February 4, 2010 –
by Brendon
Bruce Weber’s team is underachieving this year, and, as a result, he’s been switching things up. He had the team elect new captains; he has changed the starting lineup. Since those shakeups following a loss at Northwestern two Saturdays ago, Illinois has won three straight, but victories over Penn State, Indiana and Iowa haven’t done much to stem growing concern that this is becoming a lost season for the Illini. It’s tricky to parse the numbers, but Illinois may be making some real strides to reverse one negative defensive trend that has plagued UofI this season.
Expectations: This appeared to be a “hold-water” year for Illinois in the fall. Weber had lost solid distributor and defender Chester Frazier, spot-up shooter Trent Meacham and the versatile Calvin Brock from a team that achieved a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
The additions of two four-star guards, D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, as part of a nationally-ranked four-player 2009 class seemed likely to prevent much regression as Weber awaits his most acclaimed class in 2010. In 2010-11, Richardson and Paul are to be joined by three of the nation’s top prep players, including small forward Jereme Richmond. Weber will also have his top three returners entering this season — Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale — back for their senior seasons. It would appear to be a fortuitous confluence of talent in what many expect will be the season of Illinois’ re-emergence as a Big Ten power. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten
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Tagged Big Ten, Bill Cole, Bradley, Brandon Paul, Bruce Weber, Calvin Brock, Chester Frazier, Clemson, D.J. Richardson, Demetri McCamey, Evan Turner, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jereme Richmond, Michigan State, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Trent Meacham, Tyler Griffey, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin
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January 20, 2010 –
by Brendon
It was nice to see Purdue emerge from its “freefall” on Tuesday night with an impressive performance in a win over Illinois. It wasn’t nice because I’m rooting for the Boilermakers but nice because the performances of JaJuan Johnson, Kelsey Barlow and John Hart will hopefully quiet some of the shrill voices chiming in on Purdue’s shortcomings after a three-game losing streak.
Around the college basketball world on Saturday, folks were wringing their hands about the Boilermakers’ losing streak. SI’s Seth Davis called it a freefall, the folks on ESPN questioned the Final Four pedigree of Purdue, and people on the Big Ten Network could not get through a sentence without bemoaning the effect of Lewis Jackson’s injury on the Boilermakers.
As often happens, despite all the analysis, the pundits danced around the truth while missing it. The first issue is putting too much meaning into the streak. Purdue played three strong teams, two on the road. A 1-2 record in that stretch would not have been out of the ordinary, so 0-3 shouldn’t have been cause for panic. Several famous teams of recent vintage have only been saved from the same fate by friendly scheduling. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten
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Tagged Al Nolen, Big Ten, Chris Kramer, College of Charleston, Colorado, Florida, Georgetown, Illinois, JaJuan Johnson, James Madison, Joe Mazzulla, John Hart, Kansas, Kelsey Barlow, Lewis Jackson, Matt Painter, Minnesota, North Carolina, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Robbie Hummel, Rutgers, South Carolina, St. John's, UCLA, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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January 13, 2010 –
by Brendon
Four of the six major conferences were in action on Tuesday, and each league’s slate featured a game with two teams that have legitimate hopes of a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Three of the games were close down the stretch, and one wasn’t. All four taught us something about each team.
Ohio State 70, Purdue 66: The Buckeyes’ win at Purdue was remarkable and necessary. Down 15, Ohio State was eight minutes from falling to 1-4 in Big Ten play thanks to Robbie Hummel’s 29-point, first-half outbreak. Instead, Evan Turner made Chris Kramer and Purdue — one of the best defenders and best defensive teams in the nation respectively — look like something far less than that.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Off Reb |
FTR |
| Ohio State |
65 |
1.07 |
0.561 |
0.246 |
0.360 |
0.306 |
| Purdue |
65 |
1.01 |
0.518 |
0.215 |
0.286 |
0.143 |
Turner played all 40 minutes, scoring 32 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Neither Turner nor his coach, Thad Matta, believe that the sophomore is at full strength after missing most of seven games with a scary back injury, but the point-forward was plenty good enough to help OSU get to 2-3 in conference. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten, Game of the Night
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Tagged Big Ten, Chris Kramer, David Lighty, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Robbie Hummel, Thad Matta, West Virginia, William Buford, Wisconsin
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December 30, 2009 –
by Brendon
The Big Ten opened conference play on Tuesday night with a pair of matchups between teams aiming for the top of the league and teams hoping to avoid its very bottom. The top teams one, though without the ease one might have expected.
You can forgive Purdue for its sloppy start against an Iowa team, which — in my mother’s words — stinks to high heaven. With undefeated West Virginia ahead on Friday in West Lafayette, the Boilermakers looked disinterested in a first half that saw them make just 11-of-30 shots, including 1-of-6 3-pointers. Still, Iowa led by just one at the half, and the handwriting was on the wall for the second half, as Purdue pulled away for a 67-56 win.
| Team |
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Purdue |
60 |
1.11 |
0.528 |
0.116 |
0.281 |
0.208 |
| Iowa |
60 |
0.93 |
0.471 |
0.265 |
0.344 |
0.157 |
Robbie Hummel and E’Twaune Moore had hot second halves, but what might have been most surprising was JaJuan Johnson’s indifferent night. The junior had just six points and no free-throw attempts against one of major conference’s worst interior defenses. Johnson’s quiet night made no difference though, since Iowa couldn’t hold on to the ball on offense or stop the rest of the Boilers on defense. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of these two teams, Purdue’s far superior percentage on 2-pointers (52.4 to 42.9) and nine fewer turnovers were as predictable as they were devastating. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Al Nolen, Andrew Jones, Big Ten, Blake Hoffarber, Colton Iverson, Damian Johnson, David Jackson, Devoe Joseph, E'Twaune Moore, Illinois, Iowa, JaJuan Johnson, Jeff Brooks, Keaton Grant, Lawrence Westbrook, Matt Painter, Miam (Fla.), Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Portland, Purdue, Ralph Sampson, Robbie Hummel, Royce White, Talor Battle, Texas A&M, Tubby Smith, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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December 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
Most teams are about halfway through their non-conference schedules, which makes this a pretty good time to look at how conferences are doing in terms of RPI. Conference RPI is a solid predictor of how generous the committee will be to a given conference come Selection Sunday (more on that soon).
Top 10 conferences by RPI (through games of Dec. 3):
1. Big East
2. ACC
3. Big 12
4. SEC
5. Atlantic 10
6. Big Ten
7. Mountain West
8. Pac-10
9. Missouri Valley
10. WAC
Based on our expectations entering the season, there is one surprise in each direction. The Big East is the pleasant one, the Big Ten the unpleasant one. Let’s look at both.
The Big East entered this season with muted expectations thanks to the departure of so much talent from last year’s historically strong season. The thing about last year, though, was that the Big East was exceptionally tough at the top but very poor at bottom. Teams like DePaul, South Florida and Rutgers played very poorly out of conference, and those teams brought down the conference’s RPI, which ended the year just fourth. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Big Ten, National Perspective
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Tagged ACC, Atlantic-10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Boston University, Bradley, Cincinnati, DePaul, Duquesne, George Mason, Gonzaga, Iowa, Louisville, Missouri Valley, Pac-10, Penn State, Providence, Rutgers, SEC, South Florida, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, UNC-Wilmington, UNLV, Utah, Vermont, WAC, Wichita State
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December 3, 2009 –
by Brendon
With 17 wins and eight in conference last season, Northwestern was perhaps two victories from the first NCAA Tournament bid in school history. In his ninth season, Bill Carmody had put together a roster that could compete in the Big Ten, and the best part for Wildcats fans is that Carmody returned eight of his top nine players for this winter. As the Murphy’s Law in basketball form, we should have known the rose would soon lose its bloom.
This wasn’t the first time Northwestern entered an offseason with high hopes for the coming winter. Enter 2005-06, the Cats were coming off a second straight season finishing a game below .500, and in Evanston, that’s reason for excitement. With a core of Vedran Vukusic, Mohamed Hachad and T.J. Parker returning for one more season — and only the utterly replaceable Davor Duvancic leaving — some thought this would be the team to breakthrough.
Instead, Parker — the brother of San Antonio Spur Tony — left school early to play in Europe. The Cats finished a game under .500 for the third straight season and 6-10 in conference for the second season in a row. After that season, Vukusic and Hachad were gone, and Northwestern would win just three total conference games over the next two seasons.
Back to this year. While the expectations for the 2005-06 Wildcats were probably too lofty even if Parker had returned, the idea that Northwestern could make the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10 was realistic. Craig Moore, who as a freshman took many of the minutes Parker left behind, was the only key part gone from last season’s team. Moore knew Carmody’s Princeton offense and 1-3-1 defense well, and he was a great shooter, but he was just one piece. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten
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Tagged Alex Marcotullio, Big Ten, Bill Carmody, Craig Moore, Davide Curletti, Drew Crawford, Iowa State, Ivan Peljusic, Jeff Ryan, Jeremy Nash, John Shurna, Kevin Coble, Kyle Rowley, Luka Mirkovic, Michael Thompson, Mike Capocci, Mohamed Hachad, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Princeton, San Antonio Spurs, Stanford, Sterling Williams, T.J. Parker, Tavaras Hardy, Tony Parker, Vedran Vukusic
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December 2, 2009 –
by Brendon
The ACC-Big Ten Challenge is closing its 11th edition Wednesday night, and the conference from the Midwest has yet to win it. Five times — including last year — the Big Ten has come up just a game short. Someday the National League will lose the All-Star Game to the American League again, and someday the ACC will fall to the Big Ten. Could that day be today? The oddsmakers put it at just about even money.
The two conferences enter the last day of the challenge with three wins each. The Big Ten took a 3-0 lead in the series when it swept the 7:00 games on Tuesday night, Purdue pulling away from Wake Forest, 70-59, and Northwestern going down to Raleigh and schooling NC State, 65-53. This after Penn State squeaked past Virginia in Charlottesville on Monday night.
The ACC, though, is a resilient league, and the later tip-offs on Tuesday all went its way. Maryland visited hapless Indiana and won by 12. North Carolina hosted Michigan State in a rematch of April’s national title game, and the Tar Heels prevailed again behind Ed Davis, 89-82. Iowa hung with Virginia Tech for most of Tuesday’s final game, but the Hokies slipped away at the end, 70-64. Read More »
Posted in ACC, Big Ten, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged ACC, ACC-Big Ten Challenge, Al Skinner, Alabama, Big Ten, Bo Ryan, Boston College, Bradley, Brian Zoubek, California, Clemson, Connecticut, Duke, Ed Davis, Evan Turner, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marquette, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rakim Sanders, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Wofford
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November 15, 2009 –
by Brendon
In sum: The Big Ten was one win from an undefeated week, but Iowa laid an ugly egg against Texas-San Antonio in Iowa City on Sunday. It’s just not a good time to be a Hawkeye. Beyond Frank Lickliter’s struggles, the Big Ten was on cruise control last week, winning its other 11 games, each by at least 15 points.
Team of the week: Days after learning that their best player — and perhaps the most important single player to any team in the Big Ten — would be out at least a month and likely more, the Northwestern Wildcats still managed a 22-point win over Northern Illinois on Friday. Jeremy Nash showed us there may be hope without Kevin Coble, as he scored a career-high 20 points. Northwestern outscored the Huskies, picked second in their MAC division, by 21 at the free-throw line. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Anthony Tucker, Butler, California, Duquesne, Frank Lickliter, Gonzaga, Indiana, Iowa, Jeremy Nash, Kevin Coble, Michigan State, Mississippi, North Carolina, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Syracuse, Texas-San Antonio
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