And so the semifinal matchups of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament have been set and it is time to figure out who is going for this thing right here.  Well, it's not the real one, but you get the idea.

No. 2 seed Penn State (23-8) squares off against No. 11 Illinois (9-22) at 5 p.m. ET, followed by No. 1 Michigan State (26-4) against No. 5 Ohio State (20-9) at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET

Among the storylines, the Fighting Illini are the first No. 11 seed to ever reach the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament and the lowest seed to do so since Illinois set the mark back in 2008, advancing to the finals as the ninth seed before falling to Purdue by two points.  Penn State is in the semifinals for the first time since the 2007 Big Ten Tournament.

In the nightcap, Michigan State and Ohio State have a strong history in the Big Ten Tournament.  The two teams have met seven times in the past 16 years, with the Buckeyes owning an impressive 6-1 mark over the Spartans.  MSU's lone win in the series came in 1997, one of just two years when the Spartans were the better seed.

Check out the breakdown and Gametracker links below:

Game 8:  No. 2 Penn State vs. No. 11 Illinois  (5 p.m. ET)
Penn State leads Big Ten Tournament series, 3-2

1998, Q, No. 7 Penn State def. No. 2 Illinois, 74-71
1999, S, No. 3 Illinois def. No. 2 Penn State, 77-75
2000, S, No. 1 Penn State def. No. 4 Illinois, 81-74
2007, Q, No. 5 Penn State def. No. 4 Illinois, 61-49
2009, 1st, No. 9 Illinois def. No. 8 Penn State, 58-49

Game 9:  No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 5 Ohio State (Approx. 7:30 p.m.)
Ohio State leads Big Ten Tournament series, 6-1

1995, 1st, No. 7 Ohio State def. No. 6 Michigan State, 70-63
1997, Q, No. 2 Michigan State def. No. 10 Ohio State, 85-79
1998, 1st, No. 8 Ohio State def. No. 9 Michigan State, 83-61
2001, 1st, No. 8 Ohio State def. No. 9 Michigan State, 52-48
2002, 1st, No. 7 Ohio State def. No. 10 Michigan State, 89-82 (2OT)
2003, Q, No. 4 Ohio State def. No. 5 Michigan State, 71-55
2006, S, No. 1 Ohio State def. No. 4 Michigan State, 68-64

As discussed in a previous post, the Big Ten Tournament officially eclipsed the 500,000 fan mark in Friday night's event session.  Entering Friday's action, the tournament had a 17-year attendance total of 489,940.

The Session 2 attendance was 6,390 -- the seventh-largest total for that session -- while the 6,036 fans that were in attendance later Friday evening registered the sixth-best total for Session 3.

After the Conseco Fieldhosue doors closed for the evening, 12,426 spectators has witnessed Big Ten women's basketball on Friday, giving the tournament a career attendance total of 502,366.

Following Iowa's 71-61 loss to Ohio State, Hawkeye sophomore guard Jaime Printy spoke with members of the media at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Congratulations to the No. 5 seed Ohio State Buckeyes on their 71-61 victory over the fourth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes.

And the band plays on....

In one of yesterday's blog posts, BigTen.org highlighted the Middle School Curriculum Program -- a partnership the Big Ten Conference has had with the Indiana Sports Corporation and several Indianapolis middle schools for years.

Each year at the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, these middle schools are invited to attend their assigned Big Ten team's games at Conseco Fieldhouse.  These students are decked out in colorful shirts designed by one lucky student from the program.

Andretta Erickson, Executive Director of the Indianapolis Local Organizing Committee and member of the Indiana Sports Corp staff, oversees the relationship with the schools.

"One of our favorite things about the Big Ten Tournaments is the Middle School Curriculum Program," Erickson said.  "In addition to the educational component, the middle school students have learned about the student-athletes, corresponded with them, learned the fight song, and made posters to display at Conseco Fieldhouse. And then, many of the students come to games on Thursday or Friday, allowing them to see these role models on the court, which is a really cool experience for them. You'll definitely see a lot of students in lime green shirts going crazy in the stands."

This year's winning design, which was printed on 2,500 shirts, was done by Raheim Whitlow from Raymond Park Middle School.  Whitlow is shown above in his green shirt with members of the Indianapolis Local Organizing Committee.

(Photo by Peter Bick)

Michigan State's Cetera Washington and Lykendra Johnson talk about their 56-25 win over Northwestern in the postgame press conference.

It's almost game time between No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Ohio State -- our final quarterfinal matchup of the 2011 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament.

Brutus Buckeye is getting loose before he hits the Big Stage at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Seriously, Sparty?  We can't even see the action!

You are "That Guy" right now.

No worries though, we just won't sit behind you when you are here tomorrow.

FINAL: 
Michigan State 56, Northwestern 25

Hours before the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal nightcap between No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Ohio State, the Hawkeye faithful gathered at Jillian's just steps away from Conseco Fieldhouse.

The Hawkeye Huddle hosted several Iowa fans, who enjoyed food, door prizes, music and cheers before heading over to Conseco to get their seats for the Michigan State/Northwestern game.