Ohio State is playing like a Big Ten Tournament Champion right now.  Will the Buckeyes be one this year?  Will the Hawkeyes fight back?

We are tied 62-62 with 2:45 left.

Ohio State has been rallying here in the second half, looking to fight back from a double-digit deficit to Iowa.

The Buckeyes have a little extra help in their cheering section today.  After wrapping up a share of the Big Ten Championship this week, Ohio State men's basketball players P.J. Hill (left), Dallas Lauderdale (center) and Evan Turner (right) are in attendance.

Turner, a National Player of the Year candidate, has been a fan favorite today, signing several autographs for Buckeye fans.

Lauderdale also auditioned for big screen fame, playing air guitar during one of the media timeouts.

Next week the Ohio State's men's team will return to Conseco Fieldhouse as the No. 1 seed for the 2010 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.  

It's halftime of the 2010 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Championship.

No. 3 seed Iowa leads No. 1 seed Ohio State, 41-33.

Iowa's Kelly Krei and Ohio State's Jantel Lavender pace all players with 12 points at intermission.  The Hawkeyes' Kachine Alexander has 11 points at half, while the Buckeyes' Tayler Hill has 10.

Twenty minutes to play... who will walk away with the 2010 Big Ten Tournament trophy???

By far one of the best moments of the Big Ten Tournament Pre-Game Championship Pep Rally was the Mascot Challenge.

Ohio State's Brutus absolutely rocked the dance competition as MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" played in the background.  Following that performance, it was safe to say that Herky Hawkeye faced an uphill climb.

Herky redeemed himself, however, knocking off Brutus in the toilet paper showdown.  Both mascots were challenged to unroll a full roll of toilet paper the quickest and Herky came away the spirited winner.

BigTen.org just got back from the Pre-Championship Game Pep Rally in the Entry Pavilion of Conseco Fieldhouse.

What a scene!

Fans were busy playing cornhole, getting team-specific tattoos, and enjoying complementary popcorn and drinks near the entrance, while Radio Disney 98.3 FM held court near the grand staircase to raise the energy level of the hundreds of spectators that began filing into Conseco Fieldhouse two hours before tip-off of today's final.

Brutus,

We are an hour away from tip-off of the 2010 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Championship final.

Your Ohio State Buckeyes are not only the top seed in the event, but they are also the defending champion and the current regular season conference champ.

Iowa will certainly present a challenge today, but there is no time for nerves! 

Keep your head up!

OK, here are the "Need to Knows" about Sunday's Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Championship final.

The top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes will face the No. 3 seed Iowa Hawkeyes at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Ohio State is in the tournament final for the sixth time (1995, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009), having won in both 2006 and 2009.  Iowa makes its third appearance in the finals and has captured both the 1997 and 2001 titles.

Iowa and Ohio State have met twice in Big Ten Tournament play with each team sharing a win.  The No. 1 Hawkeyes captured a 72-54 victory over the eighth-seeded Buckeyes in the 1998 quarterfinals, while top-seeded OSU scored a 72-56 win over No. 4 Iowa in last year's semifinal round.

As for the 2009-10 regular season, Ohio State earned an 86-82 home victory over Iowa in its lone meeting on Feb. 4. 

ESPN2 is set to televise today's Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Championship final between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Iowa at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The Big Ten Network, however, has been broadcasting the tournament's first nine games for the past three years. 

During the semifinal action on Saturday, BigTen.org toured the Big Ten Network production trucks and took a few snapshots of the crew preparing for the studio show, which was located just off the Conseco Fieldhouse hardwood and hosted by Mike Hall and Stephanie White.

Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes on reaching the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament final for the second straight season and fourth time in five years. 

The top-seeded Buckeyes, winners of the outright regular season conference title, topped No. 4 seed Wisconsin 82-73 this evening.

OSU is now 11-2 in its last 13 Big Ten Tournament games.

Among the highlights from tonight's second semifinal matchup:

• The Buckeyes set a Big Ten Tournament record with their 34 made free throws. The previous record was 29 by Indiana against Illinois during the 2002 tournament.
• Samantha Prahalis led the Buckeyes with 29 points. Prahalis converted 11-of-11 free throws, which ties a tournament record for free throw percentage. She shares the record with Penn State's Tanisha Wright (10-of-10, 2002 tournament) and Purdue's Shereka Wright (10-of-10, 2004 tournament).
• Jantel Lavender finished with 27 points and has now scored in double figures in all 99 career games, the longest active streak in Division I.
• Jantel Lavender and Samantha Prahalis combined to score 56 of Ohio State's 82 points. It is the highest point total for two players in all games played by Big Ten teams this year.
• Saturday was the fourth meeting between Ohio State and Wisconsin at the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes are 4-0 against the Badgers in the tournament.

The Big Ten celebrated its "Think Pink Day" during Saturday's semifinal contests.  Here are four more pictures from the Conseco Fieldhouse concourse, which include the Pink Ribbon Connection table, a table that included information on several Breast Cancer Awareness 5K and greater-distance events in the Indianapolis area, as well as a host of Michigan State fans showing that pink does in fact look good with green!