Everything appeared to have been righted.

Indiana had just defeated Iowa and Minnesota in consecutive home games to improve to 8-7 in Big Ten play. Bracey Wright was healthy and bombing 3-pointers. Jeff Newton went for 22 points and 16 rebounds against the Gophers. After losing five consecutive games in February, the Hoosiers had seemingly gone from a bubble team to one that was in the NCAA Tournament.

	Indiana's Jeff Newtwon and Minnesota's Michael Bauer have a common goal this week in Chicago: Win at least one game at the Big Ten tournament.

After all, a victory over hapless Penn State in the regular-season finale would let the Hoosiers finish the regular season with a 19-10 record and a 9-7 Big Ten mark.

So what happens? It appears the Hoosiers wanted to supply a bit of drama. Instead of going to Penn State -- the easiest place in the Big Ten to play considering the Nittany Lions have averaged fewer than 7,000 fans per game this season in a building that holds 15,261 -- and rolling out with a victory, the Hoosiers found a way to lose.

Letting marshmallow-soft Jan Jagla go for 25 points (a season high) and eight rebounds, Penn State -- a team that entered the game 1-14 in Big Ten play -- came from behind to defeat the Hoosiers 74-66.

"We didn't play well on Saturday, we didn't really show up," Indiana coach Mike Davis said. "I think we should definitely get in (the NCAA Tournament), but I just want us to play well from here out.

"We talked about it, that's what's so disappointing. The way we played on Saturday with no energy, just shooting jump shots, not defending, not playing hard. That's what's so disappointing. We knew we had to beat Iowa and Minnesota and Penn State for us to have three straight wins and 19 wins and 9-7 in conference. To not come out with any concentration on fight, that's what's so disappointing."

The Hoosiers at least get a mulligan from Saturday's loss. IU gets a chance to reach in its pocket, tee up another ball and attempt to keep this one in play. That chance comes Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Big Ten tournament when sixth-seeded Indiana will face 11th seeded Penn State.

If the Hoosiers are able to win that game, they actually have a reasonable chance of making the semifinals because the winner of the Indiana-Penn State game will face Michigan in Friday's quarterfinals. The Hoosiers defeated the Wolverines in the only regular-season meeting of the two teams.

"I know that our strength of schdule is pretty good," Davis said. "Eighteen (victories) isn't bad, it's six games over .500 if we lose on Thursday. But I don't think we're going to lose on Thursday. We're going to concentrate on winning and taking it one game at a time."

Davis was extremely critical of his three seniors -- Newton and guards Tom Coverdale and Kyle Hornsby -- for not providing the kind of leadership he says they need.

"We have no senior leadership, I've said that from day one," Davis said. "You can only be as consistent as your seniors are. When you come out and play a game, you have to have a guy who can pick guys up and control the tempo and talk and fight and we didn't have that.

"When we win we have guys playing with a lot of intensity and when we lose we have guys going through the motions. Guys have been here four, five years, they have to take responsibility. It's a big difference from last year's team. Last year's team had senior Dane Fife who just did not want to lose."

Davis continued: "It has to be a situation where everything is going right for these guys. No one steps up and says, 'Let's go, let's fight, let's fight.' When it gets tough defensively we just have guys who just play the game out and hope they miss a shot and we get a rebound."

While much of the attention of the first two days of the Big Ten tournament will be on whether Indiana can lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers are not the only team looking to play their way in. Minnesota was doing the same thing.

Three weeks ago, the Gophers were 16-7 and 8-4 in league play. Dan Monson's team likely needed only one or two victories the rest of the way to secure the school's first NCAA tournament berth since 1999.

So what happens? The Gophers lost four games. While playing Michigan State, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois isn't the easiest way to close a season, the Gophers players expected to win at least one of the games.

But after failing to do that, the Gophers then lost to Northwestern in Thursday's first round.

"Those four games, we can't let them be a confidence crusher," Monson said prior to losing Thursday. "There aren't 10 teams in the country that could've gone through those four games and won more than half of them, and I really believe that. We can't put ourselves in the predicament like, 'We're terrible.'"

Monson also doesn't buy the idea that the Gophers don't have a chance to reach the tournament.

"They have to take 65 teams and when (media reports are) saying teams are locked into the tournament and you look at what we've accomplished versus them, you kind of feel like now if they just go team-by-team we do have a case," Monson said. "There's certainly a case to put us in, there's certainly a case to not.

"We've got an opportunity this week to try to show that. We have to win some games to show that we're playing well."

Big 12 Seeding Game
While the Big Ten tournament is about survival, the Big 12 event is about getting greedy. Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma are all going to be extremely high seeds when the NCAA tournament pairings are announced on Sunday evening.

But really, who want's to be a No. 2 seed when you can be a top seed?

"It's important because, number one, that means you've had a great, great year," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "The difference between a one and two (seed), I don't know if there's that big a difference. Last year we go to a conference championship game, Oklahoma and Kansas, we get a one and they get a two. It wasn't a hell of a difference between those two teams. Both of us made it to the Final Four.

"I think there's a great difference between number one and number six, seven, eight, and those kind of things, just because of the competition you're going to face. It's more or less a token that you've had a great, great year and you ought to feel good about what you've already accomplished."

Kansas and Texas have the best chances of the Big 12 teams of earning top seeds as they finished 1-2 in the league standings. Oklahoma, however, could make a case for a top seed if they win the title. To do that, the Sooners would potentially have to beat both the Longhorns and the Jayhawks.

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, however, isn't so sure his team can become a top seed.

"Even if we win the Big 12 tournament, I don't think we can be a one seed," Sampson said. "Kansas should be because they won our league championship at 14-2. Texas beat us twice, and I think they deserve to be a No. 1 seed. Kentucky and Arizona, I don't see how they can't be one seeds. The way our conference has gotten so tough, I don't see one jumping over another based on three games."

Some of that, however, is a result of last season. That's when the Sooners defeated the Jayhawks in the Big 12 title game. Still, Kansas was a No. 1 seed and Oklahoma remained a No. 2 seed.

"Look what we did last year, I thought we would be a one seed last year," Sampson said.

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