A new feature on Reds, Maize, and Blue, will be the B1G Roundup from Brendan Beasinger. I am thrilled to be hosting some of his content on this blog and expect you all will enjoy it plenty! You can follow Brendan on Twitter @Brendan4efc for plenty of Big Ten hoops, general hockey, AFCAA, and Everton F.C. thoughts.
Starting this week, I will be writing a weekly column
on the Big Ten hoops scene. Being that we are so far into the season this
column will only cover the top teams fighting in the title race and other
interesting storylines in the Big Ten.
Michigan:
It was an up and down week for the Wolverines,
splitting a pair of road games against Iowa and Rutgers. Friday night against
Iowa, the Hawkeyes took a lead right after Jon Teske picked up two early fouls.
Michigan made a couple runs to make it interesting, but Iowa was always able to
keep them at arm’s length and pull of the upset. Conversely on Tuesday against
Rutgers, Michigan jumped out to a quick lead and did the same thing Iowa had
done to them. Despite the Wolverines dropping a game, Michigan State’s three
game losing streak and Purdue playing one less game than Michigan have given
them sole possession of first place in the league.
This coming week Michigan has two games. This Saturday
they will be playing Wisconsin at home, a rematch from January when the Badgers
gave Michigan its first loss of the year. This one is huge, considering
Wisconsin is only a game back of the Wolverines in the conference title race.
Michigan also travels to State College, Pennsylvania to take on Penn State in a
game where they’ll look to avoid a major upset.
Purdue:
In Purdue’s last week, they were almost a victim of
going to State College and getting upset, but they pulled out the game in
overtime. They also earned a ten-point win at home against Minnesota. What the
Boilermakers have done is very impressive. While they had a rocky start to the
season, there is a very convincing argument that they have the easiest pathway
to winning the Big Ten. Despite being a half game back from Michigan, they have
a significantly easier schedule down the stretch.
In the upcoming week, Purdue hosts a reeling Nebraska
team on Saturday. Nebraska being losers of six straight games, it is a must-win
for both teams, for different reasons. Next, there is a huge tilt on Tuesday,
when they travel to Maryland. Both teams are in the top five in the league, and
the result of this game will certainly affect the shape of the title race.
Michigan
State:
Last week for Michigan State they lost two games that
both probably should have been wins. First was an overtime loss to Indiana at
home, in a game where awful free-throw shooting from everyone not named Cassius
Winston sunk the Spartans. Just three days later, MSU dropped their third
straight in a road contest against an Illinois team looking for a first
signature win in the Brad Underwood era. The culprit in that loss: 24
turnovers. A staggering number, even for a team with a so-so turnover
percentage.
This Saturday they will look to rebound against
Minnesota back at the Breslin Center. The Spartans will then travel to the Kohl
Center to face off against Wisconsin, who they are currently level with in the
league. This clash with Wisconsin is certainly one of the biggest games left on
State’s schedule.
Wisconsin:
Wisconsin walked away with two wins in the past week
to stretch their win streak to six games. They earned a big victory over
Maryland on Friday night, and then avenged their early season loss to Minnesota
with a road win on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, Ethan Happ earned KenPom MVP in
both games, as he continues to be pivotal in the Badgers' success.
Wisconsin’s next games this week are big matchup on
the road against Michigan referenced earlier, in addition to the home game
Tuesday against Michigan State. You’d have to believe Badger fans are going
into this huge week hoping for a split, but if they can sweep the Michigan
teams this week, they might jump Purdue in becoming the favorite to take the
league.
Maryland:
Maryland, like Michigan, played two games on the road
in the past week. Also, like Michigan, they split those games. The Terps lost
on the road to Wisconsin, but they also went and got a road win against
Nebraska. Despite Nebraska seemingly free falling down the standings, winning
in Lincoln is never an easy task.
Maryland gets their “bye week” this weekend so they
only have one matchup next week, and it is a big one against Purdue on Tuesday.
Maryland really needs this game if they want to compete for the regular season
title. They will have a slight advantage, being that it is at home. KenPom has
this game at a toss-up, with Maryland having a slight edge with a 52% win
probability.
Picking
the Big Games:
- Wisconsin
– Michigan: I like Michigan in this
game. It feels like Michigan generally plays better in their second matchup
against teams, and I don’t think there is a way that their offense can be as
bad as it was the first time these teams met.
- Minnesota
– Michigan State: Not only do I
think Michigan State wins this one, but I think they win big. Izzo knows that
they need a win here, and I don’t think Minnesota matches up well against the
Spartans.
- Purdue
– Maryland: Purdue is a very hot team right now, and while my gut says to go
with the home team, I just feel that Carsen Edwards really has the ability to
control this game. He has taken more of a backseat to Purdue’s depth in this
stretch of wins, but this seams like a game where he can shine.
- Michigan
State – Wisconsin: The Kohl Center
is one of the hardest places in the country to win, and Wisconsin hasn’t lost there since January 11th against Purdue, in overtime. Despite their recent sputters, MSU is still a huge opponent, and the Wisconsin crowd will get up enough for the game and give their Badgers the necessary push to win.
Other
Bullets:
- As
mentioned in the first section, Nebraska’s season has completely unraveled in
the past few weeks. They were already losing games they couldn’t if they wanted
to make the tournament, and then Isaac Copeland was injured, and is out for the
year. The best outlook for Nebrasketball moving forward this year is probably
playing spoiler for teams in the title race.
- An
interesting thing to keep an eye on this year has been Penn State’s quest to
win it’s first Big Ten game, and Monday against Northwestern they finally
picked it up. The Big Ten will not have a winless team this year!
- Iowa
continued their hot streak after their big home upset of Michigan by going into
Assembly Hall and beating the Hoosiers, who had just snagged an upset of their
own. It is quite worrying how easy it looks for teams to go into Assembly Hall
and win.
- Ohio
State has two interesting match-ups this week, and two wins could put them
firmly back in the NCAA Tournament picture, and the top half of the Big Ten.
They travel to Assembly Hall on Sunday to take their own shot at beating the
Hoosiers, and then host a pesky Illinois team on Valentine’s Day.
Comments
Post a Comment