By BRYAN GASKINS
Tribune sportswriter
January 02, 2008 12:15 am
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The latest Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll shows just three Big Ten teams, which is probably an accurate reflection of the conference considering how things went the first six weeks of the season. Big Ten teams went just 17-20 against other major conference teams. ACC teams inflicted the bulk of the damage to that record by once again dominating the leagues’ annual challenge series.
But, the real black eyes for the Big Ten came in losses to opponents from lower conferences. Ivy League teams Brown and Harvard beat Northwestern and Michigan, respectively. Wofford shocked Purdue. Louisiana-Monroe took down Iowa. Rider beat Penn State. And, Tennessee State delivered the final blow with an upset of Illinois.
No question, the Big Ten lacks its normal depth. It looks solid at the top, but shaky in the middle and downright awful at the bottom.
No. 6-ranked Michigan State (12-1), No. 11 Indiana (11-1) and No. 25 Wisconsin (10-2) are clearly the teams to beat in conference play, which begins tonight. From there, Ohio State (9-3) is probably the best of the rest and Minnesota (10-2), Purdue (9-4) and Illinois (8-5) are decent.
Michigan State and Indiana are my picks to battle for the top spot throughout the 18-game league schedule. There is plenty of talent on both sides — the Hoosiers have the best player in the league in freshman Eric Gordon, but the Spartans probably have more depth. In the end, I’ll take the Spartans to win the league for one simple reason: Tom Izzo. He is the best coach in the conference in my opinion and he is overdue for another championship.
Wisconsin likely will surprise me again this season. I always expect the Badgers to come back to the pack, but Bo Ryan keeps them among the leaders each season. The Badgers appeared in mid-season form when they scored a road upset of Texas last weekend. Four of their first six league games are at home where they are tough to beat. They should bolt to the top of the standings early.
Ohio State is a mystery team. It has failed to crack 50 points in three games, but it is heading into league play on a five-game winning streak during which it seemed to find its offense. The Buckeyes have talent, it’s just a matter of putting the pieces together.
Minnesota and Purdue offer two of the best stories in the conference. New coach Tubby Smith has the Gophers off to a 10-2 start, which tops their win total from all of last season. The Boilers, meanwhile, feature a sophomore and four freshmen in what is the youngest starting lineup in the country.
The Gophers and the Boilers look like the best bets for the final upper-division spot. The Boilers have more potential, but the Gophers have played better to this point. The teams had one common non-conference opponent: Iowa State. The Gophers beat the Cyclones on the road, while the Boilers fell to the Cyclones on a neutral court.
Illinois looks every bit like a middle-of-the-pack team. Illinois played a tough non-conference schedule and looked good at times. But, the Illini also dropped home games to Miami of Ohio and Tennessee State.
Just a guess, but Eric Gordon might have made Illinois a contender if he had gone there as he had originally planned. On the plus side, Gordon makes the IU-Illinois game on Feb. 7 at Champaign, Ill., one of the must-see games of the season.
The rest of the conference barely merits mention. Penn State (8-4) is probably the best of the bunch, which is not saying much considering Northwestern (5-4), Iowa (7-6) and Michigan (4-8) are awful. Todd Lickliter, formerly of Butler, is the new coach at Iowa. He will have plenty of time to watch Butler in the NCAA tournament in March because Iowa is going nowhere.
Bryan Gaskins picked Penn State to win the Big Ten football title, and Illinois to just miss a bowl game. He may be reached at bryan.gaskins@kokomotribune.com or (765) 454-8574.
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Bryan Gaskins
Tribune sportswriter