Big Ten Basketball: Week in Review 02/16/2010

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- We are now entering the Big Ten’s season’s stretch run and things are tighter than ever. Michigan State has fallen back into the pack after a third consecutive loss to Purdue, they now only share the lead for the Big Ten with Ohio State who crushed Indiana and Illinois this week. Purdue have a game in hand and the ability to make it a three-way tie after their impressive performance against the Spartans. Illinois and Wisconsin are tied in fourth with 9-4 records each. The Fighting Illini enjoyed success with a victory over the Badgers last Tuesday, but were unable to overcome the inform Buckeyes on Sunday night. Wisconsin did recover from the loss on Saturday with a trouncing of Indiana, but will still be aware that they missed an opportunity to force their position in the standings. Northwestern suffered yet another blow to an extremely disappointing Big Ten campaign when they were defeated by Iowa on Wednesday; the Wildcats are 6-7 in the Conference completely out of contention. Penn State is 0-12 having still not won a game, their best chance for a win is probably in a home game against Northwestern on the 28 th February.

Upset of the Week- Illinois’ victory over Wisconsin may not count as an upset standings wise, but it did prove very that this Fighting Illini team is able to compete with the best and has a legitimate claim in the Big Ten race. Wisconsin had been 51-0 at home against unranked opposition, but Demetri McCamey scored 27 points and Mike Tisdale added 19 as Illinois secured by far their best win of the year with a 63-56 win over the AP ranked #11 Badgers. A second big upset came when Iowa claimed their third win in Conference play over Northwestern; the Hawkeyes eased past the Wildcats by an impressive 78-65 score line.

Coping With a Difficult Year- The Penn State Nittany Lions broke a habit of propping up the Big Ten Conference when they won the NIT last year after a pretty good year, so they will be extra disappointed by their 0-12 start this season. The truth is that Penn State is not the most talented team and doesn’t have a huge amount of experience without any seniors on the team. Junior guard Taylor Battle has been outstanding under the circumstances racking up four plus 30-point games, the most recent of which came in a defeat to Michigan State and average 19.5 points per game on the season.

Week Ahead- There is three weeks left of Big Ten Conference play before the Conference tournament and then the NCAA tournament. Michigan State’s recent slide has very much opened the door and their clash against Ohio State will be particularly interesting on Sunday. It is a big week for the Buckeyes as they also face Purdue, who are also looking to make a move up the standings. Purdue also has to face Illinois in a week where all of the big teams have key clashes.

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