Big Ten Basketball's Blog

Time to pack and head on over to Big Ten Football!!!

Anthony E-is out. — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:44:21 GMT

Well time for this group to enter the dormant phase. Now we aren't closing shop, and this group will be doing what Big Ten Football was doing during the offseason. Which means we still will have monthly offseason blogs about recruiting, player and coach bios, predictions, things like that. But we are now heading into the Big Ten Football Group. So get your minds back into the Big Ten Football, and begin to blog away my Big Ten Football homies!!!

Anthony E.

A Side of Curry

badgerfan07 back in business — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:54:45 GMT

Well, the Badgers had a great season. Sadly the buzz saw of Davidson and more specifically Stephen Curry outplayed the Badgers.

First off congrats to Davidson on a very convincing win. Secondly I really wish I was 21 right now..so I could forget this..oh well. Mike Flowers did as best as he could against Curry just wasn't enough. We tried to go inside a pound around in there..just couldn't make it happen. It was really a very tough game for me to watch(for obvious reasons).

I dont want to make excuses and I apologize if that is what this sounds like..but Trevon Huges playing a grand total of like 10 minutes made a huge difference. Flowers and Jason Bohannon aren't primary ball handlers. Which we saw. Bottom line is hats off to Davidson for a well played game. The Hughes injury almost equates to Brian Butch's injury a year ago...in that the team was really thrown off and really needed him.

Stephen Curry didn't do it alone..Jason Richards contributed. But lets not downplay what Curry did..I think he finished with 29 points or something like that. I really don't have too much else to say about this game other than really well done by Davidson. One last thing is thank you to the Badger seniors: Brian Butch, Greg Stiemsma, Michael Flowers and Tanner Bronson..thanks to all four of you. Go Red!

Leaves thoughts and comments about the game...thanks

David(son) vs. Wisconsin

badgerfan07 back in business — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:34:04 GMT

First of all I think that title is pretty creative..so good job me. But, anyway the Sweet 16 is now set..and the matchup that intrgues(for obvious reasons) the most is Wisconsin vs. Davidson. Davidons has beaten, or come close, to beating several pretty good teams this year. In this blog you're going to get my preview of this Sweet 16 matchup.

This game is in Detroit which gives a distinct advantage to the Badgers. I'm not sure how much that's going to come into play..but I think the fact that we don't have to go too far could possibly help. In the first two rounds Davidson had a pretty big advantage getting to play in the state of North Carolina. I've only gotten to see Davidson once this year, and that was their tournament game. One of the things that I noticed about Davidson is they're very reliant on Stephen Curry, as they should be, he's a great player.

That last point about Stephen Curry being such a great player brings me to my next thought about this game. That is, Stephen Curry vs Michael Flowers is by far going to be one of the better matchups to watch during the course of the game. Mike Flowers has shut down some pretty good scorers throughout the course of the season some of the guys he's shut down include: Eric Gordon and Drew Neitzel..there are many others but those are the two main guys in conference play. Taking nothing away from Stephen Curry I think Michael Flowers and the Wisconsin defense might be one of the toughest he's gone against this year. Georgetown is good defensively but I think Wisconsin presents many challengese to you.

Also, I think that Trevon Hughes has really found himself in that point guard position for us and I think is really going to step up big time for us. We've got the obvious size advantage on the inside..and I'm really noticing Brian Butch is playing big right now for us. This game is going to come down to who has more left..and I think Davidson can hang with us for a half based on the pure emotion of everything going on around them..but when it comes down to it...I think Mike Flowers will lock Stephen Curry up..and Davidson needs him to be huge. As Curry goes this Davidson team goes. I really think this Davidson team is about to hit a wall...we've seen it with mid majors time and time again..they can get so far then they just crash and burn..and I dont think this Davidson has the big bodies on the inside to compete with Wisconsin this game. My prediction is going to be Wisconsin wins.

Tell me your thoughts about this game? Comments..predictions? Thanks

On to Detroit

badgerfan07 back in business — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:09:57 GMT

The University of Wisconsin Badgers advanced to the Sweet 16 with two impressive victories. First, the Badgers knocked off Cal State Fullerton and then we knocked off Kansas State.

Both wins were impressive for different reasons. The Cal State Fullerton win was impressive because the Titans averaged 82 points per game and the Badgers held them to 58 points. And the Kansas State win was impressive because we allowed Michael Beasley and Bill Walker to go off and do their thing..but we stopped everyone else.

I think being in the Midwest Region we have the biggest advantage of any team. The regional is going to be in Detroit. I think the best Sweet 16 matchup for us would be Georgetown...they play such a similar style to us.

I was very impressed with the Badgers offense in both games. Especially in the Kansas State game...I saw an interesting statistic about that game...Beasley/Walker had something like 42 points and everyone else 16 points..and then the Badgers back court of Trevon Hughes and Michael Flowers had 40 points and everyone else had 32 points. The Wildcats supporting cast was non exsistant. Also, I just want to say holy crap Greg Stiemsma..where have you been offensively? Wow, what a huge game for him. Also, another hats off to Tevon Huges..for stepping up and playing out of your mind. Also..just a great defensive job by the Badgers.

I'll write a preview of our Sweet 16 game on Monday. Please leave comments and thoughts. Thanks.

Hawks Add Forner West Virginia Guard

1Hawkeye1 wants Vida — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:47:54 GMT

The Iowa men's basketball team gained its sixth member of the 2008 recruiting class Friday by picking up former West Virginia shooting guard Devan Bawinkel.

The 6-foot-5 guard played at Winnebago (Ill.) High School, spent a year at West Virginia, and is currently at Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill.

Bawinkel was a casualty of the coaching change in West Virginia when John Beilein left and Bob Huggins took over following the 2006-07 season.

"When Beilein left, I was really upset, and I've realized how much college basketball is really a business," Bawinkel told the Rockford Register Star a year ago. "The coaching staff basically told me I wasn't going to play and I would be miserable out there."

Bawinkel played in 20 games his freshman year for West Virginia, where he averaged 1.9 points per game.

He was named the Arrowhead Conference MVP for his play for Highland this winter. Bawinkel averaged about 14 points per game and shot 48 percent from 3-point range.

That makes Bawinkel a prototypical Iowa player, now that Todd Lickliter has taken over the Hawkeye program. Coach "Lick" builds teams with long, lean, athletic jump shooters. Take a look at his former Butler program as an example.

Bawinkel chose Iowa over Eastern Michigan, Michigan and Utah State.

MSU beats TU to advance!

Anthony E-is out. — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:05:39 GMT

Here is my game blog starting from 9:25 in the game!

Right now with 9:25 left to play in the 2nd half, TU is down 56-39. They aren't shooting really well. Now they are playing full court defense, and putting a lot fo pressure on MSU. But it may not be enough. Neitzel just missed a shot, and Naymick just dunked in the miss. Crap! And Temple keeps missing their foul shots. And they are usually very good at FTs. Now TU is on the fast break and drives in the layup, but MSU picks up a foul on the other end, and Naymick is going to the line. He misses the first one, but makes #2. TU playing perimeter and shoots a 3!!!!! 59-45!! Temple got the steal!!1 They are focused, Tyndale has got the rebound off the Clark miss, and he gets fouled!! Temple has got some momentum!

Commercial Break

Clark makes his first FT but misses the second one, and MSU just hit a three! Dang it! Now TU has got the ball, and are holding on. MSU has the ball back, but misses TU drives up, Brooks missed X-mas, and MSU drives down and Allen hits the jump shot, and now its 64-46. Man! TU has to get it together and quick! TU scores, but now MSU is running down the clock. MSU is driving inside, but it's stripped by X-mas, and scores!! Now they are playing tight on D, and MSU has the ball. We are down to 4:30, and Allen misses, and TU gets the rebound and hits the easy layup! MSU running down the clock but they turn it over and TU scores!!! Now they are playing tighter, but MSU is running down more clock and Tom Izzo calls a timeout! TU only down by 10!!

Commercial Break

Walton at the line makes both FT's and TU has got the ball back. Tyndale gets fouled, and will go to the line, and TU gets the ball back off another t/o! Backcourt violation, and another foul on Tyndale, who will go to the line. But Tyndale misses the first one, and misses the second. MSU runs the clock to under 2 minutes and now a foul by X-mas. And MSU drains both FTs, and TU misses. The game is pretty much over. Wait Allen makes a 3!! 70-59! Oh wait another foul...never mind, as Walton goes back to the line, and hits both. TU will not foul. MSU will go on. Final Score: 72-61. Good Luck TU next year, and good luck MSU! This is good for the Big Ten! I wanted TU to win, but oh well, its good for the Big Ten!

A Comeback...Yes!!

badgerfan07 back in business — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:30:59 GMT

The Wisconsin-Michigan State game in the Big 10 semis was excellent today. The game went back and forth.

Before, I get into actually talking about the game..I'd just like to say I hate Michigan State...as a matter of fact the Spartans and Purdue are the only two Big 10 teams I hate, all the time. So this blog may be even more biased than usual, I apologize for that.

I'll give Michigan State some credit..they came out and played really well. In the game Drew Neitzel did most of the Spartans scoring, as is usually the case. The first half was really called very tightly out on the perimeter. So both teams actually got in some pretty heavy foul trouble. I thought Wisconsin does what they always do. And that is impose their will on the team they're playing. The Spartans wanted to run, but Wisconsin really did a nice job of slowing the game down and not letting it turn into a running game. I also felt that Wisconsin settled way too much. We settled for jump shots when we really should have been driving and attacking the paint. But, we always did stay within striking distance of the Spartans.

In the second half I felt that early on Michigan State was really starting to figure some stuff out. And the Spartans took control of the game, early on. As the half wore on the Badgers and Bo Ryan started to attack the paint. From the first half ticky tackness the Spartans had quite a bit of first half frontline fould trouble. The Spartans had four different players foul out. That really hurt MSU down the stretch. As all that interior attacking was happening it really opened up the perimeter for the Badgers, and we drained a few outside shots towards the end of the game. The Badgers went on to win 65-63. We came back after being down by 12 points at one point in the second half.

I think that one of the things that is big from this game is Trevon Hughes getting hurt. However, one of the things that people should remember is the Badgers took out Texas earlier on in the year without Trevon...and they'll end up playing a much worse Illinois team in the Big 10 title game. It's all I got..leave thoughts and comments

Minnesota's Big Ten Tournament...Day 1 (Probably the last)

SS-Our Universe... — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:44:38 GMT

So if you hadn't heard, and I'm guessing you hadn't, Sixth seeded Minnesota had to come back from 13 down at the half to defeat 11th seeded Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament.

This was an incredibly well played game, especially by Northwestern, but there was no excuse for the Gophers to only hold the lead once in the first half, (in the first minute, a 2-0 lead) and then not agian until there were four minutes remaining. This is a team that just beat Northwestern 92-72 a few weeks ago, and now they were in jeopardy of losing to a team that went 1-17 in conference play.

Though, credit should be given to the Minnesota team, they came back against a very resilient, disciplined Northwestern team, coached by a guy who is very hard to come back against in Bill Carmody. Lawrence Westbrook, NOT Lawrence McKenzie had a career day, which helped to quell the response by the Wildcats, who went completely ice cold in the second half.

Another place where "props" should be given is that the Gopher team responded in the second half, without Spencer Tollackson, their senior center, who put up 19 on Northwestern last time, and absolutely dominated the Wildcats in the low post.

Both teams relied on three guys, and in the end, Minnesota's made the shots when it mattered, and they led the Gophers to the victory.

The problem with the Tollackson injury will show up tonight, when Minnesota takes on a slumping Indiana team. They have a severe drought in depth down low, and that showed last time the Gophers took on Indiana, on 3-5, when DJ White destroyed the Gophers with 17 points, and Eric Gordon dropped 20. The Gophers learned then that Dan Coleman, Jonathan Williams, and Damian Johnson cannot stop White, and without Tollackson, the Gophers will have a tough time with Indiana tonight.

If the Gophers want to win tonight, they need to do several things. They need to shut down White and Gordon, one of whom may (Gordon) may be easier to control than the other, due to Minnesota having quick guards (Al Nolen, Lawrence McKenzie) who they can plant on Gordon all night.

Second, they need to spread the wealth. In the last game against Indiana, they had two in double figures (Coleman, McKenzie) and then none with over 8. If they want any shot at this game, they need to get Hoffarber, Westbrook, and Abu-Shamala involved as well.

Lastly, they need to make their shots. I know this sounds dumb, but they did not hit consistently yesterday, and that was what killed them against a ball-control offense like Northwestern, but it will do the same against a team like Indiana, only much, much faster. On March 5, they hit 19-49 shots. That won't cut it against a team like the Hoosiers, who can hit quickly and deadly.

Squirrel

Penn State Stuns #17 Indiana in Overtime, 68-64

Anthony E-is out. — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:31:48 GMT

Big Ten Basketball,

This is pretty insane, and maybe Penn State might go farther than we expected. They beat Illinois this year already, and they are capable of doing it again! So watch out...for the Nittany Lions!

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 9, 2008 - Playing without its top two scorers and rebounders, Penn State (15-15, 7-11) sent four freshmen to the floor and stunned No. 18 Indiana (25-6, 14-4), 68-64, Sunday in the Bryce Jordan Center to wrap up the Nittany Lions' best Big Ten campaign since 2001.

With All-Big Ten honorees Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley both sidelined due to knee injuries, Penn State got a season-high 41 points and 28 rebounds from four freshmen to down its second Top 20 ranked team in its last five home games and extended its Big Ten home win streak to five games, its longest since 1996. With two victories over Top 25 teams on the year, Penn State has logged its most since the 2000-01 season and now has three such victories under coach Ed DeChellis.

The Nittany Lions' chalked up their seventh Big Ten win of the season and locked up a seventh place finish in the conference, marking the team's most Big Ten wins and best conference finish since tying for sixth with a 7-9 conference mark in 2001. The win also marked the 13th at home on the season as Penn State matched its most ever home wins in a season since beginning play in the Jordan Center in 1996. Penn State equaled the home mark of 13-4 posted in 1999-2000.

The Nittany Lions will now take on No. 10 seed Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. That game will tip at 2:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.

-GOPSUSPORTS.Com

The Idiot's Guide To The NCAA Tournament Office Pool! Part 5

Anthony E-is out. — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:07:28 GMT

To all who love the NCAA Bball Tourney!,

By the fifth day, you'll pick yourself a winner! That is what I promised. This is the final hint. To see any of the previous four they are all located on this group's blog, as well as the Complete Idiot's Guide to Sports Group!(http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/35046)

RULE #5: When picking a champion, go with one of the favorites!

In the NCAA Tournament, as much as it is all about chance in the early rounds, towards the end it is all about the powerhouses. Early upsets are usually just a sign of an overconfident team like a Duke losing to VCU, or a team that is a powerhouse year in and year out but young, and not ready. But by the time the later rounds are in play, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly seperate, and teams like Winthrop and SIU begin to fade as the powerhouses that survived the first rounds have already proved their worth, and can begin to focus on bigger competition. Just think of the year George Mason went even into the Final Four...in the end, they were beaten as well. Cinderella's only have till midnight, and it usually turns midnight before the later rounds start. So go with a favorite, because even if you are wrong, it still will be a logical pick, and if you are right, it PAYS!

So there you have it. All 5 rules to help the average idiot have a shot! If you missed any of these, you can now go to the Complete Idiot's Guide Group, and check them out there!

(In no way are these rules a guarantee that you will pick a winner. Nor that you will win any type of monetary reimbursement for your time and lack of effort in filling out those lines with names you probably never heard of. But since you probably are NCAA TOURNEY-handicapped, what better option do you have? So try the Idiot's Guide!)