This week in the Big Ten: 1/17

• gorocks99

  

  Big games for MSU this week as they travel to Illinois and Purdue, while the Buckeyes get their first stiff road test of the conference season on Saturday when they travel to Champaign.
  
  Tuesday 1/18
  Michigan State @ Illinois
  Michigan @ Northwestern
  
  Wednesday 1/19
  Iowa @ Ohio State
  Penn State @ Purdue
  
  Thursday 1/20
  Indiana @ Wisconsin
  (Non-Conference: SIU-E @ Northwestern)
  
  Saturday 1/22
  Ohio State @ Illinois
  Minnesota @ Michigan
  Michigan State @ Purdue
  
  Sunday 1/23
  Wisconsin @ Northwestern
  Indiana @ Iowa
  
  Big Ten standings (through Sunday 1/16):
  
  Ohio State 5-0 18-0
  Purdue 4-1 15-3
  Michigan State 4-1 12-5
  Wisconsin 3-2 13-4
  Illinois 3-2 13-5
  Minnesota 3-3 14-4
  Penn State 3-3 10-7
  Northwestern 2-4 11-5
  Indiana 1-4 10-8
  Michigan 1-4 11-7
  Iowa 0-5 7-10
  
  Big Ten +/- standings (through Sunday 1/16):
  
  (+1 for road win, 0 for home win, 0 for road loss, -1 for home loss):
  
  OSU +3
  Purdue +2
  Illinois +1
  MSU +1
  Wisconsin 0
  Minnesota 0
  Penn St. 0
  N'western 0
  Michigan -2
  Indiana -2
  Iowa -3
• Tiger2003

  

  The Buckeyes have a tough one on Saturday in Illinois...but I see Ohio State going 2-0 this week and improving to 20-0.
• burt07

  Interesting week for Northwestern with 3 games on the schedule. The Michigan and SIU-Edwardsville games obviously wouldn't do much for them but if they were to get those wins and a win against Wisconsin it would go a long way for their tournament chances.
• burt07

  Illinois finishes off the Spartans 71-62. Illini are definitely strong at home, going to be tough for the Bucks to pull one off there on Saturday.
• SportsAndLady

  

  I'm bored so I am gonna give predictions on this week's games. I picked Illinois in my ESPN streak tonight (up to 9 in a row!) to beat MSU, so I'm in the mood to pick some Big Ten games.
  

  gorocks99;641290 wrote:Wednesday 1/19
  Iowa @ Ohio State
  Penn State @ Purdue
  
  Thursday 1/20
  Indiana @ Wisconsin
  (Non-Conference: SIU-E @ Northwestern)
  
  Saturday 1/22
  Ohio State @ Illinois
  Minnesota @ Michigan
  Michigan State @ Purdue
  
  Sunday 1/23
  Wisconsin @ Northwestern
  Indiana @ Iowa

• Midstate01

  

  Shurna is on fire!!!
• burt07

  Midstate01;643318 wrote:Shurna is on fire!!!

  
  He has got an awful, Shawn Marion-esque shot but when he's hot he's pretty ridiculous.
• gorocks99

  

  MSU still has a bunch of tough road games left, along with a couple toughies at home (Illinois, Purdue). Would not be surprised to see the Spartans with an 11-7 or 10-8 record heading into the BTT.
• Hb31187

  

  Theyre 4-2....why are people pressing the panic button lol
• gorocks99

  

  It's probably more the way they've made it to 4-2 than the fact that they are 4-2. Overtime wins over Northwestern and Wisconsin at home, and a loss to Penn State already on the record. Granted, they're 2-1 against ranked Big Ten teams, but they won those two at home, close. If they can't compete with the very top of the conference home or away, and can't compete with the middle of the conference away, then it will be a long season by MSU's standards. Going 11-7 would have them losing 5 of their remaining 12 games, and when they have six games left against ranked opponents (four away games) it's entirely plausible, especially when you consider that a currently-ranked Big Ten team has yet to lose a conference game at home.
  
  And going 11-7 would have them at 19-11 heading into the BTT, which for a national title contender would be a disappointment for sure.
  
  Watch, now Izzo will have them playing great and they'll go out and finish 13-5 or something crazy like that. But I won't be surprised come March if Sparty is sitting right around 19-11 or so.
• gorocks99

  

  Penn State, doin the damn thing yet again! They're down 58-57 with less than 3 minutes to play.
• osu45804

  

  Officials BLEW a critical call that gave Purdue the ball with 5 seconds left and Purdue gets the win 63-62
• Writerbuckeye

  

  I think we can end the talk about how PSU should be an easy win when you play them on your home court.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Writerbuckeye;644858 wrote:I think we can end the talk about how PSU should be an easy win when you play them on your home court.

  
  Just because they've had a few close losses lately does not mean a team that lost at home by 10 to Maine should not still be an easy victory.
• Big Gain

  SportsAndLady;644887 wrote:Just because they've had a few close losses lately does not mean a team that lost at home by 10 to Maine should not still be an easy victory.

  
  You never heard of Woody's most repeated quote??? A team never remains the same, they either improve or get worse.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Big Gain;644899 wrote:You never heard of Woody's most repeated quote??? A team never remains the same, they either improve or get worse.

  
  Hi, welcome to the college basketball forum.
• burt07

  Teams definitely can change throughout a season, I would say a team that has either won or been within 3 points of 4 of the top teams in the conference has proven themselves as a pretty decent team.
• CinciX12

  

  What in the world is happening to Michigan State.
• burt07

  Michigan State with loss number 7 on the season, along with conference loss number 3 that still puts them in the upper level of the Big Ten but losing ground fast. They definitely get a break in the schedule with Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa in their immediate future. The wins could help to boost their confidence but until they show something that they can win a few big games, you would have to think there are some more losses to come.
  
  Northwestern gets throttled by Wisconsin earlier today as it's looking like the hole is going to be too big for them to dig out.
• cbus4life

  To be fair to MSU, i don't think anyone was beating Purdue last night. Mackey was going nuts.
• Mulva

  

  Indiana down almost 20 to Iowa. At what point does Tom Crean get put on the hot seat? The lack of improvement from last year has to be pretty disheartening.
• burt07

  Yeah, I was kind of wondering the same thing. They've got some tough injuries right now with Creek going down again and Jones sitting out today, but still, it is Iowa. I could understand a loss but to get dominated by them is certainly a bad sign.
• Big Gain

  A B1G win for Iowa, they're deserving.
• Big Gain

  No NBA players.
• Big Gain

  Writerbuckeye;644858 wrote:I think we can end the talk about how PSU should be an easy win when you play them on your home court.

  
  Just now figuring that out?