IU earns 6 seed for Big Ten Tournament

The whole season has come down to this: If the Hoosiers pull through with solid matches in the Big Ten Tournament this weekend, they could move onto the NCAA Tournament.

But if they stumble, their season could be over.

In a conference dominated for the past four years by the team in Ohio’s capital city, IU heads into Big Ten Tournament play as the No. 6 seed.

The ranking leaves the team with a first round match; only the top five seeds received a bye into the second round.

The Hoosiers (13-13, 5-5) begin the 2009 tournament against a team they dominated this past weekend, Michigan State. Devouring the Spartans 5-2 on Saturday, the Hoosiers are in search of another victory over Michigan State, which lost all Big Ten matches this year.

Match play begins at noon today. The winner of the IU-MSU matchup will take on No. 3 Minnesota (17-6, 7-3) on Friday.

As the winner of his past four Big Ten matches, the Hoosiers are led by sophomore Lachlan Ferguson.

“I just go into all my matches with the belief that I’m as good as any of the guys I’m going to be playing,” Ferguson said.