The most renowned wrestling conference in the nation, with five teams ranked in the top 10 and 10 of 11 in the top 25, will be displayed in all of its glory this weekend. The Big Ten will hold its conference tournament in Evanston, Ill., tomorrow and Sunday.

The tournament will feature five No. 1 ranked wrestlers, five ranked No. 2, and 62 ranked in the Top 20, all trying to take the first step towards a national championship.

The conference produced.

Of the 110 wrestlers in the field, 72 will qualify for the NCAA championships. The conference produced 28 All-Americans last season, and the NCAA team champion in Iowa.

Despite winning 26 of the last 27 tournament championships, Iowa is not a favorite. Minnesota boasts the nation's No. 1 ranking and two wins against the No. 3 Hawkeyes, including a 17-16 victory at Iowa City Feb. 18.

The Golden Gophers have come this far on balance. The Hawkeyes will have four wrestlers seeded No. 1 in the tournament in 125-pounder Jody Strittmatter, 133-pounder Eric Juergens, 141-pounder Doug Schwab, and 157-pounder T.J. Williams. However, neither their 197 pound starter nor their heavyweight is seeded in the top eight of their weight class. Minnesota has just one wrestler seeded No. 1 in 197 pounder Owen Elzen, but they do not have a single grappler seeded lower than fourth, and only one lower than third.

"I think that balance in this tournament will be have more importance than it will at nationals," said Minnesota wrestling coach J. Robinson. "I think that will benefit us a good bit, because Iowa isn't as balanced as they used to be."

Those two teams are the consensus favorites, but with three other teams in the top 10, there is a chance someone else could make a run at the title.

No. 5 ranked Michigan is the highest ranked challenger. The Wolverines have all but one wrestler in the nation's top 20, including No. 1 seeded Otto Olson at 174 pounds. They finished the Big Ten dual meet season in second place behind Minnesota, and they managed to defeat Iowa in a dual meet in Ann Arbor.

"We need to have all of our guys wrestling better than their rankings if we want to have a chance at the title," Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland said. "Our first goal is just to get all 10 guys to qualify for nationals, and we're going to need a number of guys in the finals if we want to have a chance to knock off Minnesota or Iowa."

Illinois will also have the opportunity to challenge for the title. The No. 7 Fighting Illini have two No. 1 wrestlers in the tournament in 149-pounder Adam Tirapelle and 184-pounder Nate Patrick.

"I think we definitely have a chance this year," Patrick said. "If we keep doing things right, we're going to be a factor in this tournament.