DETROIT — Howell’s girls basketball team was put into a bus for a road trip Monday, March 16 but most of the players had no idea where they were going. They couldn’t be told senior teammate Lilly Williams was going to be honored as Mick McCabe Miss Basketball winner for the state of Michigan until the wheels were rolling toward the Detroit Free Press offices.

With an 80-72 victory over top-seeded Michigan on Sunday, March 15, the seventh-seeded Purdue Boilermakers captured the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament for the second time since 2023.

Purdue won the Big Ten tournament for the first time since 2023 and third time overall.

Yaxel Lendeborg and the Michigan Wolverines have dominated their competition all season. Finishing the regular season with a 31-3 record, including 19-1 in conference play, the Wolverines enter the NCAA tournament as the No.

Picking the right Cinderella is only half the battle when building your March Madness bracket.

After earning the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, Michigan will open the 2026 NCAA Tournament on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET, with the game scheduled to air nationally on CBS.