The Five Best Big Ten Non-Conference Games
Posted by Alex Moscoso on November 11th, 2014We’re just a few days away from the first official tip-offs of the season, which will mean that the non-conference portion of the season has begun. Most fans will watch their team play some little-known school for an easy win over the weekend, but there is an excellent slate of non-conference games involving Big Ten teams on the horizon. The five best of those games are listed below. A couple caveats: (1) no games from the Big Ten/ACC Challenge were included because we’ll cover that event in full later this month; and (2) the annual rivalry match-ups (e.g., Illinois-Missouri, Iowa-Iowa State, etc.) were also removed, since those games have already been discussed ad nauseam. This list represents the best of the rest.
The following list is in chronological order and displays each team’s expected record (according to Kenpom) at the time of the game.
Minnesota (0-0) vs Louisville (0-0)
Armed Forces Classic – Aguadilla, PR – Friday, November 14: Minnesota fans will be in for a treat on opening night as the Gophers will headline ESPN’s coverage against the Cardinals at U.S Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico. This will arguably be the best match-up of the night, pitting two teams from power conferences in a father/son battle with Richard Pitino taking on his dad, Rick, for the second time in his short career. The Golden Gophers play a similar style as Louisville — including the Pitino family’s patented pressing defense — but they are outmatched in talent. Still, with returning starters such as Deandre Mathieu, Andre Hollins and Elliott Eliason available, young Pitino could be poised to catch his father’s team by surprise and make it interesting. Honestly, just be happy that this game is not taking place on an aircraft carrier.
Michigan State (1-0) vs Duke (2-0)
These two legends face off again as Michigan State battles Duke. (AP)
Champions Classic – Indianapolis, IN – Tuesday, November 18: The Champions Classic has become an early-season staple as the unofficial marquee event to tip off college basketball. It’s been a successful series as four elite programs — Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, and Michigan State — have rotated match-ups to play each other over a three-year period. This season the Spartans draw Duke and their trio of super freshmen — Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow. But what the Blue Devils have in talent, they lack in experience. An early game like this gives Michigan State a golden opportunity to notch a resume-building win against a team that could end up as a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa (2-0) vs Texas (2-0)
2K Classic – Manhattan, NY – Thursday, November 20: It’s difficult to know what to make of the Hawkeyes this year. While they showed flashes of brilliance last season, they ended as poorly as anyone could imagine when they dropped seven of their last eight games. And while a majority of their talented roster returns, their best player, Roy Devyn Marble, graduated. So the question for Iowa is: Who steps up? Will all that talent on their roster finally play up to its potential? Their first test will be against the Longhorns — a preseason top 10 team. This game will give us our first sense of whether these Hawkeyes are closer to the slumping squad we saw in March, or to the dark horse Final Four team that impressed us in January.
Cincinnati (6-0) at Nebraska (7-1)
Lincoln, NE – Saturday, December 13: Just like Iowa, many talking heads don’t know what to make of Nebraska. Can the Cornhuskers repeat their success from last season? This game will be the first real test of the year for Tim Miles’s squad. The Bearcats should be undefeated when they come to PNC Arena. And while Cincinnati probably won’t be ranked, they were picked to finish fourth in the American and are always competitive under Mick Cronin. If Nebraska wants to signal to everyone that they are more than a single season aberration, then they should be able to handle the Bearcats at home. Get that done, and then they can start talking about possible conference titles.
Ohio State (9-1) vs North Carolina (7-1)
CBS Sports Classic – Chicago, IL – Saturday, December 20: The Buckeyes are starting the season near the bottom of the Top 25 and will stay there (assuming they lose at Louisville on Dec. 2) up this point. The Tar Heels, who should still be in the Top 10 by the time of this game, is Ohio State’s first opportunity to jump up a tier in the national pecking order with a win. It should also prove to be a testing ground for this new offense led by Shannon Scott and D’Angelo Russell, as they’ll be challenged to keep pace with the North Carolina’s up-and-down system. This one should be a close and entertaining affair.
