The 2012-13 season has just been put to bed, so what do we do now? Look ahead to next year, of course! It’s never too early to look to the future, so I’ve taken a few stabs at some (semi-outlandish) too-early predictions for the next Big Ten season. Take a look:
The conference will be deeper, but not as top-heavy — What made the Big Ten so great this year was a combination of the heavyweights at the top — Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State all hovered in or around the Top 10 for much of the season — complemented by some excellent and dangerous middle-of-the-pack teams like Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. You can expect Michigan State and Ohio State to be in that Top 10 mix again (and perhaps Michigan, depending on who stays and leaves) but it will not be as top-heavy as it was this year. Instead, expect Purdue, Iowa, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Penn State to all be improved. If you thought there was no such thing as a gimme in the conference this year, the top-to-bottom slate next season will be even tougher.
Mitch McGary is poised to be an All-Big Ten player next year… if he returns. (Getty Images).
The Big Ten will not have two Final Four teams — If what was regarded as the best conference in the country this year couldn’t pull it off, I doubt it will be able to send two next year. Michigan State figures to be the best bet with Ohio State trailing close behind. Indiana doesn’t have the pieces and, again, it depends on what Michigan brings back. But given Tom Izzo’s track record (he will need to guide the Spartans to the Final Four to continue his streak of each four-year player at least reaching one Final Four in their careers) and his pieces, the Spartans are the best shot. Again, the conference may be deeper, but without nearly as many national title contenders.
Walker Carey attended the afternoon session (Minnesota vs. Illinois and Penn State vs. Michigan) of the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center on Thursday afternoon and filed this report. Follow him on Twitter @walkerRcarey
Illinois head coach John Groce talks to his players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Big Ten tournament against Minnesota. (AP)
Both Illinois and Minnesota are probably far too inconsistent to make any noise in the NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Illini and the Golden Gophers have struggled with consistency issues all season and all Thursday’s game proved was that neither team has alleviated those issues. If you recall, both teams started the season red hot — the Illini were once 12-0 and the Gophers were once 15-1 — but after Big Ten play commenced, both squads began to struggle. Both teams finished their conference slates with an 8-10 record. While such a record would usually not raise many eyebrows, Illinois and Minnesota have grabbed a lot of national attention due to some impressive victories and some head-scratching defeats. The Illini scored great victories over Ohio State and Indiana, but they also were defeated at home by a Northwestern team that finished 11th in the conference. Minnesota notched wins over Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Indiana, but Tubby Smith’s squad also suffered setbacks to Northwestern and Nebraska. It is fair to assume that both teams are solidly in the field of 68, but when you have to question what version of both teams will show up, it is also fair to assume that both teams will not be in the tournament for long.
Illinois is going to miss Brandon Paul next season. While the senior guard has had an up-and-down career in Champaign, he once again showed Thursday that he is plenty capable of taking over a game and leading his team to victory. Paul scored 25 of the team’s 51 points and drained an 18-footer to beat the buzzer and give the Illini the 51-49 victory. Paul, whose legacy might be tarnished a bit due to his place on some subpar Illini teams, should be remembered for his ability to take over games like he did Thursday. Paul’s performance against Minnesota was quite memorable, but it was not the most memorable of the season. In Illinois’ December 8 win over currently top-ranked Gonzaga, Paul exploded for 35 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-9 from deep. Paul’s talent and play-making ability is something that had been missing from the Illinois program since the days of Dee Brown, Luther Head, and Deron Williams, and because of that, the Illini are really going to miss him after their season ultimately concludes. Read the rest of this entry »
In this week’s power rankings, we consider each team’s ceiling in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. This week’s voters were Deepak Jayanti, Joey Nowak and Kevin Trahan.
Indiana — Despite their flaws, including two home losses during Big Ten play, the Hoosiers remain in this top spot mostly because no one has made a real good case to claim it from them. Ohio State is the hottest team in the conference right now but doesn’t have the same body of work or depth of talent that the Hoosiers have. If Indiana can beat Michigan this weekend, they’ll leave no doubt that they were the best team in the conference during one of the Big Ten’s all-time best seasons. If they lose, they won’t really have much that makes them stand out above the rest. Ceiling for the Big Ten Tournament: The Hoosiers are built for tournament success. They’re the deepest team in the Big Ten, which makes playing three games in three days much easier to handle. They match up well enough with everybody in the conference and have two of the best players in the Big Ten. Anything but a championship next weekend in Chicago will be a disappointment.
Despite their flaws, Cody Zeller and Indiana remain in the top spot of our power rankings. (Getty)
Michigan — It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win on the road in the Big Ten and that’s exactly what Michigan pulled out this week at Purdue. Now the Wolverines can refocus on their new biggest game of the season, this weekend against Indiana. Both teams are vulnerable, and the Wolverines have the benefit of playing on their home floor, where they have not lost this season. One last chance for Trey Burke to prove he deserves the Big Ten (and/or National) Player of the Year. Ceiling in the Big Ten Tournament: Some of the things that have made the Wolverines great — their three-point shooting and their talented freshmen — are things that can come back to bite you in tournament play. When you rely so heavily on the long ball or inexperienced players, those things can falter when you’re playing every day on a quick turnaround. But Michigan has been steady all season in both departments, and there’s no reason they can’t ride that wave to the championship.
Ohio State — Look at where the Buckeyes have suddenly ended up. After seemingly playing their way out of the conference race with three losses in four games, we’ve come to realize that basically every team in the conference has at least one of those stretches this season and it’s not going to determine the fate of their season. So after huge wins against Minnesota and Michigan State and a terrific performance at Assembly Hall against Indiana, the Buckeyes have catapulted themselves back into the mix and shaken things up in the standings. All of a sudden, the tiebreakers indicate the Buckeyes could enter the Big Ten Tournament as the #2 seed. And with the way Aaron Craft is playing, the Buckeyes are defending, and they’re playing even with a subpar Deshaun Thomas, who says they can’t win it? Ceiling in the Big Ten Tournament: Like I said, with things clicking the way they are (the Buckeyes have to be the hottest team in the conference right now), who says they can’t win the whole thing? Of course they could be one-and-done (it’s hard to believe they’ll continue to roll with Thomas not reaching his average), particularly with such little depth, but they have the pieces. It may not be likely, but that’s their ceiling. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.
Tonight’s Lede. Because Big Ten Upsets Come In Pairs. Right when the Big Ten churns out one massive upset, number one Indiana’s four-point loss at Minnesota Tuesday night, the league got bored, went back to the drawing board, and said – in the most demonic voice possible – hey, Michigan, your time has come. The Wolverines went down on the road, at the house of a traditional basketball doormat, and on most nights, that story in itself would block out the rest of the night’s schedule. Not so – the Michigan loss was merely an icebreaker for a long and thorough evening of big-time matchups. Your humble nightly ATB writer compiled a sampling of the biggest headlines. Alas:
Your Watercooler Moment. A Very Happy Valley.
The conciliatory retort to any mildly surprising loss in the Big Ten season has gone a little something like this: it’s ok to lose on the road in the Big Ten, because you know how hard those Big Ten road games are, right? Wednesday night’s shocking result in Happy Valley, where Penn State won its first conference game in 18 tries after a blistering 15-point second-half comeback, was a huge exception. Most road games are difficult to win in this league, no question; from Mackey Arena to the Crisler Center to the Barn, the Big Ten lays claim to some of the nation’s most raucous campus environments. Teams lose, like Indiana at Minnesota, and it’s tough to get too caught up in the result. Any team in this uber-deep league can rip off a big upset win on any given night, it is widely and frequently said. We would have been rolling out the same logic had Michigan lost at, say, Illinois or Minnesota. Instead, the Wolverines elected – willfully or not – to suffer their worst loss of the season against the worst team in their league. And the weird part is, the final score really isn’t that crazy at all. To the passive onlooker, yes, Michigan had no business losing this game. But for anyone who paid mind to Penn State’s eight-point loss (ahem, moral victory) at the Crisler Center just 10 days ago, seeing Michigan bite the dust at State College was insane, but it wasn’t some Kansas-TCU-level revolution. The point in all of this is not to disparage Penn State by way of condemning the unlikelihood of Michigan’s loss. The Wolverines have some real issues to sort out in the final weeks, particularly on the defensive end. With two of their final three games coming against Michigan State and Indiana, Michigan needs to shake this off, address whatever issues ailed them at PSU and rally for an important concluding schedule in advance of what’s shaping up to be an utterly chaotic Big Ten Tournament.
Also worth Chatting About.Pac-12 Competitiveness.
A league bereft of depth and quality last season is on the improving (AP).
Unlike the 2012 version, this year’s Pac 12 is sort of ok. In fact, it’s more more than that. The league could, believe it or not, birth as many as six NCAA Tournament squads this season. Four of those Tournament hopefuls took the court Wednesday night, and the most significant result (Arizona’s loss at USC) is probably something we should have suspected all along. USC has won five of its past seven without fired coach Kevin O’Neill and are quietly playing their best basketball of the season; meanwhile, Arizona’s last three road games, including tonight’s loss, read as follows: a blowout loss at Colorado, a four-point win at Utah and a loss at USC. In other words, the Wildcats’ squeaky road ways were a dangerous way to life live in the Pac 12. In the other two marquee P12 games of the night, UCLA held serve against Arizona State and Colorado hung tough and gutted out a road win at Stanford. Most of these teams, with a few exceptions at the bottom, are competitively intriguing, and Wednesday night was the latest example. Not even the possibly one-seed bound Wildcats are safe against the likes of a middling if inspired USC. The league may not be great at the top — much like every power league this season, there truly is no “dominant team” — but the considerable growth in the middle regions has added substantial girth to a conference that sent just one at-large team to the NCAA Tournament last season and saw its regular season crownholder, Washington, miss the field altogether. Change is undeniable. The preeminent western conference is back on its feet, and the on-court product it doles out keeps getting better and better as the season closes in on the most crucial stretch.
In this week’s power rankings, we take a look at the best player off the bench on each team. Voters this week were Deepak Jayanti, Joey Nowak and Kevin Trahan.
Indiana – This year, it’s tough to confidently pick out who the best team in the country really is. However, Indiana has separated itself from the pack better than anyone at this point especially after its win at Michigan State. Victor Oladipo has continued his outstanding run, which will likely result in All-America honors, and Cody Zeller has really picked it up recently, as well. He’s been much more aggressive, especially on offense, and that was true of this performance against Michigan State. The supporting cast has stepped up, especially with its shooting, and overall, this team looks like the most complete team in the country right now. Best player off the bench: On the Indiana-Michigan State broadcast, Will Sheehey was referred to as the best sixth man in the country. I’m not sure I agree with that analysis, especially since he’s been streaky, but he’s been solid recently and hit all nine of his shots against Nebraska, an Indiana school record for most shots made without a miss. If Sheehey’s shooting well, it’s tough to stop the Hoosiers.
Cody Zeller’s Hoosiers made a strong statement against the Spartans on the road.
Michigan State – That loss to Indiana, albeit at home, doesn’t do enough to drop the Spartans out of the #2 spot in the rankings after Michigan’s only victory was a narrow home win against Penn State. The Spartans had the game against the Hoosiers in hand, but were outscored 9-1 down the stretch and gave it away. Whether that makes Tom Izzo and Michigan State feel better or worse about the loss, it’s hard to say. But there’s no rest for the weary. They absolutely must rebound, and quickly, if they want to still have a shot at the conference title. Best player off the bench: This almost doesn’t apply to the Spartans, who have become more and more short-handed since Travis Trice went down. But he’s back, and he is the most valuable player off the bench. He allows Keith Appling and Gary Harris to get a rest, and takes some of the ball-handling pressure off freshman Denzel Valentine. His 3-point shooting is also valuable to a Spartan group that doesn’t typically shoot it well. Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve reached the point in the season where it feels like every game has conference implications of some kind, and there’s no better period of time to enjoy them all than Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Weekends through the end of the season will be packed with quality basketball, so let’s take a look at this weekend’s slate of games and what’s in store:
Michigan at Wisconsin (Saturday, 12 p.m. ET, ESPN) — The Wolverines could have the misfortune of becoming the No. 1 team in the country this upcoming week if they take care of business in Madison. Yes, you read that right. Having the nation’s top ranking is obviously an honor, but it hasn’t boded well for those teams this year. The AP’s No. 1 team (including Michigan, once already) has lost already six times this season, and with a trip to East Lansing coming up for the Wolverines, that could be on the line yet again. But first, they have to get by Wisconsin. The Badgers have been unpredictable this season, suffering two home losses already (an extremely puzzling one to Virginia, and a conference loss to Michigan State). The Badgers have the frontcourt to give Michigan trouble, but the Wolverines have a backcourt that no one in the Big Ten can match. It’s the only meeting between these two teams this year, so the Badgers need to make it count if they’re going to make a run at the conference title.
Bo Ryan’s defense is always a cause for concern (AP)
Northwestern at Iowa (Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Big Ten Network) — Iowa just cannot seem to get over the hump and they’re coming up against a team on Saturday who’s familiar with such a situation. As has been the case for Northwestern the past few years, the Hawkeyes are trying to do everything they can to sneak into the NCAA Tournament but can’t manage to pull off a significant upset or put together a stretch of outstanding games. If they want any chance at all of building some momentum and making a run at the Big Dance, games like this one have to be victories. They’ve got a favorable stretch of five very winnable games on the horizon, and it has to start here. As for Northwestern, they’ve got to find a way to defend better than they did in the first match-up this season, when Iowa hammered the Wildcats in Evanston.
Michigan State at Purdue (Saturday, 7 p.m., Big Ten Network) — The last time Michigan State traveled to Purdue, Boilermaker fans taunted then-freshman Branden Dawson and it backfired on them. Dawson was electric in a 76-62 win in West Lafayette, going for 15 points, 11 boards, two blocks and one emphatic slam dunk that silenced the home crowd. The Spartans will need him in a big way again on Saturday if they’re to overcome the recent slew of injuries and maintain their roll in the Big Ten. The Spartans’ 84-61 win against Purdue at Breslin Center on Jan. 5 was not as close as the final score indicated, and they’ll be in for a battle again, against a Purdue team that can be very dangerous when clicking on all cylinders. Purdue freshman A.J. Hammons going against Michigan State’s frontcourt will be an intriguing match-up to watch. Read the rest of this entry »
Dan Lyons is an RTC Big East microsite contributor who also writes for the Syracuse blog, “Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician.” You can find him on Twitter @Dan_Lyons76. He filed this report after Wednesday night’s match-up between Cincinnati and Providence at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Providence has played this entire season teetering on the edge. On one side, losses to the likes of Penn State, UMass, Brown, and DePaul don’t inspire much confidence for Ed Cooley‘s squad going forward. On the other hand, the only game this season that really got away from the Friars was the January 2nd 80-62 loss to then #4 Louisville. Every other Friar loss has been within ten points, with two having gone to overtime – the games against Penn State and UConn. Since the loss to UConn, however, Providence’s luck has seemed to turn a bit. They went to Villanova, a team that had just logged back to back home wins against the conference’s two big dogs Louisville and Syracuse, and knocked off the Wildcats, and then followed that up with last night’s close win at home against #17 Cincinnati.
Kadeem Batts’ 25 points and nine rebounds were essential in Providence’s upset of #17 Cincinnati.
Providence’s road to relevance under Cooley has been a treacherous one, but there has been reason for hope. Cooley has been recruiting well above the expectations laid forth by Providence’s 42-53 record over the last three seasons. Last season Cooley reeled in five-star prospects Kris Dunn and Ricardo Ledo and he currently has 2013 commitment from four-star small forward prospect Brandon Austin. He also inherited a team with capable players like Kadeem Batts, Bryce Cotton, and Vincent Council. However, in a college basketball landscape where inexperience is no longer an excuse for poor performance, Providence’s turnaround hasn’t translated to on-the-court success as quickly as some fans probably hoped.
This is the 11th installment of our weekly Big Ten Power Rankings which we will publish each Friday. This week’s voters were Deepak Jayanti, Joey Nowak and Kevin Trahan of the Big Ten Microsite.
In this week’s Big Ten power rankings we discuss each team’s week and consider which player each team cannot do without.
Michigan — This time, can the Wolverines seize the day and slide into the nation’s No. 1 spot? It’s theirs for the taking after Duke was blown out at Miami this week, and the Wolverines took care of their first order of business by disposing of pesky Purdue at home on Thursday. A trip to Champaign on Sunday will not be quite as easy, but this team has the tools to make it happen and is certainly deserving of the No. 1 spot in our conference rankings, if not the national polls. Most Valuable Player: It’s hard to choose anybody but Trey Burke, who has to be the front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year, and in the conversation for the National Player of the Year. He can score at will when the Wolverines need him to, but his game this year has been about making other players better. And it’s working.
Trey Burke and Michigan have the nation’s top-seed within its grasp (annarbor.com)
Indiana — The Hoosiers’ upcoming meeting against Michigan State has gone from a likely opportunity for them to flex their muscles against a perennial conference title contender to almost a bit of a toss-up. The Spartans will be rolling into Bloomington as the hottest team in the conference, and the Hoosiers have already proven to be vulnerable on their home floor. But Tom Izzo knows what he’s talking about when he calls the Hoosiers the Big Ten’s most complete team. That’s why they hold onto this spot. For now. Most Valuable Player: Last year’s national championship Kentucky team was laden with underclassmen talent, but it was an elder statesman in Terrence Jones who set the bar for the Wildcats. The case is the same for Christian Watford and Indiana this season. With due respect to some of the great young players the Hoosiers have, as Watford goes, Indiana goes.
Michigan State — After four straight against some of the weakest teams in the conference, the Spartans have entered the lions’ den and are so far unscathed. They answered the bell in a must-win of sorts against Ohio State and scratched out their second straight win in Madison to notch their sixth straight Big Ten win after dropping their conference opener. They’ve not been the most impressive team to watch, but you can’t argue with the results. Most Valuable Player: Very few would argue he’s the team’s best player per se, but you could make a case that Travis Trice is one guy this team cannot do without. Especially since the transfer of Brandan Kearney, backcourt minutes have been at a premium for the Spartans and Trice is a soothing presence at the point guard spot that makes everyone else better and allows Keith Appling to focus on scoring. And with Russell Byrd still a no-show, Trice’s 42 percent three-point shooting is essential. Read the rest of this entry »
With the latest edition of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings released by the NCAA this week, we can take a closer look at what it might potentially mean for the Big Ten teams as conference play really heats up this month. The RPI is not the end-all-be-all for evaluating teams, and has become somewhat antiquated in a more statistical age of evaluation, but it remains a huge factor for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee in determining whether teams get into the Big Dance and what kind of seed they receive. All that said, here are a few things that stand out about the latest rankings:
OSU Needs to Get Some Quality Wins Soon
The RPI supports what we already know, which is that the Big Ten is excellent from top to bottom: By now we’ve learned that the Big Ten is the toughest conference in the country. You can see it in the polls, and you can see it when you watch the teams play night in and night out. No game is easy, no team a cupcake. And the RPI backs it up. There are five teams in the top 22, with Michigan (No. 3) and Minnesota (No. 7) clocking in in the top 10.
Michigan is as good as we think they are: Nobody in the Big Ten has impressed more than the Wolverines this season. They’re undefeated, and have dominated each Big Ten team that’s stepped in their way. The schedule will heat up for them later this month, but for now, they’re the undisputed top dog in the conference. Of note: They’re one of two teams in the RPI top 10 (Gonzaga is the other) who has a win against a non-Division I opponent. In fact, of the top 19 teams, four have wins against non-Division 1 teams. Two are mid-majors (Butler and Gonzaga), and the other two are from the Big Ten (Michigan and Illinois).
Ohio State really hasn’t beaten anybody: You can look at this from two angles. The first being the Buckeyes’ own ranking (No. 41). That’s not what you’d expect to see from a team that’s been ranked in the Top 10 all season. But then again, when we look at the second angle — the teams they’ve beaten, and where they rank — should we be surprised? The Buckeyes’ best win of the year is probably a toss-up between games against Washington and Nebraska. (If they beat Purdue tonight, that will be in the mix, as well). So that means the best team they’ve beaten is either No. 78 (Nebraska), No. 73 (Washington) or could be No. 149 (Purdue). That’s not a lot to hang your hat on. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.
Tonight’s Lede.SEC Owns Football. As For Basketball…Allow me to use this space to preemptively strike against the legion of SEC hawks bound to celebrate in droves after Alabama’s thrashing of Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game, the conference’s seventh consecutive title. Because guess what, SEC fans? Your hoops league is pretty bad – by power conference standards, at least. It’s looking more and more like the conference will produce somewhere in the range of three-to-four NCAA teams, and that’s assuming Kentucky performs its typical Caliparian midseason rapid maturation process and picks up a few credible wins in league play. The SEC is an unassailable beast on the gridiron right now, but that dominance does not extend to the basketball side of things. With the exception of Florida and Missouri, it’s a barren landscape. Meanwhile, Notre Dame – what a dichotomously vexing night for the Irish. On one hand, the football team was bludgeoned, battered and broken on the biggest stage in the sport. That hurts, and it’s all Notre Dame fans really care about on this Monday night. The men’s hoops team fought off a grindingly intense Cincinnati team in their house to cement its place in the Big East elite, which is a big-time win for hoops fans but probably little more than a moral pacifier for Notre Dame supporters across the country. This is a bad, bad night for Irish athletics, even if Mike Brey’s team looked anything but in its showcase Big East road bout.
Your Watercooler Moment. Cincinnati’s Home Issues.
The Bearcats needs to get back on the winning track at home (Photo credit: AP Photo).
One home loss is an aberration. Two is a concern. Three is a string of evidence that bears further analysis. All three of Cincinnati’s losses this season have come at Fifth Third Arena, the latest a six-point defeat at the hands of Notre Dame. Two of those losses are passable – New Mexico is a stylistic analog with a smothering defense; Notre Dame’s offense is top-five efficiency-wise, armed with a coterie of capable shooters and savvy big men. Losing to St. John’s is not forgivable. Were these three slip-ups spread out over the first two months of the season, this might feel like less of a concern. Even teams as physically tough and skilled as Cincinnati lose games from time to time. But the Bearcats have now lost three of four, their only win coming at Pittsburgh. That is not nothing. It is something to think about, at the very least. It’s easy to point to the continuing offensive deficiencies, and the lack of an interior anchor. Those are not new revelations; we’ve long since known about Cincinnati’s offensive shortcomings. And New Mexico and Notre Dame are playing quality basketball on both ends of the floor. The Irish are measurably better than Cincinnati on a per-possession basis, and the Lobos are as good at taking you out of your offensive flow – which Cincinnati mostly lacks in the first place – as any team in the country. Cincinnati’s recent skid is puzzling because when good teams lose, they usually lose on the road, when hostile crowds and travel sluggishness and, ahem, natural advantages, just don’t go your way. Winning games in foreign gyms is important and all, but equally so is defending your home court. You’re supposed to win those games, after all. And more likely than not, Cincinnati is going to take a few hits on the road in Big East play. They aren’t good enough to survive that gauntlet. No one is. Do I think this is a permanently debilitating problem? No. This reeks of sample size aberration, and – lest we forget – some pretty high-level competition (save St. John’s). This team is far too good defensively, and far too loaded in the backcourt, to keep up this mystifying home charade. A January 19 visit from Marquette looms large.
Tonight’s Quick Hit.
Hoosiers Gear Up For First Big Ten Test. There’s not much you can draw from Indiana’s 74-51 demolition of Penn State. Other that the fact that the Hoosiers, contrary to last year’s evidence, appear far more impervious to road environments than last season – the Hoosiers dropped five of their first six conference games away from Assembly Hall, and are 2-0 so far this season – and the reality of Indiana’s hyper-efficient offense, this game offered no surprises. If anything, Indiana was probably happy to get out of Happy Valley with an easy win, hop on the bus, flip on the TV to watch nearby Notre Dame get stomped in the national championship game, then start mentally preparing for Minnesota, who is as athletic and efficient and lethal as any team the Hoosiers have faced all season. The Gophers come to Bloomington Saturday for a massive Big Ten showdown.
