1. There  are a few points each season at which it seems like a good time to re-evaluate where things stand in the conference, both on a general and individual scale. With the Big Ten season halfway complete, the Big Ten Network‘s Brent Yarina put together his choices for all-conference honors here. Without giving too much away, let’s just say the top teams in the conference are well-represented and there aren’t too many surprises on the first team. But there are some interesting choices for individual honors that may surprise you, especially considering how we thought the Big Ten would shake out heading into the season. What would be your choices at this point?
2. Without question, Michigan has often looked this season like one of the best teams in the country. But it’s also appeared vulnerable, particularly in hostile road environments. Both of the Wolverines’ losses this season came against top teams on the road — against Ohio State, then at Indiana this weekend — and the Detroit Free Press‘ Drew Sharp believes Michigan can learn a bit from this most recent loss. Sharp writes that the Wolverines have failed in two huge spotlight opportunities, but can come away with some valuable lessons. He also makes the point that they may have no choice but to do so, with the difficult stretch they have coming up.
3. When Illinois jumped out to a 12-0 record, it no doubt surprised just about every college basketball fan, at least to a certain extent. And while it was reasonable to expect that the Illini would stumble at least somewhat once they hit Big Ten play, they had compounded some signature wins that many figured meant Illinois was more for real than we expected them to be. But, as Herb Gould writes for the Chicago Sun-Times, this is hardly that same team anymore. The Illini can’t win on the road nor can they win at home, and suddenly those quality wins against Gonzaga and Butler may be the only thing keeping them afloat in their quest for an NCAA Tournament bid.
4. Purdue has fallen on some hard times, especially earlier this season, but could things be slipping even further now? It had looked for a brief stretch in mid-January that the Boilermakers were starting to get things together and click a little bit, but their last two games have taken them a few steps backward. Jeff Washburn notes in his blog that after Indiana and Northwestern combined to score 172 points in Purdue’a last two games, even Tuesday’s trip to lowly Penn State could be a challenge. And beyond that, there are plenty more games against the conference’s heavyweights on the docket to worry about.
5. Considering how Minnesota began the season, it’s hard to imagine that back-to-back wins would be something of an accomplishment, but at this point it does mean something. The Gophers had been sliding a bit in the conference and, though their two straight wins helps keep them afloat in the Big Ten race, they still have some things to sort out. Andre Hollins called the team’s performance against Iowa this weekend “stagnant,” and Amelia Rayno points out that the kinds of mistakes that nearly cost them the game against Iowa will not fly against teams like Michigan State, who the Gophers draw this week.

Bennet Hayes is a regular contributor for RTC. You can find him @HoopsTraveler on Twitter. Night Line runs on weeknights during the season, highlighting a major storyline development from that day’s games.

For those of you who noticed the basketball game scheduled for 9:00 PM Saturday night in Bloomington, Indiana, Wednesday night followed script in a most beautiful way. All too often, we watch as titanic clashes are lessened by careless losses in the days leading up to the big one, but tonight, both Indiana and Michigan made sure they would not be caught looking ahead. Top-ranked Michigan went out and pounded Northwestern by 22 at home, while the third-ranked Hoosiers one-upped the Wolverine dominance by going into Mackey Arena and hanging 97 on a Purdue team that before tonight had a winning Big 10 record. Two impressive efforts that stood to only further whet the appetite of basketball fans across the country, because let’s be real: Saturday night’s match-up is shaping up to be the game of this college basketball season.

Good Luck Finding A Louder Gym Than Assembly Hall This Saturday

Purdue’s solid start to the conference season was in part due to a friendly early schedule, but the Hoosiers still went on the road and beat an average team by 37 tonight. The IU depth was there for all to see again this evening, as all five starters scored in double figures led by Cody Zeller’s 19. Much has been made of Zeller’s reticence to dominate games this year, but what many have considered a lack of production simply hasn’t been needed most of this campaign. Zeller is but one of a number of skilled offensive players Tom Crean has at his disposal – this luxury best evidenced by a stunning four Hoosiers ranking in Ken Pomeroy’s top 125 nationally for offensive rating. This may (and focus on the may here!) be the best offensive team in the land (#3 right now according to KenPom’s metrics), and their efficient outburst in West Lafayette tonight has to have them feeling ready for Michigan.

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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.

1. 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)

2. 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.
3. 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 »

1. The basketball writers at ESPN took a comprehensive look at what they call “the nation’s top conference” on Wednesday, coming at the Big Ten from a variety of angles. They produced this video about the legacy that Michigan star Tim Hardaway and his father are trying to create together, as well as this roundtable of questions and answers from the site’s top college hoops writers. They discuss Illinois‘ recent struggles, what’s been most surprising about the conference this year, possible champions (and how many losses they can manage and still win the title), as well as which team is best suited to make a deep run. Michigan State and Ohio State have been the conference’s two best NCAA Tournament teams over the last few years, and those two squads are near the top of the standings, but is this a year in which they can do that again? Can Michigan get over it’s embarrassing upset loss to Ohio last season in the NCAA Tournament? These are all things we’ll be discussing as the Big Dance draws near, and ESPN tackles it today.
2. Speaking of making deep March runs, Jason King takes an in-depth look at the pressure on the Big Ten to produce a national title team this season, given how talented the conference is. Indiana certainly entered this season as a contender, and Michigan has proven to be in that class. At times, Minnesota and Ohio State have looked like Final Four teams, and you can never write Tom Izzo off when it comes to the Big Dance. But as King writes, the Big Ten has only produced one national championship in the last 23 years (Michigan State in 2000). And eight have reached the Final Four since then (Michigan State four times, Ohio State twice, Indiana and Illinois each once) while coming up short. Would it be a disappointment this year if the Big Ten fell short again? And why has the conference failed so often? Read here to see what King’s thoughts on the matter.
3. Indiana coach Tom Crean has seemingly found a recruiting pipeline to the Washington D.C. area, and it comes somewhat in the form of Victor Oladipo. Beyond the current Hoosier star, Crean has a commitment from Stanford Robinson, and high school sophomores Marcus Derrickson and Bryant Crawford also live in the area and have received Indiana offers. “There’s a year-round toughness there that doesn’t just come up in big games, but shows up in players whenever they step on the court” Crean told the Washington Post‘s Brandon Parker. “Not only are there ongoing camps and clinics, but those guys are well-coached. The type of talent that comes out of that area is just unbelievable.” Plenty of coaches find one player, or a group of players from one area — not necessarily close by, as evidenced by Crean’s travels to the East Coast — and build off it (think Tom Izzo, Flint and Michigan State). Could Indiana become a destination for D.C.’s best?
4. This week’s meeting between Purdue and Michigan could be a glimpse at both the present and the future. With both these teams relying heavily on young players, there’s a chance that we could see as many as seven freshman having a hand in the game. Michigan’s incoming class has lived up to its billing with Glenn Robinson III, Nik Stauskas and Mitch McGary all contributing. Meanwhile, Purdue hasn’t enjoyed the same success this season, but the Boilermakers have plenty to look forward to after seeing the way Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Hammons and Rapheal Davis can contribute. It’s not very often we see schools not named “Kentucky” having so many freshmen play such a key role, but John Beilein and Matt Painter have shown this season that their players don’t have to have much experience to make an impact in the Big Ten.
5. There has never been any doubt, from the beginning of the season, that Ohio State can be a dangerous team. But the emphasis is on “can.” We’ve seen glimpses of greatness from the Buckeyes — beating Michigan — but we’ve also seen plenty of disappointment — an ugly loss to now-tumbling Illinois — in a season that has been hard to figure out. It’s that inconsistency, on the whole and among individual players, that the Columbus Dispatch‘s Rob Oller discusses in this column, saying “the Buckeyes have so much talent, but at times show so little skill.”

1. There’s already enough drama in this showdown between Kansas and Kansas State tonight. Two top-15 teams. Playing for first place in the Big 12. Bitter in-state rivals. But look carefully, and there’s another aspect to all this: the Illinois rivalry. The last two coaches at Illinois before John Groce were Bruce Weber and Bill Self. Weber took over for Self and went to the national title game in his second season. He now coaches Kansas State after the Illini fired him seven years later. Bill Self left originally so he could take this job at Kansas. Got it? Good. You knew all that. But do you remember when Weber hosted a mock funeral during his first year at Illinois because he was sick of everybody talking about Bill Self all the time? They’re not best friends, but that makes for terrific entertainment tonight.
2. Weber wasn’t necessarily the most popular choice when Kansas State hired him. Everybody knew he could coach at some level. He did, after all, have unbelievable success at Southern Illinois and propelled a Self-recruited team to the brink of a national title at Illinois, but things did not end well in Champaign. His final 2011-12 season was especially a disaster, so it’s not as though he was considered a home run hire by the Wildcats. Still, it appears to be working just fine at this point, and maybe it’s a sign that second chances and a change of scenery can really do wonders for a head coach.
3. We’re not sure who stole West Virginia’s uniforms this season and started playing with them, but they certainly can’t be coached by Bob Huggins, can they? Not even Huggins believes it. In the midst of one of the worst seasons of his storied career, Huggins is profusely apologizing to anybody who will listen for his team’s uninspired effort in a 27-point loss at Purdue. “I want to apologize to our fans, apologize to the people in the state of West Virginia. This is totally unacceptable. This is not what we’re supposed to represent and hopefully they have enough faith in me that I will fix it.” If there’s anybody who can fix it, it’s probably Huggins, but whether it will happen this year is an open question for considerable debate.
4. For as emotional as Huggins got with the media, it seems as though he took a different approach with his team. Strangely, the fiery head coach appeared to have said very little to his team in the locker room after Purdue embarrassed his team on national television. If the yelling and screaming is not working, why not try something else?
5. Travis Ford said after his team’s victory against Texas Tech on Saturday that the Red Raiders were one of the most improved teams in the Big 12. Even if that’s true, their record isn’t quite showing it. Texas Tech has lost four of its first five league games by exactly 100 combined points, with the only win coming against dreadful TCU. At least the Red Raiders are playing well in spurts. After a last-place, 1-17 finish a year ago, even that’s significant improvement in many ways. Tech’s Jaye Crockett, who emerged as a scoring threat down the stretch in 2011-12 and appears to have a bright future with the Red Raiders, says he’s “tired of all these moral victories.” Texas Tech competed punch-for-punch with Kansas for one half and was within striking distance of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State at halftime, but it hasn’t resulted in any upsets. Yet. Maybe as the season goes on, Ford’s statement about Texas Tech’s supposed improvement will show up on paper, in the form of a marquee win.

Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Saturday afternoon’s game between West Virginia and Purdue. You can follow him at @walkerRcarey.

West Virginia entered the season as a team of great intrigue as the Mountaineers were beginning their first season in the Big 12. In the preseason, they were picked to finish sixth in the conference, but many thought Bob Huggins would be able to get his team to improve as the season progressed. As it turns out, if anything has happened to West Virginia over the course of the season, it is that the Mountaineers have gotten worse.

It’s Been That Kind of a Season For Huggins

When West Virginia lost by 34 points at Gonzaga in its season opener, some dismissed it as a result of a long road trip against a very good team. When the Mountaineers dropped games to Davidson and Oklahoma in the Old Spice Classic, some felt those losses were a result of growing pains and a squad of newcomers who had yet to gel. Serious concerns over this season’s West Virginia squad did not really begin until the Mountaineers dropped their December 11 game to a Duquesne squad, who opened their season by losing to Albany and currently sit at 7-10 overall. After getting thrashed by a clearly superior Michigan team at the Barclays Center on December 15, the Mountaineers closed out their non-conference schedule with three straight wins. In hindsight, those three wins may have been a bad thing as they once again raised some hopes about the Mountaineers as conference play drew near.

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Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. Pyrrhic Victories For Missouri and Duke. There is nothing surprising about the outcomes of Duke and Missouri’s Tuesday night conference match-ups. The Blue Devils predictably smothered a marginally-skilled Clemson team at Cameron Indoor while the Tigers dropped 84 points on Alabama’s unusually forgiving defense. Both teams will finish the year near the top of their respective leagues, and both should secure top-three seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Duke and Missouri are rolling right now. They share another commonality: a dearth of quality frontcourt depth. And by virtue of sharing that personnel characteristic, Duke and Missouri must now weather a very real problem: injuries. With Ryan Kelly and  Laurence Bowers both exiting their games with specific ailments, Duke and Missouri could be without two hugely important interior pieces for the foreseeable future (each player will undergo further testing Wednesday to determine the severity of the injuries). It’s not a crushing blow for either team – remember, we’re talking about NCAA Tournament locks. Life could be worse. But with both teams coming upon tricky Saturday road games – Duke at NC State, and Missouri at Ole Miss – playing without Kelly and Bowers, respectively, is going to require substantial adjustments. These teams are versatile and adaptable enough to make it work, but the difficulty level of an already hazardous road test could now be that much higher. Not having Kelly and Bowers is going to affect those games — whether their absences are enough to flip the outcome in the home teams’ favor is an open question.

Your Watercooler Moment. Georgetown Has Problems.

Offense remains a huge problem for Georgetown (Photo credit: AP).

You don’t need to have the world’s most efficient offense to chase conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths. You do need to be at the very least competent on that end of the floor. Georgetown qualifies, but only barely. They masked their offensive deficiencies throughout the non-conference season with a handful of ugly wins – including a 37-36 line against Tennessee and a 46-point output against Towson at home. Big East teams know better; they know the limitations of John Thompson III’s Princeton offense, and so far, Marquette and Pittsburgh have exploited those weaknesses by handing the Hoyas two straight losses to open Big East play. Georgetown scored a combined 93 points in those two games. The first loss is not a huge injustice by any stretch; Marquette is a tough out at the Bradley Center. The latter is worrisome, if only because the Hoyas compounded their poor offense by allowing Pittsburgh to shoot 55 percent from the floor and 62 percent from three. Georgetown doesn’t have the offensive firepower to keep up, much less contend, when opponents shoot that well from the floor. The Hoyas grounded their early success on stingy defense, and that formula worked for the first two months of the season. The Big East is a quite simply a different beast. Georgetown needs its typically stifling defense as a baseline for success. It can’t expect to get caught up in high-scoring fixtures. The Hoyas don’t play that game. They force turnovers, block shots, protect the rim and do just enough offensively. That formula only works with seamless defensive execution intact. Against Pittsburgh, the defense wasn’t there. Georgetown has fought this trend in recent years – winning in November and December, only to fall flat in Big East play. Avoiding another conference slide will necessitate some measure of offensive capability. Failing that, the Hoyas can’t afford any defensive lapses from here on out.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

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Bennet Hayes is a regular contributor for RTC. You can find him @HoopsTraveler on Twitter. Night Line runs on weeknights during the season, highlighting a major storyline development from that day’s games.

Any Big Ten road win accrued this season holds value, as the conference is an especially treacherous version of its normally solid self here in 2012-13. So kudos Ohio State; you went into West Lafayette tonight and gave the home team only a few sniffs of the upset they sought, and in the process earned your first Big Ten road victory of the year. Purdue may be young and a year or two away from Big Ten relevancy, but good teams will exit Mackey Arena losers this winter; this game was far from an automatic W. Praise the workmanlike effort tonight from Thad Matta’s bunch, but do not mistake it for a cure-all to the recent ails of the Buckeyes. For Ohio State to live up to both preseason expectations and the standard set by Buckeye squads of years past, the performances in the statement games must improve – beginning on Saturday, when arch-rival and undefeated #2 Michigan arrives in Columbus. But does this Ohio State team have it in them?

Deshaun Thomas Is Averaging 20 PPG, But Are Other Buckeyes Ready To Help Shoulder The Load?

Like it or not Buckeyes, the recent success of your program has created a standard of significant height, one that can really only be matched by a handful of programs across the country. That recent excellence, combined with the returns of starters Aaron Craft, Deshaun Thomas, and Lenzelle Smith prompted pollsters to rank Ohio State fourth this preseason, and few blinked an eye. The Buckeyes have done nothing that ranks as truly cringe-worthy thus far, but they also can’t lay claim to a victory over a team likely to make the NCAA Tournament field (unless you are bullish on Washington winning some games in the Pac-12). Ohio State has also whiffed on their three big-time chances for statement Ws (at Duke, Kansas, at Illinois). The polarizing nature of the schedule is partially to blame here, as Craft and company have had no opportunities to prove their worth against solid Tournament teams (giving Illinois the benefit of the doubt here as “elite,” partially because that game was in Champaign). Still, we are comfortably into the New Year and Ohio State, a team some still consider to be among the nation’s best, has absolutely nothing of major substance on that resume.

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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 »

Seven Sweet Scoops  is the newest and hottest column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting analyst. Every Friday he will discuss the seven top stories from the week in the wide world of recruiting, involving offers, which  prospect visited where, recent updates regarding school lists, and more chatter from the recruiting scene. You can also check out more of his work at RTC with his weekly column  “Who’s Got Next?”, as well as his work dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at  Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account  @CLykinsBlog  for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene.

 Note:  ESPN Recruiting  used for all player rankings.

1. Roy Williams Sees Andrew Wiggins For Third Time

If you’re a fan of North Carolina, you have to be extremely impressed with the amount of attention head coach Roy Williams is showing the No. 1 player in the class of 2013, Andrew Wiggins, as of late. On Thursday, Williams was in Huntington, West Virginia, to watch Wiggins for the third time this season. The recruiting efforts have essentially paid off for the Tar Heels for now, as Wiggins is expected to take a trip to Chapel Hill at the conclusion of his senior season at Huntington Prep (West Virginia). Including North Carolina, who has signed three top-100 prospects from the class of 2013 in Isaiah Hicks, Kennedy Meeks, and Nate Britt, the 6’8” small forward is also considering Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Syracuse. He has also already taken his first official visit to Florida State and has plans to also visit Kansas and Kentucky at season’s end.

North Carolina will receive an official visit in the spring from Andrew Wiggins

2. Junior Leron Black Backs Out of Baylor Commitment

For a number of underclassmen, the recruiting process can prove to be exciting for those that feel desired by a number of specific programs, thus leading to a quick and abrupt decision without carefully examining each and every option. Such was the case for Leron Black, the No. 11 overall ranked prospect in the class of 2014, who gave a verbal pledge to Baylor back in September after taking an unofficial visit to the school. On Wednesday, Black announced his intention to re-open his recruitment, citing that he made a rushed decision. John Martin of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal was the first to break the news. Shortly after backing out of his Baylor commitment, the 6’7” small forward out of White Station High School (Tennessee) had already heard from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Missouri, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Baylor will still remain in the mix; however, the odds will not be in their favor to re-establish a commitment. This time around, Black will be much more patient and disciplined prior to making his final decision, as he will be one of the most highly sought-after juniors in the class due to his great athleticism and ability to finish around the rim. Read the rest of this entry »