And so it begins.
Single-elimination basketball season – aka March Madness – has arrived. The warm-up for the Big Dance starts today as the B1G kicks off what could evolve into the greatest conference basketball tournament in history.
Thanks to amazing play down the stretch, Ohio State won't take to the hardwood until tomorrow night at 6:30 PM (with Gus Johnson on the call) but there's still plenty to watch for as the games tip off in the United Center.
Eight-seed Illinois and #9 seed Minnesota get things started with the winner moving on to face Indiana. Following that action, #5 seed Michigan looks to improve to 2-1 on the season against a Penn State squad that went 2-16 in league play, on the way to a ranking of 146th in the latest KenPom. Should Michigan prevail, they'll take on Wisconsin in what could be a dynamite game on Friday afternoon.
In the night session, tune in to the Deuce at 6:30 PM Eastern to scout #7 Purdue and #10 Nebraska as the Buckeyes lie in wait for the winner. Ohio State went a combined 3-0 against these two in the regular season. Deshaun Thomas paced OSU in a 10-point road win over Purdue while the Huskers played the Bucks fairly tough in Lincoln after getting totally shucked in Value City Arena.
In tonight's finale, bubble-darling Iowa battles Northwestern. At 20-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play, the Hawkeyes are in currently in Lunardi's Next Four Out. Even with a win over the Wildcats, the Hawkeyes will likely need to upset Sparty in Friday action to give themselves a fighting chance of securing a Dance bid. B1G homers point to Iowa's 9-9 conference mark but they have exactly one quality win, a 70-66 decision over Wisconsin back in January, followed by a couple decent showings in home victories over Minnesota and Illinois. I'd love to see them get in but it's a long shot.
Looking ahead, the possibility of a loaded semifinal Saturday featuring Indiana versus either Wisconsin or Michigan followed by Ohio State versus Michigan State would be electric. Even better, any combination of semifinal winners figures to yield a ruggedly intense championship game which would be all kinds of awesome.
WHAT'S THE MATTA? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S THE MATTA. Thad Matta and select Buckeyes met with the media yesterday and the usually reserved head coach just had to get something off his chest.
When asked for his thoughts on the recently announced B1G awards, Matta passionately expressed his feelings on the voting for Defensive Player of the Year:
"The only one that I'm amazed is … I think Victor Oladipo is a tremendous, outstanding, awesome defender. One of the best I've ever seen. But Aaron Craft is in a whole 'nother world when it comes to defense. And this basketball team would not be anywhere (near) where it is without the impact he makes on the defensive end. I'm not taking anything away from Oladipo. I think the guy is awesome. But Aaron doesn't fly through the air and pin shots off the glass. He takes 'em from the guy's hands when he's on the floor. How many five second counts has Aaron Craft gotten this year by himself, man on man, with 80 feet to get away from him? And they can't get away.”
This is exactly what Matta should do if that's how he feels. A bit of bias is unavoidable, and he said as much while taking nothing away from Oladipo.
“Maybe I'm biased but I know you have to gameplan for him. As an opposing team, you've got to be aware of where he is when you're running your offense. I just love the kid. I'm not knocking anybody in the Big Ten. I just have such an affection for that kid. I’ve been in this league nine years, and I’ve never seen a guy make an impact on a basketball team like he does on the defensive end. But that's my opinion. Victor Oladipo is off the charts. I just think Aaron’s the best."
You think Tom Crean could've pulled off making such a heartfelt statement without coming off like a complete donkey? I don't either.
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? David Briggs of the Toledo Blade took a look at how potential early departures could take a toll on both the Ohio State and Michigan basketball programs, and there are a few interesting nuggets to chew on.
Losing a high volume of underclassmen to the League is a fresh problem for the Wolverines but as you are all well aware, Thad has been forced to reload almost annually since 2007. Amazingly, Matta has lost seven underclassmen to the first round of the NBA Draft since 2007. And since the wave started with that 2007 NBA Draft, all Thad has done is win 77% of his games (163-50), capture three B1G titles, earn four Dance bids, reach the Sweet 16 twice and the Final Four once. Pretty insane for a non-traditional basketball powerhouse.
Specific to Deshaun, the junior swingman avoided the question of whether or not he has played his last game in the Schott, saying on Sunday, "We'll think about that decision at the end of the tournament."
Briggs had some compelling quotes from Joe Kotoch, an analyst at ProBasketballDraft.com, including this on Thomas:
"The more I'm hearing, the more it sounds like he is planning on coming back. If his goal is to get drafted, that's probably a good idea. I think he's a borderline draft pick this year."
It's not news that Deshaun is a borderline pick when you examine the prospect rankings, including those frequently updated by folks like Chad Ford and Draft Express, but this is the first time I've read someone is actually hearing noise that Deshaun is leaning toward returning to Ohio State for his senior season.
If Ohio State is lucky, the odds are still 50/50. On one hand, it's hard to imagine Deshaun could do a whole lot to significantly improve his draft stock in another year of college ball considering he basically lost spots after coming back to play in Columbus as a junior. On the other, the fact there's little guarantee he won't end up in the D-League or overseas next season if he turns pro has to be on his mind, especially now that he's a father.
After getting away with a walk, C-Webb lit up our livesHISTORY MYSTERY. With all the talk about this year's B1G hoops squads combining to create the league's most dominant season in league history, Tom Dienhart took a shot at quantifying greatness.
The clear-cut challengers come from the 1989 and 1992 conference seasons. In '89, the league combined to go 15-4 in the NCAA tournament and put Michigan and the Flyin' Illini in the Final Four before the Wolverines went on to cut down the nets after Rumeal Robinson's free throws held off Seton Hall.
The '92-'93 season might not have had as much juice as the '88-'89 edition but it was still an outstanding year for the league. Indiana and Michigan were the class of the conference while Iowa and Purdue stayed in the Top 25 all season. The Hoosiers would fall to Kansas in the Midwest Regional Final but Michigan would advance all the way to the title game before Chris Webber's heady play helped North Carolina capture the national title.
Obviously, where the 2013 season winds up in league history is yet to be defined because success, or a lack of it, in the NCAA tournament will overshadow the fact that no fewer than five conference teams were ranked in the Top 10 at some point this season. A telling factoid on the conference's power, as Dienhart points out, is Michigan earning just a five-seed in the B1G tournament despite being ranked 8th in the latest Coaches Poll.
What's your gut say? Will the B1G deliver in March, potentially knocking off 1989 as the gold standard for conference hoops?
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