So we don't dominate the general discussion thread...

Obviously, there is a little drop-off in talent this year with the departure of the Thad-Five, but that leaves the Big Ten open. After Indiana and Michigan St., anyone could fill out the rest of the field. Two new coaches enter the mix at Minnesota and Michigan and the league is looking to earn back some respect lost in the NCAA tourney last year.

Predictions:

1. Michigan St.
2. Indiana
3. Ohio St
4. Illinois
5. Purdue
6. Wisky
7. Penn St.
8. Michigan
9. Minnesota
10. Iowa
11. Northwestern

Michigan St. can't even get out of exhibitions without losing as Grand Valley St. beats Sparty in 2OT.

I went out to dinner with my partner at halftime, figuring that Sparty would pull away in the second half. Way to go Grand Valley St., Izzo is going to have them running until their legs fall off tomorrow.

This game goes to show you that the Big 10 may be more wide open. If Sparty and IU think they can talent their way to a title, they may have another thing coming. Both of them are over rated right now to me.

This game was an exhibition. Izzo played a lot of players and different combos to see how they would look. I am not trying to downplay this because there is no excuse for the Spartans to lose to GVS, but I think this game showed some areas of concern that Izzo and staff will have to address. It would have been more devastating if it was a regular season game. BTW-congrats to GVS! What a well coached, disciplined team.

Ohio St. falls victim to the DII exhibition bug

Wow again. I hope Illinois doesn't pick up this bug against Northeastern or Hawaii in the coming week.

Unfortunately they've caught the bug against everyone else.

Michigan St. sets school (shot clock era) record for futility against Iowa

Yeah, I was just going to forget about posting about Illinois basketball this year and hope no one would notice how bad we are. Oh well, Alex Legion and Jamar Smith next year.

Brock gets molested on the last shot and Indiana escapes with the win. Ho hum, another game in Bloomington.

Didn't you know, it was official bad officiating day in the state of Indiana

Every day is bad officiating day in Bloomington, for the visitors anyway.

Hooray! First Big Ten win comes over Michigan at home.

Well that win streak was short....

I didn't expect Wisky to do much after Tucker graduation but they are playing really well. I expect MSU or IU to come out on top though.

I'm not going to gloat, I'm not going to gloat... oh, what the hell, we don't win big games in basketball that often. Too bad, so sad Sparty! 85-76. Our first win after our top player was lost for the season. We were having a decent season until he went out with an injury, and then we lost 5 straight I believe. Maybe we're finally starting to adjust.

Penn State has a basketball team???

LOL I'm sorry, and Buffalo... well, it's Buffalo. What more can one say.

Hmmm....last meeting between the two:

12/21/04 @PSU

Buffalo 72
PSU 70



Having the Big 10 Network is a cool thing, I saw most of the 2nd half of that game plus the court storming. One of the great things about college hoops is when that heavy underdog team/school is at home and knocks off the high and mighty power team. Best moment of the day.....

Congrats to the Nitty Kitties! Nice win! Highlights got a round of applause here in Philly at ye ole gay sports bar!

Penn State 68, #17 Indiana 64 in OT And that's with both of our top players out for the year with injuries. We started four freshmen today. Yikes!



Two ranked teams in one year... woohoo! LOL





Well... looks like you got #7 right. I believe we're going to meet Illinois (10 seed) in the Big Ten Tournament.

Penn State, even at #7 is having a much better season than compared to years past. Wonder if they can make another run in the Big Ten Tournament, which they've done every now and then

The 4/5 Michigan State/Ohio State rematch is going to be the big draw on Friday. Ohio State is a talented team that has not played like a cohesive team for much of the season. With a win on Friday, one would think they could sneak into the NCAAs after beating Purdue and potentially two straight wins over Sparty.

Wisconsin has to be the favorite to win the Big 10 Tourney, unless Purdue has their number for a third time this season.

I don't think anyone thought Illinois would be playing for a big 10 championship tournament tomorrow. craziness!

Well, the Illini did make it to the BTT final as an 11 before. So it's like a trend now or something.

The women actually made a run to the BTT final last week, losing on a buzzer beater to Purdue.