Big Ten Country

The Stars Come Out At Home

The Tuesday thru Thursday sequence of games was one of firsts. It was the first time this year the home team has swept all five conference games. And it was the first sequence to have a 20-point scorer in each game. As the league schedule turned into the second half, a number of individual players jumped up to have huge nights.

It would begin in Columbus on Tuesday. Ohio State and Purdue played a thrilling overtime game, with the Buckeyes finally prevailing 80-72. But it was no fault of JaJuan Johnson who dropped 30. But he couldn't keep up with the combo of Evan Turner and William Buford. Turner turned in a diversified performance of 26 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists, while Buford hit for 22. The one thing Purdue didn't get out of Johnson was rebounding, and that was the area the Buckeyes won the game in, nearly doubling up the Boilers with a 34-18 edge on the glass.

Devan Dumes was the hero of Indiana's first conference win of Tom Crean's Hoosier career. Dumes nailed 27 points, trumping Iowa 68-60, who got 24 from Matt Gatens.

In Michigan State's 76-47 hammering of Minnesota, it was Durrell Summers who stepped up to the plate and hit 21. The Spartans also reasserted their control of the paint with a 38-21 rebounding margin and they held Lawrence Westbrook to just six points, as Minnesota shot a woeful 28 percent from the floor. It was a good series of days for the Spartans, who not only won their game, but saw Purdue lose on Tuesday along with both Illinois and Penn State on Thursday, thus giving them a two-game cushion in the conference race.

Illinois couldn't find an answer to Jason Bohannon on Thursday in Madison. The Badger guard hit 6-of-7 from three, and ended with 20 points. He got help from Marcus Landry and Jon Leurer up front who kicked in 15 apiece. The Illini were not able to overcome an offnight from Mike Tisdale who fouled out with only two points.

Manny Harris and Jamelle Cornley each put on individual shows in Ann Arbor. Harris rang up 28 points, continuing his on-again, off-again season that's giving Wolverine fans reason to appreciate that old Red Sox wisdom of "It's just Manny being Manny." Harris had more help on this night than Cornley, whose 25 points were the Lions' only bright spot and UM won 71-57

Player Of The Sequence: I'm going to go with Turner again. In a sequence of games that saw a number of impressive scorers, Turner brought the complete package of rebounding and assists with him, as he continues his surprising surge in the MVP race.

Casting Our Gaze Upon The Nation

The Super Bowl is over, spring training is still a few weeks off and the NBA & NHL have months to get serious. February is the time the heart of the sports fan can focus full-bore on college hoops. As we round the turn into this key part of the year, Michigan State is the one Big Ten team that looks capable of making a legitimate run at a national championship. Of course they need a healthy Raymar Morgan before that can happen, but assuming Morgan does return the Spartans have the right blend of backcourt play, frontcourt dominance, genuine star power (Morgan and Kalin Lucas) and experienced coaching to be hometown heroes when the Final Four comes to Detroit on April 4 & 6.

There's no guarantee MSU will win the Big Ten--as long as Morgan is out of the lineup, that one-game lead in the conference standings entering tonight looks precarious. But they are the one program with a realistic scenario for winning the whole ball of wax.

How does the rest of the nation look? If we peer out beyond the borders of Big Ten Country and into the other BCS conferences, who else looks like they're a legit contender?

ACC: The trio of Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina is outstanding and will wage a dynamite race for the league championship. The Tar Heels got all the preseason hype and Tyler Hansborough has lived up to his Player of the Year billing. The backcourt of Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington is explosive. Neither of their two losses---home against Boston College (17-6) and on the road at Wake seem as bad now as when they happened, particularly the latter. Down the road at Durham, Coach K is doing another stellar coaching job and Kyle Singler is a legit All-American candidate at power forward. But I suspect that just as was the case last year, Duke's lack of depth on the interior is going to cost them in the push for both conference and national honors. Wake Forest is the real deal. Jeff Teague in the backcourt has an argument for being the best player in the country and they are very tough up front with three strong rebounders. But they blew a big lead late in the game at home against the Dookies, before winning at the buzzer and it bears wondering how they'll stand up on the road against their two rivals and in the pressure cooker of the NCAA Tournament.  Clemson is also ranked in the Top 10, but they need a big-time win to really be national title material. A date with Duke tonight will be a big testing ground.

Big East: This conference might grab 9 or 10 NCAA bids, and four of them have hopes of cutting down the nets on April 6. UConn is ranked #1 in the country and solidified their standing Monday night with a dominating 68-51 win at Louisville. The Huskies are very well-coached by Jim Calhoun and have a powerful inside combination of Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Tabeet, who combine for 20 rebounds a game. A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson lead up the backcourt and make them a well-balanced team. But at this writing, they're not leading the pack in their own league. Marquette is 9-0 in Big East play and might have the best three-guard package in America with Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James. But like Duke in the ACC, I think MU doesn't have enough solid inside people to rise above second or third, and they would need bracket breaks in March to go all the way. We'll find out down the stretch--from February 25 to March 4, the Golden Eagles play UConn, Louisville and Pitt in succession. The 'Ville showed a lot of weaknesses on Monday, particularly shooting the ball. Rick Pitino's teams will always play hard and play defense and that will keep them in contention, but all it will take is one bad shooting night to show them the exit door at Madison Square Garden and later in the NCAAs. And Pitt is a poor man's version of UConn--they're sound inside and have good backcourt play. But if you have to bet on a champion, why take the poor man's version when you can get the real thing?

SEC: On the national stage this conference has been awful. Florida and LSU are leading the way and each has a signature player in Nick Calathes and Marcus Thornton respectively. But there's not championship-type depth of talent on either squad. The SEC better stick to football.

Big 12: Kansas was supposed to be rebuilding after its championship run last spring, but the Jayhawks are undefeated in league play, tied with Oklahoma at the top. Both teams have top-flight centers. Blake Griffin for the Sooners is in the same class as Hansborough and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody. Kansas brings Cole Aldrich to the table. Now good backcourt play is vital to winning in March, but what happens when so many contenders have excellent guards? Then the advantage given to teams like and OU and Kansas who have top post players will start to stand out. The Sooners in particular, have two solid scorers in the backcourt in Willie Warren and Tony Crocker, and this team could finish what the university's football team couldn't. Texas has faded a bit in recent weeks and Missouri needs a quality win to show its 18-4 mark is for real.

Pac-10: Not as strong as they've been in recent years and though UCLA is tied for first with Washington, this edition of the Bruins is not the same as the one that's made three straight Final Fours. I'll be traveling to Arizona for a vacation next week and hope to catch the Arizona State-UCLA game in Tempe while I'm there and get a firsthand look.

Who would I pick right now? On a personal level I'd root for either Louisville because I like Rick Pitino, Michigan State out of conference pride or Duke because I like Coach K and would want to lend support to my sister-in-law who loves her Dookies here in Terrapin country.  And family members back in Wisconsin will pull for Marquette, being among that strange element that tries to take both sides of the Badgers-Golden Eagles rivalry. But at the start of the season I shared the consensus view that North Carolina was the team to beat. They don't stand head-and-shoulders above the rest anymore, but they are the most complete team out there, and it's who I'd give a slight edge to right now.

Lions Continue Mastery Of MSU

By the time this school year is over, Michigan State will be more than ready to be done with Penn State. First the football showdown for the Big Ten title ended in a Lion rout. Now even basketball isn't safe for the Spartans. Penn State's upstart team came into East Lansing and led by Talor Battle's 29 points, put up a 72-68 upset that knocked MSU out of sole possesion of first place.

The Spartans continue to be hurt by the absence of Raymar Morgan, who's been unable to play anything more than token minutes due to illness. It's hard to say their two narrow home losses (the other being Northwestern) would have happened with a healthy Morgan. But they also did not defend the perimeter well against the Lions. PSU hit 10-of-20 on three-point shots and stayed close to even (28-31) in the rebounding area Tom Izzo's team usually dominates.

Prior to Sunday, Penn State had been enjoying a nice season. Now they've upgraded themselves to a legitimate title contender, trailing Michigan State and Purdue by just one game. They also have their first big road win of the year.

In other games...

Purdue 67 Michigan 49
The Boilermakers pulled even with Michigan State. Just as was the case earlier this week in Madison, E'Twaun Moore led the way. The quick guard scored 17 points and came up with five steals. Manny Harris had a miserable afternoon, scoring just five points and being ejected.

Illinois 62 Iowa 54
The Illini were able to take control in the second half, thanks to a big 34-19 advantage on the glass. The physical play translated itself into an edge on the line. Iowa attempted only four free throws. Illinois went 12-of-16 from the charity stripe and in that margin lay the margin of victory. Mike Tisdale's 18 led all scorers.

Ohio State 93 Indiana 81
Both teams shot the lights out in Assembly Hall. The Buckeyes tickled the twines to the tune of 63 percent from the floor. The two teams combined to make 25 treys. Evan Turner turned in another outstanding effort for Thad Matta, ringing up 29 points and grabbing ten boards. He was one of three Buckeye scorers to hang a dead Jackson (20) on the scoring sheet. In the backcourt, Jon Diebler scored 29 on 5-of-7 from treyland and William Buford posted 24. The surprise individual performance came off the IU bench in the person of Matt Roth and his 29 points.

Northwestern 66 Wisconsin 63
Bo Ryan's season of discontent continued. UW lost their sixth straight, five of them being gutwrenchers, and again did not defend. NU hit 57 percent of their shots and Craig Moore led all scorers with 26. At 12-9 overall, Wisconsin needs to focus on just winning a few games and saving an NIT bid. Northwestern is suddenly sitting at a respectable 4-5 in league play and with wins over the Badgers and Michigan State has the scalps of the league's two most respected programs dangling from their belt.

Player Of The Sequence: Evan Turner. The Buckeye forward is in the mix every sequence of games, and his dominating double-double was the showcase performance of the weekend. Matt Roth and Talor Battle were both strong, and given both had less help than Turner, each would have a case. But only Turner put the rebounding to go with his big scoring day.