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Big Ten Basketball Race Comes To Crisler Arena Tonight

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Big Ten basketball comes under the ESPN spotlight on Tuesdays and tonight it’s Michigan-Michigan State in Ann Arbor. MSU is tied for first in the conference with Illinois, each with a 4-1 record, while Michigan and Ohio State are each 4-2. The league champion looks all but certain to come out of this quartet—I mean no disrespect to Purdue at 3-2, but the Boilers are rebuilding, while Wisconsin and Indiana each have three league losses. So let’s at the Big Ten’s top four teams and break them down…

Michigan State (15-3, 4-1): It was supposed to a rebuilding year for Tom Izzo’s program too, but the Spartan head coach keeps finding a cadre of players who hit the boards hard and keep the team in games. Draymond Green is the stud in the post, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game, but what’s really impressive is the slew of depth Izzo brings off the bench. Adrien Payne and Derrick Nix don’t stand out, but they each grab 4-5 rebounds a game, as does Branden Dawson. That’s called bringing a complete team effort to rebounding the ball and it’s what Izzo has consistently produced through his Hall of Fame-caliber run in East Lansing. Think Izzo’s happy he turned down the “opportunity” to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2010?

Keith Appling leads a backcourt that isn’t as deep, but can at least provide some offense. Appling is averaging 13 ppg and shoots the ball well from the floor. The same goes for Brandon Wood. What neither does really well is hit from behind the arc, so MSU will be vulnerable in games where an opponent gets heated up.

Illinois (15-3, 4-1): It was a week ago tonight that Illini guard Brandon Paul stunned Ohio State with a 43-point showing and led the way to a win over the Buckeyes that really re-shaped the conference race. It marked Illinois as a contender and pulled preseason favorite Ohio State clearly back to the pack. Bruce Weber still has some concerns to deal with—the defense does not always play at a championship level. Purdue shot 56 percent against Illinois, in the one conference loss, and the Illini also allowed Nebraska to hit 50 percent. It goes without saying you don’t want to be in spots where Paul has to hang 40-plus for the team to beat quality opponents.

Paul has a good running mate in the backcourt with D.J. Richardson, who’s not only a double-digit scorer, but is a solid three-point shooter, making him a perfect foil for 7’1” sophomore center Meyers Leonard who’s averaging 13/8. That’s a good inside-outside combo to put together around Paul, and if third guard Sam Maniscalco can get beyond his nagging ankle injury, Weber will have a deep backcourt, good three-point shooter, solid post option and go-to star. That’s a championship formula, as long as they D it up.

Ohio State (14-4, 4-2): They were the #1 team in the country going into last year’s NCAA Tournament and with sophomore forward Jared Sullinger coming back, this year was supposed to be more of the same. It still might, but the Buckeyes are looking very beatable in the Big Ten. The Notebook broke them down more extensively last week in the lineup, looking at the key foursome of Sullinger, DeShaun Thomas, William Buford and Aaron Craft. In looking at the losses to Indiana and Illinois, we can look at the backcourt. They gave up the aforementioned 43 to Paul, and against IU there were 17 turnovers. What the Buckeyes have going for them is a demonstrated ability to blow people out when they’re clicking, with an average victory margin of 27.5 points in their four Big Ten wins. If they can find a way to win close games too, those preseason expectations are still well within reach.

Michigan (14-4, 4-2): The talent doesn’t overwhelm you in Ann Arbor, at least beyond 6’6” sophomore guard Tim Hardaway Jr, who’s averaging 16 ppg. John Beilein is still looking for consistent production down low. Sophomores Evan Smotrycz and Jordan Morgan are respectable rebounders, but neither has really emerged as a top-flight offensive option at this stage of their careers. In the backcourt, senior Zack Novak is a decent shooter, but won’t wake up memories of Glen Rice anytime soon. The pleasant surprise has been the play of freshman point guard Trey Burke, who’s running the show and doing a good enough job with his shot to make defenses come out and play him.

The Wolverines are the one shaky team among this foursome, with narrow wins over Minnesota and Northwestern and a decisive loss to Iowa. I suspect they’re going to fall back into the group with Purdue, Wisconsin and Indiana that will compete for an NCAA Tournament bid and be a live spoiler, but not a true championship contender. We are about to find out right now. Starting tonight, Michigan’s coming Big Ten schedule is Michigan State, at Purdue, at Ohio State, Indiana and at Michigan State. Plus a non-conference trip to Arkansas comes up this weekend. That schedule stretch will be completed on Super Bowl Sunday and we’ll know beyond a doubt how good Michigan is. The test starts tonight in front of the home crowd at Crisler.

Wisconsin-Michigan Leads Quiet College Hoops Card

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It’s a quiet weekend in college basketball, with not much notable on national television on Saturday and only major game set for Sunday. Wisconsin goes to Michigan for a 1:30 PM ET tip on CBS, a game the network will televise as a lead-in to the Pittsburgh-Denver AFC playoff game in the late afternoon.

The Badgers are struggling in Big Ten play, with their famed homecourt advantage at the Kohl Center having disappeared with two straight home conference losses. Bo Ryan had a rebuilding job ahead of him this year, although it seemed to progressing along quicker, after an above-average December, an opening Big Ten beatdown of Nebraska and a developing post player in Jared Berggen. But the Badgers haven’t rebounded the ball these last two games and they allowed Iowa to shoot 49 percent from the floor in a loss last Saturday. Point guard Jordan Taylor remains one of the nation’s best at his position, but he’s had precious little help, and needs Berggen to play well down low, Ben Brust to take some pressure off with three-point shooting and Ryan Evans to step up in the wings if Wisconsin is to get back into the Big Ten race.

Michigan is 2-1 in league play and has looked better in its one loss, at Indiana earlier this week, then it did in its two home wins over Minnesota and Penn State. The Wolverines barely got by the Gophers and needed a heroic effort from freshman guard Trey Burke, who scored 27 points. They played a better all-around game against Penn State and only lost by two at Indiana, in spite of allowing 55 percent shooting from the floor. If the Wolverines tighten up the defense and get frontcourt help to balance out Burke and team leader Tim Hardaway Jr., then John Beilen will have this team in contention and back in the NCAA Tournament. It should be a good game on Sunday afternoon. Michigan needs all their home wins if they hope to make a serious run at the conference title, and Wisconsin needs to steal back lost ground with road wins, and as soon as possible.

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I suppose it works out well this way with the Green Bay Packers having a bye, but the state of Wisconsin’s other major college team plays the most significant game of Saturday. For reasons I can’t fathom, 20th-ranked Marquette’s  4PM ET game at top-ranked Syracuse isn’ t on national TV anywhere that I’ve seen listed. Maybe the networks have looked at MU’s soft frontcourt and determined they can’t contain Kris Joseph down low and that playing at home should add up to a win for the Orangemen. I’d agree, but let’s respect the Marquette backcourt, with Darius Johnson-Odom able to hit the long ball, and Junior Cadougan and Vander Blue adept at sharing the ball. Syracuse’s own guards, Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters are up to the task of matching up, but this game would still be worth watching if you’re a college basketball fan who’s not inspired by the Cincinnati-Houston NFL playoff game.