Big Ten men’s basketball is under construction.
With the exception of only a few teams (Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin), the rest of the teams in the Big Ten have had some difficulty finding success.
Iowa has lost four games in a row after winning its first two conference games of the season.
“It is very clear that we have not played very good basketball since the break,” Hawkeyes’ head coach Steve Alford said.
As a result, Alford has picked up the pace for his team, going to two practices a day in hopes of improvement.
Like Iowa, Michigan has also struggled, sporting a 3-3-conference record. However, the Wolverines are coming off a big win against Minnesota due to the lucky likes of Aaron Robinson, who threw in a basket at the buzzer to come away with the victory. Even with the last-second win, the future is looking a little dim for the Wolverines as they travel to play the conference-leading Ohio State Buckeyes this week.
In the past, the Wolverines’ in-state rival Michigan State has been a Big Ten powerhouse but like most teams in the conference they are in a reconstruction mode also. They are 2-3 and are showing some signs of improvement.
“We are playing a little better but still have some concerns,” Spartan head coach Tom Izzo said.
Although fellow conference foe Minnesota got off to a quick start this season, the Gophers recently suffered two losses last week, including a heartbreaker to Michigan, evening their record to 500 at 3-3.
“Some encouraging things are going on with Minnesota basketball, but on the same token, we have to fix some things or it’s going to be very discouraging,” Gopher head coach Dan Monson said.
Other teams rounding out the bottom of the conference are Penn State and Purdue, who each have only one win apiece. Both coaches agree that the problem with their teams is on the defensive end of the court.
“We still have the difficulty of guarding people,” Purdue head coach Gene Keady said.
Tough guys: If there is one attribute that the Big Ten has, it’s toughness. Almost every team in the conference has tough ball players in their lineup. They are not fancy, not the fastest, best shooters or ball handlers, but they are tough.
And that toughness can come in very handy when a Big Ten team plays non-conference games. Guys like Robinson from Michigan and Jared Jeffries from Indiana, who averages 17.4 points per game. Reggie Evens from Iowa is perhaps the toughest in the Big Ten, and accompanying him are Tavaras Hardy from Northwestern and Robert Archibald from Illinois.
Surprises: Up to this point in the season, the Big Ten has given most conference fans two surprises. The first is the surprising play of the young and inexperienced Wisconsin Badgers, especially under the new coaching style of Bo Ryan who has spent most of his coaching years at the Division three level. The Badgers have upset Illinois, to move up with the third-best record in the conference. The other surprise is the Fighting Illini, who have a 2-3 record. Illinois, the preseason favorite to win the conference title, is not performing as well as predicted to.
