Zach Hayes is an editor, contributor and bracketologist at Rush the Court.

It would be foolish to draw too many sweeping conclusions after one rust-filled outing against inferior competition, but there are certain elements within a game that can provide a glimpse into what to expect during the season ahead.  After watching a handful of games last night and tracking each and every box score this morning, these ten things caught my eye:

Tinsley is now the full time point guard at Vandy

1. As is often the case in the SEC, Vanderbilt flew under the radar in the preseason. Kentucky’s ballyhooed freshmen class received the buzz, Florida was crowned the prohibitive favorite due to the return of five starters, Bruce Pearl’s recruiting indiscretions vaulted Tennessee into the spotlight for the wrong reasons and Mississippi State could certainly be dangerous when Dee Bost and Renardo Sidney return nine games into the campaign. The Commodores, coming off a 24-9 season and a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, didn’t receive the same publicity as their SEC brethren. But that’s just how Kevin Stallings, one of the best X’s and O’s coaches in the business, prefers it. The loss of senior point guard Jermaine Beal (and the premature departure of A.J. Ogilvy inside) was a big reason why many pegged Vanderbilt to take a step back from a season ago, even with returnees John Jenkins and Jeffrey Taylor oozing with talent and potential. The question was how junior point guard Brad Tinsley would step in for the grizzled veteran Beal and run the Commodores offense with the same aplomb, finding Jenkins off curls and screens for open threes or big man Festus Ezeli in scoring position on the block. Tinsley showed he’s up for the task in a 41-point romp of Presbyterian at Memorial Gymnasium on Friday, notching Vandy’s first triple-double in school history with 11 points and a career high 10 assists and 10 rebounds (not too shabby for a 6’3 guard). Tinsley also collected three steals and only turned the ball over twice. If Tinsley provides playmaking and stability at the point, Taylor lives up to his future lottery pick billing as an impact wing, Jenkins continues his proficiency from deep and Ezeli gives Vandy a presence inside, the Commodores will win 24 games again.

2. Two wins on Friday night may fly under the radar a bit, but are absolutely worth highlighting. The first is Minnesota’s convincing home victory over Wofford. I expected the Terriers to give Tubby Smith’s squad all kinds of trouble and possibly even win this game straight up. Wofford returns four starters, including potential SoCon POY Noah Dahlman, from a stout defensive team that gave Wisconsin a scare in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Heck, I even pegged them as my Cinderella last week. Throw in yet another Minnesota suspension on Thursday (this time off-guard Devoe Joseph) and this had all the makings of a super competitive test for the Gophers. Instead, Minnesota controlled the game throughout, leading by ten at half and winning 69-55 behind 20/13 from Ralph Sampson and 14/10 in Trevor Mbakwe’s debut in maroon and gold. The Gopher bigs also contained Dahlman to 15 points and the Wofford guards couldn’t find their stroke from deep. Don’t be surprised if this is an RPI top-100 win for Minnesota by season’s end. A second win that stood out is West Virginia’s romp of Oakland, another squad favored to win their conference behind potential first round pick Keith Benson. Benson did his thing with 22/15 but received no help as the Mountaineers utilized a balanced attack- Joe Mazzulla, Dalton Pepper, John Flowers, Deniz Kilicli, Casey Mitchell and Darryl Bryant all scored in double figures- to romp the Golden Grizzlies 95-71. Without an all-Big East perimeter threat like Da’Sean Butler at their disposal, this type of team effort is imperative if the Mountaineers want to vault themselves into the upper echelon of the Big East this season.

3. It’s painfully obvious that Georgetown is going to live and die with their backcourt this season. Their frontcourt pieces- Julian Vaughn, Nate Lubick, Jerelle Benimon and Henry Sims– are unspectacular, role players that can crash the boards, provide versatility and dish from the top of the key in the Georgetown halfcourt offense, but simply cannot be relied upon as consistent scoring threats. The Hoyas opener at reigning CAA champion and preseason favorite Old Dominion exposed this weakness inside. The Monarchs out-rebounded Georgetown by 11, blocked nine more shots and the Hoya forwards only scored eight of the team’s 62 points. Yet Georgetown eked out an enormous road victory on the heels of their experienced and savvy backcourt trio of Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Jason Clark. The threesome led Georgetown back from a second-half deficit with clutch threes and free throws down the stretch, including one from Wright on a crosscourt Hollis Thompson feed where the 6’1 senior wasn’t even able to even land as the shot clocked expired. Given the Monarchs defensive prowess and the return of four starters from a team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, this is in all likelihood a top-50 RPI win for Georgetown in the first week of the campaign. If more of those marquee wins are to come, Wright, Freeman and Clark will be the reasons.

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John Templon of Chicago College Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big Ten Conference.

Predicted Order of Finish

• 1. Michigan State (15-3)
• 2. Ohio State (13-5)
• 3. Illinois (12-6)
• 4. Wisconsin (11-7)
• T5. Purdue (9-9)
• T5. Minnesota (9-9)
• T5. Northwestern (9-9)
• 8. Penn State (7-11)
• 9. Indiana (6-12)
• 10. Michigan (5-13)
• 11. Iowa (3-15)

All-Conference Team (key stats from last season in parentheses)

• G: Demetri McCamey, Illinois (15.1 PPG, 6.8 APG)
• G: Kalin Lucas, Michigan State (14.9 PPG, 3.9 APG)
• F: Jon Leuer, Wisconsin (15.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG)
• F: John Shurna, Northwestern (18.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG)
• C: JaJuan Johnson, Purdue (15.2 PPG, 7.1 RPG)

6th Man

G: E’Twaun Moore, Purdue (16.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG)

Jared Sullinger (above) and three returning double-figure scorers succeed Evan Turner in Columbus, but Michigan State is the team to beat in the Big Ten.

Impact Newcomer

C: Jared Sullinger, Ohio State: Sullinger is a consensus top-five recruit. The 6’9 post player from Columbus played his high school basketball at Northland High School and won three national AAU championships with the All-Ohio Red team. He was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball his junior and senior seasons and the Naismith National High School Boy’s Basketball Player of the Year in 2010. While some have compared him to Greg Oden, scouts say that Sullinger has a better face-up offensive game than the former Buckeye, but isn’t as intimidating on the defensive end. The hype reached epic proportions when Gary Parrish named Sullinger to his Preseason All-America team along with Harrison Barnes.

What You Need to Know

The Big Ten is one of the best conferences in college basketball, potentially the best this season. The pace is typically slower (eight of the 11 teams played at an adjusted tempo that ranked lower than 200th in the nation last season) and the play might be a little rougher (the top seven teams in the conference had a defensive efficiency that ranked 53rd or better last season), but there are a lot of teams that are a tough out come tournament time. Michigan State always seems to overachieve in the NCAA Tournament and there’s seldom a shortage of talent. Northwestern is the oddball in the conference, as the Wildcats are the only major conference team to have never been to the Big Dance.

Predicted Champion

Michigan State (NCAA Seed: #1): The Spartans took a five-seed in the NCAA Tournament last season and ran with it all the way to Final Four before falling to Butler in the National Semifinals. Most of that team returns this season. Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers will drive the backcourt, but there is also depth behind those two to help counter the conference grind. Up front, Draymond Green is an underrated force in the paint that should be able to absorb the minutes left behind from Raymar Morgan, the biggest loss from Michigan State’s Final Four team. Adreian Payne and Keith Appling are two high-profile recruits that can only help bolster the Spartans’ rotation. The Spartans have the look of a team that will be in the top five all season. Read the rest of this entry »

John Templon of Chicago College Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Horizon League.  He is also very familiar with the Chicago area basketball scene.

By now you’ve heard that Kevin Coble will not play for the Northwestern Wildcats during the 2010-11 season, or ever again. The recovery from his broken foot is taking longer than expected, and instead of continuing through grueling rehab with the chance of injuring it again during the season which would come with possible life-altering implications, Coble has decided to hang up his basketball shoes. Of course, this story is getting a lot of national attention because of Northwestern’s NCAA Tournament drought and the fact that “everyone” thought that Coble returning was the magic elixir that was going to solve all of the Wildcats’ problems.

Coble Will Be Missed, But He's Not the Tipping Point

I’m here to tell you that “they” were wrong. Coble’s return wasn’t going to fix the thing that Northwestern has to work on more than anything to make the NCAA Tournament — defense. The Wildcats had one of the most efficient offenses in the country last season. They scored 1.12 points per possession, which ranked 33d in the country according to Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency statistics. Being the 33d best offense in the country is more than enough to make the NCAA Tournament. The problem was Northwestern’s 169th ranked defense.  If Coble had been able to return at full strength this coming season he still wouldn’t have provided the defensive presence that the Wildcats need. A foot injury is exactly the type of problem that hinders your lateral movement, and it is the key to staying in front of people cutting with the basketball. Even when the doctors say you’re fully recovered, these types of injuries aren’t over. So even if Coble had completed his rehab he’d probably be wondering, “What happens if I try this?” on the basketball court. If you’re taking time to wonder, you’re taking too long.

When Coble was healthy he led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding, and while his rebounding would be nice to have next season, his scoring wouldn’t have been necessary. Coble was essentially the same player his first three seasons at Northwestern with an offensive rating around 110 in approximately a quarter of the team’s possessions while he was on the court. He also had a rebounding rate of 2.7% on the offensive boards and 15.5% on the defensive boards.  But you know whose numbers were better than that last season? John Shurna. Shurna replaced Coble in the lineup last year and became an even better offensive threat. He’s still improving too. His national team experiences appear to have helped him elevate his game. It’s also worth noting that Drew Crawford as a freshman put up an offensive rating of 107.5 and Michael Thompson put up a ridiculous 115.9 last season. With JerShon Cobb coming in and Alex Marcotullio improving, the Wildcats are surely going to be just as good, if not better, on offense next season.

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The big thing from the past week. Big Ten season ends in three way tie. Exciting as the seesaw race was all year, it ended in melodramatic fashion as both Purdue and Michigan State hung on after Ohio State had already won out several days prior. The Boilers and Spartans took care of business, beating teams they were supposed to beat. Michigan State racked up back to back banners, but the big story is that this was the first title for Purdue since 1996. Now to see how many teams can go to the dance based on their performance in the Big Ten tournament.  Four Big Ten teams are in the top 25: #5 Ohio State, #6 Purdue, #11 Michigan State, and #13 Wisconsin.

Power Rankings (final)

1. Ohio State 24-7, 14-4
2. Purdue 26-4, 14-4
3. Michigan State 24-7, 14-4
4. Wisconsin 23-7, 13-5
5. Illinois 18-13, 10-8
6. Minnesota 18-12, 9-9
7. Northwestern 19-12, 7-11
8. Michigan 14-16, 7-11
9. Iowa 10-21, 4-14
10. Indiana 10-20, 4-14
11. Penn State 11-19, 3-15

Big Ten Tournament – Indianapolis – March 11th-14th

First Round

• #9 Iowa vs. #8 Michigan – March 11 – 2:30 ET – ESPN2 – This game could really go either way. The first game was a 14-point victory for Michigan at home, whereas the second game was a two-point victory in OT for Michigan on the road. For Michigan, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims both had at least 20 in each game, so look for that to continue. For Iowa, Aaron Fuller played well in the first game, but went crazy for 30 in the second game. Matt Gatens was absent in the first game, but exploded for 21 in the second game. Michigan comes in having lost four of six games while Iowa has lost the past five of six games. Iowa should do well inside in this game, but I think Michigan has finally figured out that they can’t rely totally on threes, so I am going with Michigan in this one.
• #10 Indiana vs. #7 Northwestern – March 11 – 4:55 ET – ESPN2 – This game will most likely go to Northwestern. It is just too difficult to win two games against the same team within a week’s time, especially for a team as inconsistent as Indiana has been all year. The big thing Indiana has going for itself in this game and for this tournament is that they are essentially the home town team, especially if they are able to fill Lucas Oil Stadium with Indiana fans. If not, I think Northwestern has too much John Shurna and too much Michael Thompson for IU to handle. I also think Northwestern will make the adjustments on Jordan Hulls to stop his flurry of threes.
• #11 Penn State vs. #6 Minnesota – March 11 – 7:30 ET – I am going with Minnesota in this one. They have really come on strong to close out the season, winning four of their last six games, including a 35-point drubbing of Iowa. Both of the matchups between these teams during the regular year were close victories for Minnesota, so I expect this one to be close because it is on neutral ground, and I wouldn’t expect either of the team’s fans to come out in droves. Penn State will need Chris Babb to have a big game along with Talor Battle and David Jackson, while Minnesota needs a consistent performance from Westbrook, Sampson, Hoffarber, and Johnson. The X-factor for Minnesota is Devoe Joseph who struggled in both contests. If he can step up then Minnesota wins easily;  if not they will win in a close battle.

Quarterfinals (projected)

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Jason Prziborowski is the RTC correspondent for the Big Ten Conference.

Three things from the past week:

• Purdue suffers first loss of the season – Well, the pundits got it right this time around. Pundits 1, Jason 0. Purdue just couldn’t get it done against Wisconsin up at the Kohl Center, so they will have to figure out how to get done at Mackey later in the season. Unbeatens losing is in style right now, as Kansas decided to follow up with a loss of their own to Tennessee. Read about Kansas here: Kansas Goes Down
• Minnesota bounces back and takes out the Buckeyes – I will save Evan Turner’s stats for the Ohio State section, but will dedicate this portion to Blake Hoffarber. Talk about a sharpshooter. Blake filled up the stat sheet with a career high 27 points, hitting six 3-pointers in the second half alone. The Gophers will have to get it done against Michigan State next, a much tougher test than OSU.
• Jon Leuer breaks wrist – The good news: Wisconsin beat Purdue. The bad news: the collateral damage from that victory was a broken wrist by Jon Leuer. Leuer was the second leading scorer, and having a 15.4/6.2 year. They will need to figure out where to get his numbers and big body for the rest of the year, as he was the lone soldier inside for the Badgers. If you want to read more about Leuer’s wrist, here is a good one: Leuer breaks wrist, out indefinitely
• Don’t question Evan Turner’s backbone(s) — We’ll have more coverage of the OSU win at Purdue in next week’s Big Ten update, but suffice to say for now that Turner is back in the POY race and OSU got a big win despite a first half for the ages by Robbie Hummel:  Full RTC coverage here.

Now three Big Ten teams are in the top 25: Purdue #6, Michigan State #7, and Wisconsin #13.

Power Rankings (before Tuesday’s games, though records are updated):

1. Purdue                                   14-2, 2-2
2. Michigan State                  13-3, 3-0
3. Wisconsin                            13-3, 3-1
4. Minnesota                          12-4, 3-1
5. Ohio State                           12-5, 2-3
6. Illinois                                   12-5, 4-0
7. Northwestern                   12-3, 1-2
8. Michigan                              8-7, 2-2
9. Indiana                                 7-8, 1-2
10. Penn State                          8-8, 0-4
11. Iowa                                      6-11, 0-4

Top Story:

• The Big Ten separation continues – The three teams that have been in the AP Top 25 all year continue to do well in the Big Ten, and continue to get closer in the rankings. Teams in the middle of the pack are Northwestern, Ohio State, and Illinois, with Minnesota floating between the two. Illinois has had a great schedule thus far, but I don’t think they can continue their run much longer.

Coming Up:

• Ohio State 70,  Purdue 66 – Right, this isn’t “coming up,” but needs mentioned here.  Ohio State has Turner back, and he is putting up ridiculous stats again, but the rest of his team isn’t following suit, though William Buford’s 19/7 were a big help on Tuesday night. The ridiculous stats belonged to Purdue’s Robbie Hummel, at least in the first half, as he hit eight treys and hung 29 on the Bucks.  But OSU knew how they could send a message by pulling out this game, and they got it, largely on the back (*ahem*) of Turner, who had 23 of his 32 points in the second half. Purdue doesn’t have the same target on their back as they did when they were undefeated, but they’re still a great squad that will be projected deep into the NCAA Tournament, so this was still a vital road win for the Buckeyes.
• Minnesota @ Michigan State – January 13^th – 6:30 ET – Minnesota is on a roll, disposing of Ohio State at home, but they now they must venture to MSU to take on the Spartans at home. If the Gophers can hit from 3-point land like they have been, this will be a battle.
• Wisconsin @ Ohio State – January 16^th – 8:00 ET – Ohio State got trounced at the Kohl Center, but as opponents from all over are finding out, it is a place where a lot of fine teams go to die. The Buckeyes are hoping to keep riding the momentum from the win at Purdue, and this will be a good test for Wisconsin to see how they play without Jon Leuer. The Badgers should pull it out, but if the rest of the Bucks step up to anywhere near Evan Turner’s level, it could get really interesting.
• Illinois @ Michigan State – January 16^th – 3:30 ET CBS – The battle of the unbeatens, at least at this point anyway. Illinois shouldn’t lose to Penn State, but it could be a tough one for Michigan State against Minnesota. They should have the edge at home. It’s quickness versus power in this one. Illinois is quick and MSU is powerful. I say the edge goes to the Spartans.

Breaking It Down:

• Purdue knocked off the mountain. Now there are only two unbeatens left in the country, and Purdue isn’t one of them. Now it’s back to reality for Purdue, as they have been a blue collar type of team, and Wisconsin out-blue-collared them at home. Purdue would do well to forget the OSU game, and gear up for Wisconsin again at the end of the month at Mackey Arena. A couple of positives for Purdue in the losses to Wisconsin and OSU  were E’Twaun Moore’s 24 points on 10-14 from the field and 2-3 from long range against the Badgers, and you know about Robbie Hummel’s first-half exploits against OSU, shooting 8-10 from three and 9-11 for the half, overall.
• The Spartans are nipping at the Boilermaker’s heels. If we are playing the matchup game as I like to play, Michigan State is the top team in the Big Ten right now. How so? Michigan State beat Wisconsin, who then beat Purdue. Of course those games don’t determine much, because, last night’s OSU-Purdue game notwithstanding, it is apparent how rare a road win is going to be this year in the Big Ten. The Spartans took care of the Badgers at home, and then the Badgers took care of Purdue at home. MSU needs to take care of business at home against Minnesota to continue its unbeaten streak in the Big Ten. Kalin Lucas needs to continue to lead, as Coach Izzo expects it every game out.
• Wisconsin riding high, but what about Leuer? I have already mentioned the victory over Purdue as well as the injury to Jon Leuer, so I won’t spend too much time on those things here. One quick point about Leuer is similar in nature to the Evan Turner injury to OSU, except that instead of being a point guard, he is a 6’10 post presence, something that Wisconsin is otherwise lacking. They need to get points from a couple of other guys, maybe even freshmen. I am sure Bo Ryan will figure out a way to make up for this loss. Northwestern will have more to say about what kind of effect this will have on the Badgers, though, only to be followed up with Ohio State with Evan Turner right after.
• Ohio State has Evan Turner, needs supporting cast. Okay, so how well is Evan Turner playing since coming back from his fractured back? Well, I don’t know most guys who, in their second game back, are leading their team in every single category that stats track.  His numbers from the Minnesota game: 19/8/7/4 stls/2 blks. Talk about a cascading waterfall of ridiculous stats for anyone, let alone a guy who just returned from a broken back. Now that he is back to almost triple-double form, other guys need to step up, or see the season go down the drain, and quickly at that. The scheduling committee didn’t take it lightly, though, and there won’t be too much time to celebrate the comeback against Purdue, with Wisconsin up next.
• Minnesota is climbing the mountain, but where is base camp? Minnesota shut down Ohio State, but got smoked by Purdue, so I think they are finding that they are likely to be the fourth team in the Big Ten. Fourth is probably good enough to get into the tournament if they keep it up. Anything over #4 in the Big Ten is probably out of their reach though, as Purdue, MSU, and Wisconsin are all better teams. They could drop lower, though, so they need to continue to focus and beat teams that they should, especially like they did to OSU at home.
• Illinois is perfect so far. Thank Indiana and Northwestern for making Mike Tisdale look like an all-American. I will give it to Tisdale, as I saw him play on Saturday; the guy has a good stroke, and he can knock down free throws. He did have a couple of easy dunks, and all of that got him to 27 points against the Hoosiers. When a team shoots 39 free throws they should win, especially if they knock down 27 of them.   He didn’t exactly slow down against Penn State on Tuesday putting up 16/13.  Led by Demetri McCamey’s 25 points (including five threes), Illinois took out Penn State but they’ll run into a wall against Michigan State. They are quick, but they make too many mistakes to beat a solid team like the Spartans.
• Northwestern gets up, will they fall again? The Wildcats recovered from their 0-2 start in conference by taking down Michigan, confirming that Michigan should be in the bottom half of the conference, but not showing where Northwestern should end up quite yet. Drew Crawford came alive again and took over scoring responsibility, pouring in 25 points. The bad news: they have Wisconsin, Purdue, and Ohio State coming up. Could be a while before they get another win. 
• Michigan will have to settle for a spoiler. It’s official: Michigan has two players, and they won’t be going to the tournament. It’s disappointing for Michigan that they were so overhyped to begin the season, and now they are getting beaten by teams like Northwestern and Indiana. They do have the potential to ruin someone else’s season, so I hope they can do that.
• Indiana is a great first half team. Once again, I went to another home game, and through half time, thought that Indiana had a great chance to pull off an upset against the Illini. What it came down to in this game was free throws. Illinois shot a ton of them and hit a lot, whereas Indiana couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from the free throw line when it counted at the end. More maturation of these players will have to occur before they can hit clutch free throws. Their next test is to try to beat a Michigan team that they beat at home, only this time on the road. They really need a road win to get their confidence back.
• Penn State is hoping for a sunny day. January 16^th will be a special day for Penn State. That will be the day that they get their first Big Ten win. That game is at Iowa, so it will be a tough road test, but if there is a game that should be winnable for Penn State, that’s the one. If not, Indiana at home on the 21^st is one that should be close.
• Iowa gets their 6th, against Tennessee State. Not much to say about Iowa. If they hadn’t beaten 4-14 Tennessee State I don’t know where they would have gotten their next win. Maybe they can pull off a home win against Penn State.  We’ll have to wait and see.

The last time Northwestern (10-2) and Michigan State (10-3) met the Wildcats pulled out a stunning 70-63 victory on the road. Of course the two leading scorers in that dramatic upset were Kevin Coble and Craig Moore, neither of whom will be on the court this afternoon. Instead the Wildcats are led by point guard Michael Thompson – one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten, forward John Shurna and freshman Drew Crawford. #11 Michigan State was supposed to be the class of the Big Ten this season, but the Spartans have struggled a bit early in the season against good competition. They come into the game 10-3 on the season and are led by all-everything point guard Kalin Lucas – who has earned the ire of his coach Tom Izzo – along with two excellent forwards in Raymar Morgan and Draymond Green. #25 Northwestern lost its Big Ten opener in a thrilling game against Illinois, so the Wildcats need to bounce back against a Michigan State team that is making their conference debut. It should be an excellent game, and we hope to see you drop by.

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Jason Prziborowski is the RTC correspondent for the Big Ten conference.

Three things from the past week.  Wisconsin loses to Wisconsin-Green Bay. The second thing is Ohio State loses without Evan Turner. The third thing is freshman Maurice Creek from Indiana and Drew Crawford from Northwestern are filling it up with more 30 points in their last games. Now three Big Ten teams are in the top 25: #4 Purdue, #12 Michigan State, and #18 Ohio State.

Standings

1. Purdue 9-0
2. Northwestern 7-1
3. Illinois 8-2
4. Michigan State 8-2
5. Ohio State 7-2
6. Wisconsin 7-2
7. Minnesota 7-3
8. Penn State 6-4
9. Michigan 5-4
10. Indiana 4-5
11. Iowa 3-7

Top Storylines

• Can Purdue win on the road against top teams? Purdue had to use the whole game to polish off Alabama down in Tuscaloosa. Granted that Alabama team is now 6-3 and beat Michigan earlier in the year, but still, Alabama is no Wisconsin in Madison. That will be Purdue’s first difficult road test, and a good one at that, as Wisconsin is practically unbeatable in the Kohl Center under Bo Ryan.
• Was Butler a fluke or is Ohio State on the verge of dropping out of the top 25?  Butler is definitely on the way back up, but I am questioning whether OSU has enough in its tank to make up the difference. William Buford, who is averaging 12/4 on the year, stepped up for 20/7 for the Buckeyes. David Lighty, who is 12/5 on the year, went for 16/7 against the bulldogs. OSU is averaging 85.4 points per game this season, and scored just 66 against Butler. That’s about the gap of one Evan Turner.
• Is Illinois as good as their record suggests? It’s hard to say, but after their big Clemson upset, they haven’t played anybody too great. Yes, you could argue that Vandy is tough, but you definitely can’t make the case for Western Michigan. If you play Illinois, just don’t do so at their place. They are 8-0 at Assembly Hall in Champaign. A big test will be against Northwestern on December 30th at home.

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