By Marc ZarefskyThe Daily Northwestern
The Big Ten season just passed the midway point, and questions have begun to arise about how many Big Ten teams will be invited to the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin and Ohio State have been conference’s front-runners all year and Indiana should be a lock, but after those three, it’s anyone’s guess.
“I still think there are six or seven teams that have a chance of getting in, and when I hear (predictions of) anything less than five teams, it almost makes me laugh,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “Here we have two of the most dominant teams in the whole country in our conference, which means a lot of teams are going to have losses just playing Wisconsin and Ohio State.”
As of Tuesday, only two games separated Indiana (16-6, 6-3), ranked third in conference play, and Purdue (15-8, 4-5), which currently sits in eighth.
Iowa coach Steve Alford said he felt there was too much talk early in the season about how the conference was down in quality, which in turn has led to the predictions of fewer than five teams Izzo mentioned. But according to Alford: “We’re not down, we’re just young, and now that youthfulness is starting to take on some experience. Now we’re getting better and the league is improving.”
The Big Ten Tournament ultimately could be the deciding factor as to whether one of the middle-of-the-pack teams receives an invite to the NCAA Tournament.
“There’s a lot of parity after Ohio State and Wisconsin,” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Those two teams have separated themselves, but after that I think there’s a lot of teams that are playing good, and a lot of teams that can still do a lot of damage here in the next three weeks.”
UNDEFEATED NO MORE
Wisconsin’s 71-66 loss at Indiana on Wednesday was not only part of an enormous shake-up in this week’s Top-25 Coaches Poll that saw all but No. 1 Florida change its rank, it also ended the Badgers’ chance of becoming the first Big Ten team in 31 years to go undefeated in conference play. With the loss, the Badgers (22-2, 8-1) fell into a tie with Ohio State for the conference lead.
“It is really difficult (to go undefeated) in any conference, and especially in this conference, with the great home crowds and the energy that you have in home-game situations.” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said last week.
Weber’s 2004-05 Illinois team came within one game of an undefeated Big Ten season, but lost in its conference finale 65-64 at Ohio State. The Fighting Illini made it to the national championship that year, where they fell 75-70 to North Carolina.
The last school to make it through the Big Ten season unscathed was the 1975-76 Indiana squad that finished the regular season 32-0.
Iowa Frosh coming of age
There is no question that Iowa’s Adam Haluska has made himself into a star this season, carrying the Hawkeyes on his back as he continues to lead the league in scoring. But recently, the load has gotten a little lighter for Haluska, thanks in large part to the play of freshman Tyler Smith.
“He’s a really hard matchup because he’s tall, he can play inside, he can play outside, he can score from the perimeter and take it inside and put it in as well,” said Minnesota coach Jim Molinari, whose Golden Gophers face off against Smith and the Hawkeyes on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-7 forward is second on the team and sixth in the conference in scoring with 15.7 points per game. He also leads the Hawkeyes in rebounding, steals and assists.
In Iowa’s win over Indiana on Saturday, Smith nearly recorded a triple-double – scoring 18 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists.
“Tyler is going to be a real mainstay in our league,” Molinari said.
Reach Marc Zarefsky at [email protected].
