INDIANAPOLIS -- Iowa coach Steve Alford and his players room for expectation their win Saturday over Michigan State.

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Iowa coach Steve Alford and his players room for expectation their win Saturday over Michigan State, which advanced them to the Big Ten tournament title game against Ohio State, will reap a seeding bonus when the NCAA tournament pairings are announced today.

"Our dead body of work has been pleasing special this year," Alford said. "For the better part of brace months, we have been in first or a game abroad of first in ... the No. 1 league in the rural parts

"In the past, we've had one distractions [the two Pierre Pierce incidents] in January and February. unless we didn't have that this year. And our nine wins against Top 25 teams have made this a special season. We could rouse up a seed or sum of two units and get a very upright seed."

about say it could be as high as a No. 2 se if Iowa (24-8) wins the tourney title today.

Meanwhile, Ohio State (25-4) which has won seven straight, could acquire a No. 1 seed if it wins today. Michigan State (22-11) which overturn Illinois on Friday, also look fors to get an NCAA bid -- as do the Illini (25-6) Indiana (17-11) Wisconsin (19-11) and Michigan (18-10) still Spartans coach Tom Izzo said he has no idea about what and where.

"I've been hearing folks say things about the significant hops you can make, and it reminds you of the NBA draft," Izzo said. "If you play well at the expiration of the year one time, the other 30 games don't matter.

"There are times we could be a five, six, seven or an eighth [seeded] team. I think we could play with anybody -- unless not if we play offensively [shooting 283 percent in the los to Iowa] the way we played [Saturday]."

lbanks@suntimes.com

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