Good Wins: N-Cal, Florida State, @Purdue, Wisconsin, @Michigan State Bad Losses: N-North Carolina Strengths: 1. Evan Turner. When you have one of the top two players in college basketball, you can chalk that up as being a major strength. While Turner will never have an illusionistic nickname, he reminds me of Earvin “Magic” Johnson by [...]

MICHIGAN STATE (22-7, 12-4 Big Ten) Good Wins: Gonzaga, Wisconsin, @ Purdue. Bad Losses: None. Strengths: 1. Toughness. This seems to be MSU’s biggest strength every year, and 2010 is no different. The “War Drill,” explained in last year’s team capsule, highlights why MSU teams are tough. What the Spartans lack in height, they make [...]

You could feel the energy and the excitement as the hair rose on the back of your neck. The crowd as Matthews Arena was electric, its heart pounding with each shot. This Louisiana Tech-Northeastern game, my friends, had the feel of a NCAA Tournament game. And like the best NCAA Tournament games, it came down [...]

Game Information: Louisiana Tech (20-5, 8-3 WAC) at Northeastern (17-9, 12-3 CAA) 1 p.m. ET, Saturday, ESPN2/ESPN360.com About Louisiana Tech: One year ago, Louisiana Tech went on the road in the Bracketbusters event and knocked off Murray State, 69-60. Nothing much was made of the victory because the Bulldogs were in the midst of a [...]

Depending on the week, time of day or whether the sky is filled with cirrus or cumulonimbus clouds, the Big Ten is either having a great year, a good year, or a down year. The same can be said about nearly all of the teams in the conference. At one point, many prognosticators had seven [...]

For the third time less than a full year, the Spartans and Tar Heels battled in the national spotlight. And for the third time, the Tar Heels turned what was supposed to be a hard-fought battle into a one-team coronation with a convincing thrashing of a highly-ranked and highly-talented Spartan squad. You would think losing [...]

Good Wins: N-UCLA, Duke, Illinois, @Purdue, Minnesota, @Minnesota Bad Losses: @ Iowa. Strengths: 1. Free-Throw Shooting: Late-game situations on the foul line require each player to have “ice water in his veins” as the popular cliché goes. Despite its youth, Michigan shoots 74.8 percent from the charity stripe, 22nd in the country. If the Wolverines hold [...]

Good Wins: Florida State, Minnesota, @Michigan State, Wisconsin, @Purdue. Bad Losses: @ Iowa. Strengths: 1. Patience. Fans of up-tempo North Carolina-style offense would be appalled if forced to watch Northwestern’s Princeton-style offense. But that is exactly what helps Northwestern stay in and even win games it shouldn’t based on talent alone. On average, Northwestern gets [...]

Good Wins: Boston College, Davidson, Wisconsin, @Minnesota, @Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State Bad Losses: None. Strengths: 1. Defense: The Boilermakers are an angry swarm of bees on defense. Purdue is ninth in the country in field goal percent defense (38.5 percent) and tenth in scoring defense (58.7 points per game). Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency ratings exemplify even [...]

Good Wins: @ Miami (Fla.), @Notre Dame, Butler, @Michigan, Michigan, Purdue, Minnesota, Penn State Bad Losses: None. Strengths: Youth. For some teams, youthfulness brings out hesitation and nervousness on the court. At Ohio State, where Thad Matta has seemingly lost his entire roster to the NBA for the past few seasons, youth on the court [...]