Big Ten roundup: Top teams show mettle

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This week in the Big Ten we saw the four top teams in the conference battle it out to see who was best. Michigan State showed why it has to be considered one of the top teams in the country after its spanking of the Badgers in East Lansing. Michigan also showed its worth by earning a tough victory at home against the rival Buckeyes. We also saw some teams rise (Purdue, Northwestern) and some other teams fall (Illinois, Minnesota).

Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State have now separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the Big Ten. Michigan State had an impressive week with wins over Wisconsin and at Purdue. As I said in my post game analysis, the Spartans are a bigger and stronger team than most with the ability to dominate the paint against any team. The problem for them could be their ability to make outside shots.

Ohio State can also attest to this problem. William Buford followed up his awful game against the Spartans with another one a week later in Ann Arbor. Buford went 3 for 12 against the Wolverines and was the main reason why Ohio State was never able to take the lead against Michigan. Jared Sullinger was being banged around in the paint, usually by multiple defenders, unable to always get the call he seeked. Luckily for him, Deshuan Thomas was able to keep the Buckeyes afloat with his sweet jumper. Thomas was hot all game and without him, this game would have been a blowout. If Buford can step his game up, other teams will be unable to double Sullinger which should allow him to be even more effective and make the Buckeyes an elite team again.

The Wolverines showed on Saturday why they have to considered a serious contender for the Big Ten title. Trey Burke showed yet again why he is the clear leader of the team, hitting a clutch layup with 10 seconds left. With him and Tim Hardaway Jr getting their standard 15 to 18 points per game, Michigan must rely on others to shoulder the rest of the load. Stu Douglass, Zack Novak and Evan Smotrycz must be able to hit timely shots in order for the Wolverines to compete at the highest level. In this game Douglass and Novak both hit jumpers inside of five minutes to hold off the Buckeyes’ run. If they are able to keep this up the Wolverines should be a dangerous No. 3 to No. 5 seed in the Big Dance.

Wisconsin, Indiana and Purdue all had so-so weeks with some nice wins and tough losses. The most surprising of all these was Indiana’s loss at Iowa. The Hoosiers had an off-shooting night and proved yet again that they are one of the more inconsistent teams in the country. Having said that, Indiana and Wisconsin are locks for the tourney at this point, with Purdue almost ready to lock up its own bid.

Last week, Northwestern was ninth in the Big Ten standings behind Illinois and Minnesota, holding out slim hopes to get into the tourney. This week after winning at Minnesota and seeing Illinois go into full on collapse mode, the Wildcats have jumped ahead of both of those team bubble-wise. As of right now John Shurna and crew would still be one of the last teams in but if they are able to go 2-2 in their last four and win a game in Indianapolis during the conference tourney, Northwestern should make it into the Big Dance for the first time in school history.

Illinois and Minnesota both have three of the last four games against the top teams in the conference and look to be on the outside looking in at this point. Both will need strong runs in the Big Ten tournament in order to make the NCAAs. After his comments and his team performance this past week, Bruce Weber will more than likely be looking for a new job this spring after his team has underachieved yet again.

After its win over Indiana, Iowa will still need to at least go 3-1 the rest of the season and probably beat Ohio State or Michigan in the Big Ten tournament in order to be considered for the NCAAs. That being said, I like where Fran McCaffery has taken this program in two years and I look for the Hawkeyes to come back even stronger next year behind some of their freshman and sophomores.

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