Big Ten Basketball January 24 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Last Night's Games

Indiana Hoosiers 82, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 59

MaximumSam: Do Indiana basketball wins even move the needle in Bloomington anymore?

Kind of...: Rutgers had looked respectable in road losses to Wisconsin and Iowa and had a wounded Indiana coming to the sub shop...and they soiled themselves. Scarlet Knights haven't won a game in regulation this calendar. Probably won't finish last, but might well be the worst team in the conference. (But they still get Penn State and Maryland at home, so might even avoid playing on Tuesday at the BTT.)

Michigan Wolverines 74, The Ohio State Buckeyes 62, Colin White 2

MaximumSam: Colin White with the coveted 2-2-2 game, with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 fouls. A legend.

Kind of...: Ohio State hung around for 30-35 minutes despite Royal and Thornton having bad nights. Good news/bad news, I guess. Didn't need to be perfect to win, but missed the opportunity.

As for Michigan, they're still terrifying given their size, but I'm beginning to think that there are plenty of teams with good enough guards to give the Wolverines trouble. If they get a 1-seed, I will be very interested in who gets the 2-4 seeds in their region. We'll know a lot more in a week after they've played Nebraska at home and MSU in East Lansing.

Today's Games

#15 Nebraska Cornhuskers (19-0, 8-0) at #63 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-9, 3-5)

Noon ET, FS1

MaximumSam: The Streak heads to the Twin Cities, which have a high of -2 degrees today. Quite balmy. Rienk Mast must be thinking that the Netherlands never got this cold.

Kind of...: Last chance to watch Nebraska as a fun story before the national media starts pumping up Tuesday's game in Ann Arbor using all the jokes we've been cycling through around these parts for the last six weeks. You'll know the innocence is lost when Gus Johnson notes the Freaky Friday aspect of Indiana being good at football and Nebraska being good as basketball. Just remember, this is a safe space, and we are always here for you.

#111 Maryland Terrapins (8-11, 1-7) at #11 Michigan State Spartans (17-2, 7-1)

Noon ET, CBS

MaximumSam: Of all the sad things in the Terps' season, the fact that Guillermo Del Pino has barely played ranks the highest. Buzz, give us your Pino!

Kind of...: Here's your Pino, @MaximumSam:

Given Maryland's futility this year, I think most Terp fans would prefer some Vino...

#5 Illinois Fighting Illini (16-3, 7-1) at #6 Purdue Boilermakers (17-2, 7-1)

3 ET, FOX

BoilerUp89: Big, big game and I can't figure out which team will have the advantage.

MaximumSam: This game should be awfully fun. But Ben Humrichous needs to play more. Everyone has been saying this.

Kind of...: So the Purdue fan isn't sure if his team, the home team, and the team who hasn't had one of its best players recently lost to injury, has the advantage? Checks out.

Vegas says Purdue by 6. The Boilers SHOULD win, but Illinois is certainly good enough.

These are the top two offenses in the country, both are currently beating the 129.0 Wisconsin rang up in 2015, the B1G's best in the KenPom era. So, whoever loses will probably say their offense had an off day and/or their defense didn't get it down.

If you want to gloss the analytics a bit and say the same thing with just a bit more refinement, you might note that Illinois doesn't force many turnovers, but they also never foul. So, if Illinois wins they did a good job keeping Purdue off the line. And if they lose, they weren't aggressive enough and let Smith pick them apart.

My total guess: Purdue wins by 8-12, widening it late. The talk will be that Illinois has size, but got pushed around inside and the Boilers' work on the offensive boards was what made the difference.

#58 Northwestern Wildcats (9-10, 1-7) at #43 UCLA Bruins (13-6, 5-3)

6 ET, FS1

MaximumSam: Time for everyone's favorite game show: What Will Mick Cronin Whine About Now? My guess - it's 5 degrees in Chicago and 65 degrees in Los Angeles. So of course the Big Ten gives Northwestern a trip to SoCal to help them avoid the cold and punish the Bruins. Thanks, Big Ten.

Kind of...: Seriously, let's talk about how shitty Cronin is. His two major complaints in his latest episode:

1) UCLA played 5 of their first 7 games on the road.

2) Purdue was already in LA while UCLA had to fly back after playing in Columbus.

#2 gives the game away. His real concern was that Purdue, having already played USC, didn't have to fly whereas UCLA did, and that Purdue got "two days' rest." So, it's not that the B1G doesn't care about basketball; it's that they care too much about Purdue. Or something.

As for #1, 5 out of 7 on the road sounds bad, except...if you want to minimize air miles, then you're going to try to give teams multiple road games. If UCLA is going to State College, they might as well hit College Park or Columbus while they're at it. So, if you're home for two and/or on the road for two, then IT IS NEARLY INEVITABLE, AND A BEST PRACTICE, for teams to have 4 out of 6 on the road.

Oh, but UCLA had 5 out of 7 on the road, and that's worse.

Sure.

But two of those games were in early December, and the road one was in their own time zone (Seattle).

So, really, he's whining about 4 of 5 on the road once conference play started in earnest. If you want to say that's a competitive disadvantage, fine. But it's two road trips, not four. The West Coast schools get to play each other twice, so they're all guaranteed 13 of 20 games on the West Coast. The other seven games require four road trips unless you have them play three road games in a single road trip. That's what USC had when they played Michigan, MSU, and Minnesota on the road back-to-back-to-back. It that was UCLA, I'll bet my next paycheck Cronin would've whined about that instead.

Besides, I would bet plenty of teams would prefer to get the road games out of the way and only have three games that require a flight over the second half of the season, the way UCLA will.

What a jackass.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#134 Mercer Bears (13-7, 5-2) at #235 Wofford Terriers (13-7, 5-2), 11 AM ET, ESPN+
#29 North Carolina Tarheels (15-4, 3-3) at #7 Virginia Cavaliers (16-2, 5-1), Noon ET, ESPN2
#33 Villanova Wildcats (15-4, 6-2) at #4 UConn Huskies (18-1, 8-0), 12:30 ET, FOX
#74 Illinois State Redbirds (14-6, 6-3) at #79 Belmont Bruins (17-3, 7-2), 1 ET, ESPN+
#174 Northern Kentucky Norse (14-7, 6-4) at #112 Wright State Raiders (12-8, 7-2), 1 ET, ESPN+
#172 Quinnipiac Bobcats (14-7, 7-3) at #152 Marist Red Foxes (12-7, 6-4), 1 ET, ESPN+
#2 Houston Cougars (17-1, 5-0) at #18 Texas Tech Red Raiders (15-4, 5-1), 2 ET, ESPN
#52 Virginia Tech Hokies (15-5, 4-3) at #14 Louisville Cardinals (13-5, 3-3), 2:15 ET, CW
#219 Saint Peter's Peacocks (11-6, 8-1) at #207 Merrimack Warriors (12-9, 8-2), 3 ET, ESPN+
#41 San Diego State Aztecs (13-5, 7-1) at #119 UNLV Rebels (10-8, 5-2), 4 ET, CBS
#103 San Francisco Dons (13-8, 5-3) at #10 Gonzaga Bulldogs (20-1, 8-0), 8 ET, CBSSN
#61 Nevada Wolfpack (14-5, 6-2) at #40 New Mexico Lobos (15-4, 6-2), 8 ET, FS1
#113 UC Irvine Anteaters (13-7, 6-2) at #107 UC San Diego Tritons (15-5, 5-3), 10 ET, ESPN+

BoilerUp89: Lot of weird tip times as the snow storm grips the nation.

Kind of...: UNC might be entering now typical mid-season run of flakiness under Hubert Davis. And Virginia sure looks like a sound, if not spectacular, team. UConn and Villanova play a "at least one coach will lose" game. And a Houston team that is, amazingly, flying under radar, heads to Lubbock to face a Texas Tech squad that has won 8 of their last 9. The only loss being a near upset of Houston on the road. Tip is at 2:00. Catch the first half before you turn on Illinois/Purdue.

In mid-major land, the Illinois State/Belmont loser will have their MVC regular season chances greatly harmed. But they might be the two best teams in the conference. Saint Peter's/Merrimack (same time as Illinois/Purdue) is for first in the MAAC (though give me Quinnipiac or Siena to make the NCAA). And a Nevada road win would be great for them and terrible for New Mexico. It's a relatively early tip for an MWC "night" game. You really should check it out.