joe bertrand – Rush The Court

Big Ten M5 12.13.13 Edition

Max Jakubowski — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:40:42 +0000

It has been 26 years since there was a match-up of the two flagship programs in Iowa as members of the Top 25, but that’s exactly what we get tonight when #23 Iowa travels to take on rival and #17 Iowa State in Ames. These two programs were largely irrelevant five years ago, but the hiring of Fran McCaffery at Iowa and Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State has really changed everything in both programs. Each team has realistic expectations to make the NCAA Tournament and perhaps even go deep. Hopefully this intrastate rivalry continues to become must-see television each year [...]

Big Ten Summer Check In: Illinois Fighting Illini

Deepak Jayanti — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:59:29 +0000

Illini Nation awaits the 2012-13 season with mixed feelings. Even though most of the fans are relieved to see Bruce Weber leave after nine seasons, they are not overly excited about his replacement, John Groce. The Orange Krush and the majority of the fans expected (hoped?) Illinois to land a high-profile name such as VCU’s Shaka Smart but the coaching search was met with a couple of rejections before Groce was lured away from Ohio University. Nonetheless, everybody is eager to see how the former Ohio State assistant under Thad Matta will do in Big Ten country as a head [...]

Coach Weber: Please Simplify Your Offense

Deepak Jayanti — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:22:31 +0000

Bruce Weber’s life has been rough lately. Illini Nation is in a state of shock because the program went from winning four Big Ten titles during the first half of the 2000s to none over the past six years. The second half of the Big Ten conference season in particular has not been a strength since Dee Brown left Champaign. Currently, the Illini are 5-5 after starting 4-1 this season. They started conference play 3-0 last year but then stumbled to a 9-9 record. In 2010, they finished with a 10-8 record despite starting 3-0 in conference play. The motion offense [...]

Checking In On… the Big Ten Conference

Brian Goodman — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:40:21 +0000

Bill Hupp is the RTC correspondent for the Big Ten Conference. Follow him on Twitter (@Bill_Hupp) for his thoughts on hoops, food, Russian nesting dolls and life.

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The Week That Was:

B1G is the Country’s Deepest Conference: With nine teams ranked 52nd or higher in the RPI, the Big Ten is the deepest and best conference – top-to-bottom – in the nation this season. The depth of the conference was never more evident than on Saturday, when Iowa hung 75 in a win at Wisconsin and Nebraska hung close with Michigan State deep into the second [...]