Big Ten Basketball Review

The Big Ten was clearly the dominant conference in men’s college basketball this season and that dominance has continued into the NCAA tournament.  Following the Ohio State victory over Arizona and Michigan’s defeat of top seed Kansas the Big Ten now has two teams in the elite eight. Both the Wolverines and the Buckeyes look like legitimate NCAA title contenders with clear paths to the Final Four with matchups versus lower seeded teams.  With victories the Big Ten would have half of the final four teams, fitting due to the dominant regular season they had. 

So here’s the Good, Bad and the Ugly for the Big Ten in the NCAA Tournament:

The Good

Michigan: After an outstanding regular season that included a slight fade towards the end the Wolverines have regained their form and sort of have that look.  With three or four legitimate future NBA players the boys from Ann Arbor clearly have the talent to take home a national title. Friday night star Wolverine guard Trey Burke hit a late three to force overtime where the Wolverines outlasted number one seed Kansas. The Wolverines erased a late ten point KU lead with Burke leading the way with a massive twenty-three point second half.  Coach John Beilein has the Wolverines have now made their deepest run since the Fab Five days of the early nineties.  The Wolverines have a tough matchup against the very talented, but sometimes inconsistent, Florida Gators on Sunday. They also are in a good spot being opposite Duke, Ohio State and Louisville in the bracket. If the Wolverines can knock off Florida they have Syracuse and Marquette as potential final four opponents.  They likely would be favored in both games. 

Ohio State:  A lot like their arch rivals Michigan, Ohio State had some ups and downs during the Big Ten season but are on a hot streak and look like potential champions.  They’ve turned into the cardiac kids of the tournament this year. Through back to back three point buzzer beaters in wins over Iowa State and Arizona the Buckeyes have a clear path to the final four due to the upset specials in the other half of their bracket. If Ohio State can get the Cinderella Wichita State Shockers they’ll be in the final four for the third time in the Thad Matta era.  They’ve done it with one outstanding scorer in Deshaun Thomas and tremendous leadership and lock down defense lead by Aaron Craft.  The Buckeyes will be decided favorites versus Wichita State. 

Michigan State: Another solid season and sweet sixteen birth for the Spartans who ran out of steam in the second half last night losing to a frequent tournament nemesis, the Duke Blue Devils.  It was another solid run for Tom Izzo’s team and again proves that the Spartans have one of the best coaches in college basketball.  Unlike some of the disappointment teams in the Big Ten, Izzo always gets the max effort and performance out of his clubs. Unfortunately Friday night’s loss to the Blue Devils demonstrated a common denominator in many Spartan tournament exits under Izzo—difficult offensive performances centered on an inability to shoot the basketball. 

The Bad

Indiana:  It’s tough to put Indiana in the bad category after a strong regular season but with all the expectations and overall talent level the relatively easy Syracuse victory was a disappointment. Indiana had the look all season off a final four club and potential champion. The inability to solve the Syracuse zone defense, with the amount of talent and perimeter shooting ability the Hoosiers possess, was unfortunate.  Now with the certain loss of multiple players to the NBA Tom Crean will have to regroup in Bloomington. 

The Ugly

Wisconsin: The Badgers suffered a very uncharacteristic first round loss mainly due to an absolute horrid stretch of shooting.  For Badger fans it was a bad loss for a team that was extremely competitive in the second half of the Big Ten season and was a Cinderella final four candidate for many pundits.  Bo Ryan clearly gets maximum effort out of his teams defensively and poor shooting days happen--- unfortunately this was a particularly atrocious shooting effort and not the first time the Badgers have exited the tourney under Ryan with such a performance. 

Minnesota:  Following their second round loss to Florida the Gophers immediately fired head coach Tubby Smith.  His firing was unexpected nationally but not a surprise locally. After an outstanding start the Gophers faded during the Big Ten season.  Tubby had a senior laden deep club with all the needed characteristics of a title contender.   In a pattern that was very familiar with Gopher fans the team never really improved under Tubby as the season progressed.  The next head coach in Minnesota will be an interesting choice.