Big Ten Basketball Rankings: January 13, 2009
Michigan State: (13-2, 3-0): Busy week.. the flu is still making the rounds at MSU. Suton was sick before the Kansas Game, but was able to keep some toast down and make on to the court.
The Spartans beat a good Ohio State team, and last year’s NCAA Champions Kansas.
Kalin Lucas is getting more and more impressive…. Had 22 points against the Jay hawks and 20 against Ohio State. In both those games, the cuts, moves to the basket are amazing. Morgan is coming in to his own.. finally… you don’t see him hanging his head anymore, and getting down on himself.. the chemistry is coagulating.. its Looking like a better group than last year.. Nice to see..
The depth of the Spartans seems to be wearing people out. Just look at the stats, Check it out 4 guys over 100 pts, should be 5 , but Suton missed 6 games, then 8 guys have >65 points.. and 10 over 30 points for the season.
Spartans seem to do best when they run and gun, and scrap for rebounds, from a fan’s perspective, they are entertaining to watch.
Ohio State’s B.J. Mullens is an incredible baller.. Don’t think he’ll stick around OSU too long this kids headed to the NBA. Hes' too tall and doesn’t run gauky like many big guys… and he can shoot…
The games coming up for MSU: At PSU Wednesday and Home against Illinois on Saturday. Should win both…. Unless the flu is still making the rounds..
Purdue (12-4, 1-2): Beat a good Wisconsin team, and lost to Penn State.. Coming up at Northwestern and Iowa. I had Purdue picked 1 or 2 in the Big Ten.. Hummel and Kramer played against Wisc., but not against PSU... .. and it looks like without out them, Purdue is kind of neutered… But with them back, Purdue is back to expected form, and will challenge everyone in the Big Ten for the top.
Illinois (14-2, 2-1): Beat Indiana but lost this week to Michigan.. the Wolverine 3 ball was in full force. The Illini are looking for Revenge against Michigan this week and will travel to East Lansing for a probable loss. Still a good team.. will stay at the top end of the Big Ten.
Minnesota (15-1, 3-1): Beat Iowa and PSU this week. Tubby has them playing good ball. They shot 62% against Penn State,..WOW..!! They were 9 – 9 three pointers… They were on FIRE… But the game at Iowa was close.. too close… next up is Wisconsin (ooooohh …that’s a tuffie…) and Northwestern.
Wisconsin (12-4, 3-1): Beat Northwestern, Lost away game to Purdue, Next games are: Minnesota and at Iowa. From what I saw of the game against Purdue, Wisc. was just out of sorts.. just did playing like I thought they are capable of. The big Farm-boy Krabbenhoft played well, everyone else even Landry wasn’t hitten. Maybe the flu bug has hit Wisconsin ? Or are they good just not great this year ?
Michigan(13-3, 3-1): beat Iowa and Indiana this week. The game with Indiana was luck.. pure luck, Michigan is living and dying by the 3 ball. They were down with 2 minutes to go and came back to tie and send the game into OT. I knew when I saw the mo swing to Michigan, that if they tied it up, they would win, never the less I was disappointed in seeing Tom Crean miss an opportunity to get his first Big Ten win. Next games for Michigan is at Illinois and Ohio State. Both of these are possible losses for the AnnArbor team. Or are they a better team then I think they are.... ????
Ohio State (11-3, 1-2): That huge Mullens was fun to watch in the loss against MSU, but WTF are they doing playing Houston Baptist mid big ten season.. A Kansas yeah, Duke ok, but a team like Houston Baptist come on.. your not that desperate for a win. Next couple games are against Indiana (mail that in as a win) and at Michigan (which they should win).
Iowa (11-5, 1-2): Lost to Michigan, Lost to Minnesota. Iowa will be much better next year, except for Tate and Angle they are all young. Next year, no question they will be much better. Games coming up at Purdue and Wisconsin. Tough week coming up.
Penn State (13-3, 2-1): Beat Purdue lost to Minnesota. Not sure what to say about the Nittany Lions, they have had close games, except for the spanking by the Gophers. Only tough matchups have been against the Big Ten and Next up is the Spartans and Indiana.
Northwestern (8-6, 0-3): Lost to Wisconsin this week. Not only lost, got taken to school… Which was surprising since I thought they were a much better team… But Coble is fun to watch.. Next up is Purdue, Minnesota, and the Spartans.. really tough next week and a half.
Indiana (5-10, 0-3): They will have success, but it won’t be this year. They are a young team, Taber is the only Senior, they should have beaten Michigan, they gave up a double digit lead , they were up 55-44 with 7:19 to go.. Poor Crean, that’s a heart breaker. They will beat someone this year, and next year they, like Iowa will be much much better. Next up is Ohio State, and a home game with Penn State. Maybe Indiana will beat PSU
And Team of Interest.....
Oakland University (10-9, 3-3): Really want them to win the Summit League, then they can get to the Big Dance in March.. They can do it, they have the talent. My concern is the lost to Oral Roberts.. I hate Oral Roberts.. They gotta beat IPFW and IUPUI… They will be ready to take on the Summit League Tournament then on to March Madness.
Sparty On !!!
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