The Cream of the 2008 Big Ten Basketball Crop

The contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pretenders after six games in Big Ten conference play. Perennial powers such as Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State and Wisconsin sit atop the Big Ten summit while cellar dwellers Northwestern, Michigan and Illinois have conceded defeat and are already looking forward to next season.

Michigan State has overcome an embarrassing pre season loss to lowly Division II school Grand Valley St. and an ugly defeat to Iowa which saw them set a new school record for futility to bounce back into contention for the regular season championship. Tom Izzo’s bunch have played an excruciatingly difficult non conference schedule to help them prepare for a run at the Big Ten title and he hopes that this experience will pay off with a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Wisconsin had one of their best teams in decades racking up a school record 30 wins last year, but the Badgers were sent home packing in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Brian Butch, who once was called one of the most overrated players in the Big Ten, has matured into a force in the low post and leads a balanced scoring attack that has yet to taste defeat in conference play.

Indiana has returned to national prominence thanks to the tandem of bruising senior D.J. White and the freshman phenom Eric Gordon. The Hoosiers are ranked in the top ten in every major poll and are undefeated in conference play. Kelvin Sampson’s team is clicking on all cylinders at the moment and will be disappointed if they don’t punch their ticket to San Antonio this coming March.

Ohio State has won the last two Big Ten regular season championships and is in the hunt for their third straight this year. After losing Herculean center Greg Oden and nimble point guard Mike Conley Jr. to the NBA after just one season in Columbus, Thad Matta has done a great job of assembling a team that is in the thick of the Big Ten race and has a chance surprise the pundits in the NCAA tournament.

The Big Ten has sent a representative to the national championship game four times in the last seven years and will hope to send another to the Final Four at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio this year. It is always a long and arduous road to the national championship game, but these four Big Ten teams harbour a legitimate shot to avenge Ohio State’s loss to Florida in last year’s championship game.

by Max De Luca
BigTen-fans.com Staff Writer

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