Big Ten Roundup

Ohio State and Wisconsin

Coming into the Big Ten season, the two hottest teams were Ohio State and Wisconsin. These two teams were two of the last five undefeated teams just a few weeks ago. Since then, each team has hit a wall, with Ohio State currently on a four game losing streak and Wisconsin on a three game losing streak. Suddenly, the Big Ten has taken a whole different form than originally thought. Heading into the new year of 2014, everyone would have had both Wisconsin and Ohio State near the top of the Big Ten standings less than a month into play. Sure, Michigan State has rounded into the team that everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season, but the other two teams have headed in the opposite direction. Momentum is the key here. Once Wisconsin and Ohio State had their weaknesses exploited, the next few teams to face them knew where to attack them. Ohio State cannot find an offensive flow and Wisconsin can’t guard very well. These two squads will need to patch up their weak areas if they want to get back to where they were earlier in the season. Both teams still have the potential to be dangerous Top 10 teams.

Northwestern

Northwestern, yes Northwestern, is a half-game ahead of Ohio State with 1/3 of Big Ten play completed. No one could’ve predicted that turn of events. Northwestern was 7-6 in non-conference play with losses to teams like DePaul and Illinois State on their home court. They gave up 95 points in a loss against UCLA, but have since turned into a defensive juggernaut. Although they are one of the worst offensive teams in the nation, they have found ways to beat Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. Sure, their expectations for the rest of the year are mediocre at best. They can’t possibly continue this defensive tear that they’ve been on for the past two weeks. But if they can, every team better be watching out. They held Michigan State to 54 points. If they can straighten out their offense and get their point guard back reasonably soon, they will a team that can keep handing out upsets.

Michigan

Michigan has possibly been the most surprising team. After the loss of big man, and future lottery pick, Mitch McGary, most people were writing them off. Since he went down with a back injury, Jordan Morgan and John Horford have stepped up, averaging a double-double between the two of them. Nik Stauskas is playing like a Big Ten POY candidate at this point, leading the team to their 6-0 start in conference play. They have a big showdown with Michigan State at the Breslin Center this Saturday. Another key player that has added to this run in the Big Ten is much improved Caris LeVert, who is the team’s second leading scorer. Michigan faces an extremely tough stretch of their schedule coming up, with two games against Michigan State, on the road at Ohio State and Iowa, and a home game against Wisconsin all in the next three weeks.

Iowa

Iowa has become one of the best teams in the country before our eyes, with all five starters returning from last year’s NIT runner-up team. If Aaron White continues to play the way he has, their offense can definitely continue to be one of the elite offenses in the Big Ten. I’m looking forward to watching this team for the rest of the year. They are two deep at every single position and have scoring ability from pretty much every player. After Fran McCaffery’s meltdown against Wisconsin, Iowa went on a tear until their loss last night against Michigan. Even in that game, they were able to come back multiple times from double-digits down. This team has experience and offensive firepower. That is a deadly combination, especially later on in the season. Iowa is a real threat to challenge for the Big Ten title this year.

Indiana

Then there is Indiana. Sure, the Hoosiers haven’t lived up to expectations yet. They hung around the rankings early on the year, but hadn’t beaten any quality opponents in the non-conference portion of their schedule. They had opportunities, but couldn’t take advantage of the moment. The upcoming schedule is the easiest stretch that we’ve had yet. With two games against Michigan State out of the way, we are coming into a few games that are winnable. Starting this Sunday against Illinois, we need to avenge the loss of New Year’s Eve. This team will only go as far as Yogi Ferrell and Noah Vonleh can take it. The defense has been rather impressive to this point, but there are stretches in each game where the defense tends to fall apart. If Coach Tom Crean can have a perfect gameplan against Wisconsin, we should be able to beat other top teams down the road. The Hoosiers need to execute down the stretch if they want any chance of making the NCAA tournament in March. At this point, it is looking like their only chance is to win the Big Ten Tournament. Can they get hot at the right time? We will see, especially with the inexperience that the Hoosiers possess.

So the Big Ten isn’t quite what it was expected to be at the beginning of the season. Does that make it a worse conference? Not at all. The Big Ten is still the best conference in college basketball, says Ken Pomeroy. With multiple teams in the top 25, the Big Ten is set for another year of a large amount of bids. Just because Wisconsin and Ohio State aren’t living up to expectations doesn’t make it any worse of a conference. The fact that Northwestern and Michigan are exceeding what people expected of them makes it that much better.