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 [...]

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 [...]

You want a laugh, find a copy of Bill Cosby’s “Himself” DVD. You want a chuckle, look at this season’s preseason prognostications, one month later. Before Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie came out for Kentucky’s Midnight Madness and tried to secure a dozen letters of intent from 8th graders in the crowd and before Tom Izzo turned [...]

Regardless of what happens in Indianapolis at this week’s Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin all are dancing. One team – Ohio State – still has realistic dreams of a landing on the right side of the Selection Sunday bubble. That makes this year’s Big Ten Tournament a little mundane, but there are [...]

Record: (18-12, 9-8 Big Ten) Key Wins: N-Syracuse, Florida, @ Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue Key Losses: @ Tennessee, North Carolina, @ Iowa, @ Michigan Key Stat: 4-8 away from Value City Arena. Key Numbers: RPI: 55; SOS: 33; NSOS: 13; Vs. Top 50: 1-9 Biggest Strengths: Big-time talents. As I wrote earlier this season, the Buckeyes [...]

First, the recap: Big Ten: Ohio State. The Big Ten’s weekly entrant in this column is one loss away from dropping out of the bracket. OSU is an abysmal 1-8 against the RPI Top 50. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for them they still have three opportunities to improve that record: @Indiana, H-Purdue, and H-Michigan State in [...]

After a one-week hiatus, we’re back with the weekly Bubble Watch. A quick rundown of the teams featured last time around: Big 10: Indiana Hoosiers. IU is now officially a lock.  After two wins over Big Ten leaders Purdue and Michigan State, Indiana will be in the Tournament.  The bigger question is whether Kelvin Sampson [...]

First, a review of last week’s Bubble teams: Big Ten – Ohio State Buckeyes. Ugh. Bucks had a chance to solidify their profile last week, but lost at a scrappy Iowa. We’re now starting the all-important “Last 10 games,” and as bad as the Big Ten is this year, Ohio State’s schedule is pretty rough. [...]

The tears were flowing in Columbus, Ohio, last April. The Ohio State Buckeyes, who lost to Florida in the BCS Championship game in January and had already lost to the Gators on the hardwood back in December, were swallowed up by the Gators once again, this time in the NCAA title game. It wasn’t just [...]

When analyzing matchups, experts tend to look at the obvious: rankings, star players, and big-name coaches. All of these play a factor, but sometimes a win just comes down to knowing your opponent. How does the opposition score? From the foul line? Mid-range jumpers? Three-pointers? And, almost as important, where are your team’s defensive weaknesses? [...]