the fewest the Big Ten has had since 2008. The good news? All four teams are high seeds, the lowest being a 5, and the conference has three top-3 seed teams, one season after having zero such teams.

Before the ball goes up Thursday, here are some fun tidbits for No. 2 Purdue, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 3 Michigan and No. 5 Ohio State.

2 PURDUE

  • 30th NCAA tournament appearances
  • Fourth consecutive tournament appearance
  • First top 2 seed since 1998 (lost in Sweet 16)
  • Won at least one game in 15 of its last 17 NCAA Tournament appearances
  • Looking for first Elite 8 appearance since 2000 and first Final Four appearance since 1980

More Purdue numbers:

37-29, Purdue's all-time record in NCAA play

23.8, Carsen Edwards' scoring average the last nine games

123.2, Purdue's offensive efficiency, second only to Villanova (127.4)

6, games to win the NCAA title, and wins needed for the senior class to surpass 2010-11 as the winningest in Purdue history

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3 MICHIGAN STATE

  • 32nd NCAA tournament appearances
  • 21st consecutive NCAA appearance, trailing only Kansas (29) and Duke (23)
  • Lost three of last four tournament games, starting with 2015 Final Four loss to Duke
  • Looking for first Sweet 16 appearance since 2015.

More Michigan State numbers:

64, Michigan State's all-time NCAA tourney wins, second only to Indiana (66) in Big Ten annals

.681, Michigan State's Big Ten-best all-time winning percentage in NCAA play

47, Tom Izzo's NCAA tourney wins, tied with legend John Wooden

9, number of Michigan State Final Four appearances

38.4, two-point field goal percentage for Michigan State opponents, second-best since 2002 (Texas, 37.7)

7.4, blocks per game for Michigan State, which tops the nation

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3 MICHIGAN

  • 28th NCAA tournament appearances
  • Highest NCAA tournament seed since 2014 (2 seed, lost in Elite 8)
  • Sixth time as a 3 seed but the first time since 1998 (1988-90, 1994, 1998) – won only national title as a 3 seed in 1989
  • Seventh NCAA tournament appearance in last eight seasons
  • Won at least one NCAA tournament game in six of seven appearances under John Beilein

More Michigan numbers:

5th, Michigan's defensive efficiency (92.7), after averaging 87th last previous four seasons

1, times in the last 10 seasons that the Big Ten tourney champ hasn't at least reached the Sweet 16 (2016 Michigan State)

54, Michigan's all-time NCAA tourney wins, good enough for fourth in Big Ten history

.675, Michigan's all-time NCAA tourney winning percentage, second only to Michigan State (.681) in the Big Ten

46.4, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman's 3-point percentage the last 13 games

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5 OHIO STATE

  • 32nd NCAA tournament appearances
  • First NCAA tournament appearance since 2015
  • Highest NCAA Tournament seed since 2013 (2 seed, lost in Elite Eight)
  • First time as 5 seed since 2001 (lost in 1st round to Utah State)
  • Chris Holtmann won at least one game in all three of his NCAA tourneys at Butler (made Sweet 16 last season)

More Ohio State numbers:

55-30, Ohio State's all-time NCAA tourney record; the 55 wins are the third-most in Big Ten history

.647, Ohio State's winning percentage in NCAA tourneys, fourth-best in Big Ten annals

11, Ohio State Final Four appearances

55.1, Ohio State's two-point field goal percentage, ranking 29th in the nation

1, teams not named Penn State that Ohio State has lost to since Dec. 23, 2017

6, number of Ohio State players to amass 1,500 points and 750 rebounds in a career, the latest being Jae'Sean Tate