Before the 2002-03 season, Big Ten media and coaches agreed that Michigan State and Indiana were the class of the Big Ten, predicting the Spartans and Hoosiers to finish first and second.

It made sense at the time: Michigan State returned four starters and nine of 11 players from a team that boasted a 19-12 record last season and made its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Indiana was fresh off a berth in the national championship game against Maryland.

But now, with a little more than two weeks left before the Big Ten tournament, the two teams are tied for sixth in the conference and will need major runs just to return to the Big Dance.

So what went wrong?

Michigan State (14-11, 6-6 Big Ten) struggled from the very start of the conference season, dropping three of its first four games. The Spartans have been bitten by the injury bug, as guards Chris Hill and Alan Anderson have missed action with nagging injuries.

Michigan State was blown out by Illinois, 70-40, Feb. 18 and then lost by one point to No. 15 Syracuse on Saturday.

“I thought the Illinois game was the only game we’ve really been out of,” Izzo said. “We came back and played maybe our best game in two years against Syracuse.”

Mike Davis’ Hoosiers came out strong, beating Maryland in a rematch of the title game in the fourth game of the season. Senior guard Tom Coverdale poured in 30 points in the overtime win, and before you could blink Indiana was off to an 8-0 start. The debate started: Was this year’s Hoosiers team even better than last year’s?

Then things went downhill. Indiana (16-10, 6-7) lost five-straight games from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, dropping out of the polls and into the bottom half of the Big Ten standings. Davis said the team’s poor 3-point shooting compared to last season was one of the reasons for its decline.

“During conference play we’ve had guys who have really struggled, and that was our strength,” Davis said. “You can’t depend on 3-point shooting to win games. We haven’t made shots when we’ve had open shots, and it’s really been a curse against us.”

Davis said he hopes the Hoosiers can pull out at least three of their final four games to build momentum heading into the Big Ten tournament March 13-16.

OH DANNY BOY: Seniors Brian Cook of Illinois and Willie Deane of Purdue may have taken the early lead in the running for Big Ten Player of the Year, but a surprise candidate has thrown his name into the hat: Michigan freshman Daniel Horton.

Horton earned his third Big Ten Player of the Week honors last week after scoring 31 points in the Wolverines’ decisive victory at Purdue. The 6-foot-3 point guard became the first frosh to earn the honor three times in one season and has led Michigan (16-9, 9-3) to the top of the conference standings.

Horton’s 16.5 points and 4.4 assists a game are fifth best in the conference. He also ranks ninth in steals and third in 3-pointers per game.

“I think Daniel Horton has really carried his team,” Davis said. “He’s a good shooter, and he’s the difference maker with that basketball team.”

SELF ESTEEM: Illinois coach Bill Self earned his 200th career victory when the Fighting Illini beat Northwestern at the United Center on Saturday.

Self went 6-21 in his first season as a head coach at Oral Roberts in 1993-1994. He spent five years there before moving to Tulsa and then Illinois.

“The way I started, if we had projected it out, it would have taken me about 45 years to get to 200,” Self said. “All that says is that you’ve had good players, because we’ve won a lot of games over the years because of good players.”