Four teams, perhaps five, realistically could contend in the Big Ten tournament.

As Purdue coach Matt Painter put it, any of the teams that would have to play three games in three days has a chance. He could see a team that plays on today’s opening day at Conseco Fieldhouse reaching Sunday’s final, but winning that fourth game in four days could prove to be too much of a challenge.

“I do view it as wide-open,” Painter said.

The Boilermakers, regular-season champion Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan State all could leave Indianapolis with the hardware — those four teams really separated themselves from the conference pack during the course of the season. Ohio State also could have a shot, but faces a tough road that likely would include having to beat three of the conference’s top four teams, including probably the balanced Badgers.

“I’m proud of our young men and the job they did during the regular season,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “We couldn’t be happier for them.

“I don’t know if it’s any one thing — we just survived. I just think we defensively gave ourselves a chance every night, every day, to be on that left-hand side, and that’s where it started. I think our personality developed from the defensive end. We’ve been able to get points in transition. People say we grind — we’re just trying to get good shots.”

The outcome in tournament play could be determined by such factors as guard play, controlling tempo, shot selection, taking care of the ball and leadership.

“Possessions become more valuable,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “One-and-done time, the my-bads and the I-made-a-mistake are out the door now, because you don’t get to make many of those or you’re going home.”

Said Illinois coach Bruce Weber: “I always believe experience is so important, having been through it, dealing with clutch time. More than anything, you have to have a go-to guy, somebody who can make plays in close games.”

But one of the recurring themes heading into the conference tournament was the play of this season’s crop of freshmen, one of the deepest and most talented in recent memory. Several coaches commented about the difficulty in voting for the All-Freshman Team; 10 or more players could have been worthy of inclusion, as opposed to last season when it might have been a stretch to fill out five, even including Ohio State’s Greg Oden and Mike Conley.

The consensus was these freshmen won’t be affected by the atmosphere, with the high-level AAU tournaments around the country in which they have competed and the television exposure through which they’ve seen the intensity of college postseason play.

“Normally, experience is what wins the tournament,” Weber said. “I think Purdue has kind of been an asterisk all season. Their group of freshmen has showed so much poise. They’ve actually played better on the road. I’ve seen them make big shots in big games. I would say maybe freshmen would struggle when they get to the tournament, but certain ones, especially this year, it seems those kids rise up.”