The week that was in the Big 10 - Week 2. After two weeks, the Big 10 race in beginning to take shape. Winning the Big 10 title requires teams to hold serve at home, beat the teams they are better than on the road, and steal a few games against the top teams on the road. Minnesota is running out of opportunities to steal a quality road win. Michigan State's title hopes take a huge hit with a loss at Penn State. Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Illinois managed to avoid any hits to their title hopes, winning the games they were supposed to win. No one in the top 6 has found that true statement win through two weeks. Same format as last week: Best Win, Worst Loss, and Power Rankings. Without further adieu...
Best Win: Illinois 88-63 over Northwestern. Just a clinic by the Illini, the best performance Illinois has had all year, maybe the best performance by anyone in the Big 10 all year. The Illini shot 70.5% from the floor and were 9-14 from the arc. They outrebounded Northwestern 33-16 (in large part because Illinois only missed 13 field goals all game). The game was over by halftime. A great win for the Illini against a desperate Northwestern team.
Worst Loss: Michigan State losses 66-62 to Penn State Saturday. Now, while the Hobbserver did predict that Penn State would beat one of the top 6 in the Big 10, I could not have predicted that Penn State would beat Michigan State while Taylor Battle shot 3-14 from the floor. Battle still did everything else well (6 assists and 6 rebounds) and Penn State only turned the ball over 5 times. Michigan State killed themselves at the free throw line (10-20). Izzo needs to right this ship quickly or Michigan State could find themselves squarely on the NCAA bubble.
1) Ohio State (16-0, 3-0). THE Ohio State University had an interesting week. In my mind, Ohio State came back to the pack a little this week. The Buckeyes led Iowa (in Iowa City) by 13 with 6 minutes to play at midweek. That 13 point lead was down to 3 with 29 seconds left, before Ohio State finally iced the game, winning 73-68. On Sunday, the Buckeyes led Minnesota 55-37 with 8 minutes to play. Again, they failed to put the game away and watched Minnesota miss a three at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime, holding on for a 67-64 win (and this game was in Columbus). So what do we take away from this week for the Buckeyes? A lack of depth hurts them (they only go 7 deep). The lack of any consistent point guard play could be an issue (they rely on freshman point guard Aaron Craft to give them minutes at the point - and Craft is not even a starter). But Ohio State still has the most talented starting 5 in the Big 10, they still have a balanced attack offensively (Lighty, Diebler, Buford and Sullinger can all score 20+ on any given night), and they still defend extremely well. As a result, Ohio State still maintains the top spot in the power rankings, even after an underwhelming week of basketball. The Buckeyes travel to Michigan Wednesday and host Penn State Saturday. Really, Ohio State will not be tested again until they travel to Illinois on January 22.
2) Wisconsin (12-3, 2-1). The Badgers had just one game this past week, a 66-50 home win against Michigan (outscoring the Wolverines 40-22 in the second half). Jordan Taylor continued his extremely strong Big 10 play with 20 points and 8 rebounds. The Badgers have a huge week ahead of them, traveling to East Lansing to face a reeling Michigan State team Tuesday before hosting Illinois on Saturday. If Wisconsin can manage two wins in the coming week, they will position themselves well in the Big 10 race.
3) Purdue (15-1, 4-0). Purdue closed out an easy four game stretch to open their Big 10 season with comfortable wins at Penn State (83-68) and home against Iowa (75-52), after opening wins over Michigan and Northwestern. Purdue overcame poor shooting performances from E'Twaun Moore in both games (2-10 against Penn State and 5-15 against Iowa). Purdue, however, hopes that they have found their missing third scoring option. Ryne Smith had a torrid week, scoring 20 points against Penn State and 18 against Iowa while shooting an astonishing 11-14 from three. No one expects Smith to continue to shoot that well, but if he can provide a consistent three point threat going forward, Purdue is going to be extremely difficult to beat. Purdue will be tested this week with a road game against Minnesota Wednesday, and a road game at West Virginia on Sunday. An undefeated week for Purdue would be impressive indeed.
4) Illinois (13-3, 3-0). As mentioned above, Illinois looked spectacular in destroying Northwestern this week. Perhaps the best news out of the Northwestern game is the continuing improvement of Myers Leonard (11 points). The freshman center needs to continue to improve (beyond his spectacular dunking ability), especially on the defensive end, to give the Illini a backup center to the foul prone Mike Tisdale. Two road games this week for the Illini, at Penn State Tuesday and at Wisconsin Saturday. Bruce Weber is one of the only coaches in the Big 10 with any manner of success at Kohl. The Illini were better than Wisconsin in Champaign earlier this season, but will need to be much better to steal a win at Kohl for the second straight year.
5) Michigan State (10-5, 2-1). Michigan State had a rough week. They won a game they should not have at Northwestern at midweek (65-62), and then dropped a shocker at Penn State Saturday. The Spartans need to find any sort of production from their bench (10 points from the bench against Northwestern, 14 against Penn State). This is an extremely important week for the Spartans, with two home games (Wisconsin Tuesday, Northwestern Saturday) that are as close to must wins as you can find this early in the season (the following week sees the Spartans travel to Illinois and Purdue). Tom Izzo and his trio of veterans (Draymond Green, Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers) need to get their act together, and fast.
6) Minnesota (12-4, 1-3). The Golden Gophers picked up their first win in Big 10 play this week, in a closer than expected 67-63 home win against Indiana (in a game the Gophers actually trailed with 8 minutes left). And they battled back in the aforementioned 67-64 loss at Ohio State. Minnesota's toughest loss of the week, however, may have been when Devoe Joseph was granted a release from his scholarship. Joseph was suspended for the first 6 games of the season, but averaged 11.3 points per game in the 8 games he played prior to requesting his release. Minnesota loses a very valuable scorer on a team that does not have a lot of creators. The loss of Joseph was never more evident than at the end of the Ohio State game. Down 3, with the ball, with 18 seconds left, Tubby Smith called a timeout. The play Minnesota designed was drawn up for Blake Hoffarber, Minnesota's best shooter. Ohio State read the play, Dallas Lauderdale hedged out on the screen denying Hoffarber the ball. Al Nolen dribbled at the top of the key for another several seconds, handing the ball off to Austin Hollins for an extremely contested 3 as time expired. Joseph would have been able to create a three for himself off the dribble after Hoffarber was denied the ball and Minnesota would have had a much better chance to force overtime. Minnesota has a must win game at home against Purdue Thursday and hosts Iowa Sunday. The Gophers need a 2-0 week to get back into the Big 10 race.
7) Northwestern (10-4, 1-3). Really a week that ends up as a huge negative for Northwestern. This has been written many times, and in many places this week, but it bears repeating here: if Northwestern is to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, then they must move beyond "moral victories." And their loss to Michigan State this week (65-62) was a huge opportunity lost. Northwestern should have won that game, but instead, the Spartans valiantly held on and Northwestern took a hit. Northwestern then ran into a buzzsaw in Champaign at midweek. Just about everyone in the country would have lost at Illinois that day. But Northwestern does take a small consolation out of this week, securing their first Big 10 win by blowing out Indiana Sunday. Now, Northwestern has some things going for them still: (1) they play everyone below them in this power ranking twice (though Michigan, Penn State and, to a lesser extent, Iowa have shown that they are a tough out any given night); and (2) the "never made the NCAA tournament" storyline is compelling enough that it might propel the Wildcats over teams with similar or slightly better resumes and into the tournament. To get to that point, I believe Northwestern needs to go 10-8 in the conference. Doable, yes. But they would be in a much better position if they had held on at home against Michigan State this week. In the week ahead, Northwestern features two road games: at Iowa Wednesday and at Michigan State Saturday. The Iowa game is a must win for their tournament hopes.
8) Michigan (11-5, 1-2). I was absolutely ready to move Penn State ahead of Michigan on the heels of Penn State's upset win over Michigan State and Michigan's underwhelming 66-50 loss at Wisconsin in the middle of the week. And then Michigan just battled against Kansas, coming back from down 12 midway through the second half to force overtime before ultimately losing 67-60. Michigan was extremely active in their 1-3-1 and Kansas had a very, very difficult time penetrating the middle of, and scoring against, that zone (forcing 16 Kansas turnovers and limiting them to under 36% shooting). Michigan's crowd was loud and definitely helped keep Michigan from folding both down the stretch in regulation and in overtime. Michigan will continue to have trouble scoring throughout the Big 10 season as Darius Morris and Tim Hardaway, Jr. are still Michigan's only real scoring threats. Michigan, however, has a scrappy third guard in Zach Novak (just under 7 rebounds a game) who is the type of high energy player every school in the Big 10 would like to have and really is representative of Michigan's effort. In spite of their offensive struggles, close losses to Syracuse earlier in the season, and Kansas Sunday, show just how difficult Michigan can be to play. Michigan hosts Ohio State Wednesday and travels to Indiana Saturday. Will Michigan be able to maintain the intensity from the Kansas loss and have a good week?
9) Penn State (9-6, 2-2). The Nittany Lions had a great week. They may have lost handily (83-68) at home against Purdue, but they followed that up with a fantastic home win against Michigan State (as stated above). Taylor Battle had a rough week, going 6-22 in the loss to Purdue and 3-14 in the win against Michigan State, but the rest of the Nittany Lions are reaping the benefits from the increased attention Battle is seeing as evidenced by Jeff Brooks averaging better than 17 points per game in Big 10 play. Penn State has a difficult week ahead as they host Illinois on Tuesday and travel to Columbus to face the Buckeyes on Saturday.
10) Iowa (7-8, 0-3). Unlike Northwestern, the young Hawkeyes can afford moral victories. They picked up quite the moral victory this week, battling against Ohio State, in a close 73-68 loss in Iowa City before losing badly at Purdue Sunday. The Hawkeyes hope that the Ohio State game was a coming out party for Freshman center Melsahn Basabe (22 points and 13 rebounds). Basabe, as any freshmen not named Jared Sullinger is want to do, came back to earth, struggling against Purdue (8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 turnovers). Still, Iowa is playing hard and has not backed down against anyone yet, and that is a tribute to first year coach Fran McCaffery. Iowa hosts Northwestern and visits Minnesota this week as they search for their first conference win.
11) Indiana (9-8, 0-4). Living in Hoosier country, I have way too much exposure to this awful basketball team. Indiana fans are not accustomed to subpar basketball teams, and their patience is growing thin. But there was optimism after a close loss at Minnesota at midweek (67-63 and Indiana actually led with 8 minutes to play). The Indiana fans want to see the Hoosiers play with effort and compete. To that end, the Hoosiers succeeded in Minneapolis and failed in surrendering 93 points at Northwestern. The Hoosiers only play once in the coming week, home Saturday against Michigan, as they try to secure their first Big 10 win of the season.
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