Big Ten Basketball: Week in Review 02/09/2010

The Big Ten is one of the most fiercely competed Conferences in College Basketball, every year there are multiple teams representing the Conference in March Madness keeping the Conference’s history of excellence. This article will give a weekly roundup of all the action and major stories surrounding the Big Ten Conference on a week-by-week basis.

Standings- The standings in terms of position do not look too much different, but there has been a definite momentum swing in Big Ten play of late. Michigan State were finally knocked off their pedestal after starting 9-0, the defending Big Ten champions lost to a strong Wisconsin team 67-49, before succumbing to a more surprising upset losing 78-73 to Illinois. Albeit that the Spartans lost Kalin Lucas to injury against Wisconsin and were without his services, but a defeat to a strong Purdue side on Tuesday would well and truly bring Michigan State back into the rest of the field. Ohio State maintained their good form this week with comfortable wins over Penn State and Iowa; they travel to Indiana and Illinois in their next two games. The Buckeyes are in a three-way tie for second place with a rejuvenated Illinois team led by Demetri McCamey and the Wisconsin Badgers. Meanwhile, both Minnesota and Northwestern won their games this week to keep the race at the top interesting. The Michigan Wolverines suffered an extremely disappointing week losing to both Northwestern and Wisconsin, failing to force any sort of opportunity to break out of the Conference’s basement.

Upset of the Week- It had reached the point this season where any defeat suffered by Michigan State was going to be an upset, but many said that if they were going to have their losing streak snapped anywhere, it would be in Wisconsin. However, the following fixture against the Fighting Illini was a completely different story where even without Lucas, most expected an intense reply from the Spartans after the disappointment of their first loss. McCamey led his Illinois team to their first win over a team not in the Conference’s bottom three since an 89-83 OT victory over Northwestern on the 30 th December. The question is, can Illinois build upon that performance when they travel to Wisconsin and then host Ohio State over the next seven days.

Needing To Make a Move- There’s no hiding from the fact that Northwestern will have been disappointed by their efforts in the Big Ten thus far. The Wildcats started the season 11-1, but have gone 5-6 in Conference play and have so far struggled to compete against the Big Ten’s better teams. Wins over Michigan and Indiana this week represent the first time that they have been able to put consecutive wins against Big Ten teams and they will want to take advantage of a schedule where they play Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State in their next three matches.

Making His Mark- Wisconsin are playing some impressive basketball and Jordan Taylor has been a huge part of that, the sophomore guard had 17 and 13 points respectively and four assists in both of the games this week. Taylor has a good release and has already shown the ability to take a game over in spells, expect him to be a key man heading down the home stretch in the Big Ten.

Week Ahead- This week could prove to be one of the crucial weeks in this Big Ten season as many will be salivating over tonight’s matchups that see Purdue face Michigan State and Illinois take on Wisconsin. The top of the table will be further challenged on Sunday when Illinois take on Ohio State in what will be a pivotal week for them.

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