Buckeye Blogger Network
Gary Russell and I are covering the B1G Tourney live again although it’s not actually from Chicago! Some last minute travel plans fell apart and we are hanging out at his house in Zanesville covering the games! Hope you enjoy the updates!
#6 Iowa versus #11 Northwestern
The first half of the day one night cap has been all Iowa. They hold a 36-22 lead at halftime and the score doesn’t reflect how dominating the Hawkeyes have been. The Wildcats didn’t score until the 12:30 mark of the first half. Iowa has been very balanced on the offensive end. 8 different players have scored for the Hawkeyes, and none of socred more than 7 points. As painful as it is to say, Iowa’s Aaron White leads all scorers with 7 points. Northwestern is being led by Freshman Alex Olah’s 6 points.
Iowa didn’t quite dominate the second half like they did the first half as they did their best impression of Michigan in letting a team hang around. The Wildcats refused to go away getting the lead under ten several times and even down to seven at one point. Unfortunately for Northwestern, timely three point shooting from Mike Gesell and Roy Devyn Marble combined with a Flagrant One foul by Reggi Hearn kept pushing the Iowa lead back to double digits. In the end, Iowa knocked off Northwestern 73-59.
Iowa will now face Michigan State tomorrow evening at apprixmately 9:00 EST. We hope you enjoyed day 1 of the Big Ten Tournament. Remember to check back with us tomorrow as we update with all the action from Day 2 of the tournament! Read More
Ridiculously Happy Valley
Heading into the final week of the season we still do not have a clear cut favorite to win the National Championship. That, my friends, is exciting news! This past week continued to be just like the many weeks before. There were more Top 25 losses, more new additions, and more shocking developments. This week’s “biggest loser” award goes to the Michigan Wolverines. Apparently, they thought because Penn State had not won in the Big Ten yet, that this would be a cakewalk! Well, after blowing a huge lead, they left Happy Valley losers and the Nittany Lions celebrated their first conference win. If a season like this has not heightened your love for college basketball, nothing will. Well, enough of me of me celebrating a Michigan loss……..lets’ dive in shall we?
Here’s a look at the Top 25 Week Ahead and Week in Review:
1. Indiana (25-4, 13-3) Previous Rank: 1
Past Week: 2/26 @ Minnesota, L 73-77 & 3/2 Iowa, W 73-60
Upcoming: 3/5 (16) Ohio State
Apparently Indiana thought a couple of weeks at Number One were long enough so they decided to lose on the road to Minnesota. This week they will host Ohio State in a late season battle.
2. Gonzaga (29-2, 16-0) Previous Rank: 3
Past Week: 2/28 @ BYU, W 70-65 & 3/2 Portland, W 81-52
Upcoming: Regular Season is complete
As much as I think the voters hate this, I don’t think they have a choice at putting Gonzaga number one after this week’s shenanigans. The Bulldogs finished their regular season with two more wins and will now wait for their conference tournament.
3. Duke (25-4, 12-4) Previous Rank: 6
Past Week: 2/24 Boston College, W 89-68 & 2/28 @ Virginia, L 68-73 & 3/2 (5) Miami (FL),W 79-76
Upcoming: 3/9 Virginia Tech
The Blue Devils most likely lost their shot at the top spot this week by losing to Virginia. A strong win against Miami (FL) helped them rebound though. They host the Hokies in their final regular season game.
4. Michigan (23-5, 10-5) Previous Rank: 7
Past Week: 2/24 Illinois, W 71-58 & 2/27 @ Penn State, L 78-84
Upcoming: 3/3 (9) Michigan State & 3/6 @ Purdue
Someone forgot to tell Michigan that just because you are up by 15+ points the game isn’t over. A huge comeback by Penn State shocked the Wolverines. Michigan is now 3-4 in their last 7 games. They don’t have time to think about that though as Michigan State comes to town.
5. Miami (FL) (23-5, 14-2) Previous Rank: 2
Past Week: 2/27 Virginia Tech, W 76-58 & 3/2 @ (3) Duke, L 76-79
Upcoming: 3/6 Georgia Tech & 3/9 Clemson
After embarrassing Duke in the first game, the Hurricanes fell to them in the rematch. Two home games to close out the regular season before the ACC tournament starts. Read More
The offseason brings us another variation from the format of your midweek news and notes, as a couple of big stories have dominated the college sports landscape. That being said, it’s not like I’m going to deprive you of your Wednesday motivational tunes.
Might As Well Get Comfy
Lack Of Institutional Control
For those of you waiting for the other shoe to drop in the Hurricane Situation, you can breathe a bit now. Kinda.
On Tuesday, the NCAA finally sent their Notice of Allegations to the Hurricanes, after a week that saw the folks from Indianapolis as the well focused center of national ridicule. We’d be wondering what was taking so long in this process, given that the NCAA had been “involved” in the investigation for over two years- turns out that the time in question had been spent violating the NCAA’s own principals and going against the advice of their legal counsel in their conversations with Nevin Shapiro.
In addition to paying the attorney who was questioning Shapiro as a part of his financial issues, the folks at the NCAA also provided him with a “burner” cell phone to contact them and financial resources to his prison account. Again, not the best idea for an organization who prides themselves on holding people accountable because the “should have known” what to do and dings them for not doing it.
The fallout was immediate- NCAA folks terminated or “resigned”, and folks calling for NCAA president Mark Emmert’s head, which, given the recent friends that he’s made across the nation, completely seems within reason.
The news of the “injustice” done by the NCAA to the fine folks in Miami ended up finding many fans in an interesting place- turning to Da’ U as their white knight in the fight against the evils of Emmert’s staff. Tuesday’s official response by University President Donna Shalala continued to create the dissonance- she is right that the NCAA has overstepped themselves extensively, but seems to forget that the University’s representatives were involved things that led them to receiving what many say is the “lack of institutional control” label in their Notice. Read More
We’re one week away from National Letter Of Intent Day, and the excitement (and chaos) is building. We’ll talk a bit this week about the idea of “verbals” and visits, but let’s dig through the news bucket a bit first, shall we? Oh, and Mark Titus’ favorite band brings us our musical inspiration for the morning. Happy Wednesday.
Buckeye 411
Commentary- Commitment Read More
Slam, Bam, Thank You Ma’am!
Another amazing week of college basketball is in the books and the season just keeps getting crazier. There were a total of 18 losses among the Top 25 teams. Some teams lost multiple times this week and there were some stunning upsets. The Miami Hurricanes absolutely embarrassed top ranked Duke 90-63, VCU spent a couple of weeks in the rankings only to lose both of their games week, and Syracuse and Louisville both lost to unranked opponents. All of this and we haven’t even talked about Louisville losing three in a row and Minnesota losing 4 consecutive games. Although nothing is certain in college basketball this year, one thing is for certain…….if it’s this crazy now, just wait to see what March Madness brings. Let’s breakdown this past week and look ahead to the future.
Here’s a look at the Top 25 Week Ahead and Week in Review
1. Duke (17-2, 4-2) Previous Rank: 3
Past Week: 1/23 @ (25) Miami (FL), L 63-90 & 1/26 Maryland, W 84-64
Upcoming: 1/30 @ Wake Forest & 2/2 @ Florida State
Duke was handed one of its worst losses in many years by Miami (FL). It doesn’t get easier for the Blue Devils as they face two road games this in Wake Forest and Florida State. Read More
Slam I Am!
It was a tale of two halves in this game. Ohio State came out on fire defensively. After giving up the first three points of the game, the defense stepped up and forced 9 turnovers and scored 16 points off of them. At one point in the first Ohio State was up by 21 points and with about 7 minutes to go in the first half Michigan only had 8 points total. Michigan’s zone defensive combined with the Buckeyes getting in foul trouble, allowed the Wolverines to get within 12 at the half.
The second half was a back and forth tussle in which Ohio State was hoping the buffer that that built in the first half would be enough to pull off the upset. Michigan cut down on their turnovers and forced Ohio State into a slow down, half court game that proved to be a problem for the Buckeyes. They used this style of play to cut the lead down to 2 at one point but couldn’t take over the lead. With 12 seconds to go in the game, Lenzelle Smith Jr. hit two free throws to extend the lead to four and propel the Buckeyes to a 56-53 victory. Read More
The three loss Buckeyes take on the undefeated #2 Michigan Wolverines today in Columbus.
The Buckeyes and Boilermakers are both coming off rough losses on the road. Unfortunately, Purdue gets the home-court advantage in tonight’s meeting.
Joining us for the game are our friends from the BBN: The Buckeye Blog, Buckeye Empire, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Buckeye Ninja. Make sure to swing by their place and say hello.
Today’s game is scheduled for 1:30 PM Eastern Time. LiveBlog will tip off at about 1:15 PM.
Go Bucks!
One of the most improved, and most impressive teams this season, the Michigan Wolverines arrive in Columbus undefeated. Their 16-0 record includes an impressive win over currently 18th ranked NC State at home. Let’s give them a glance.
| School | University of Michigan |
| Location | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Founded | 1817 |
| Student Population | 42,716 total, 27,407 undergrad |
| School Type | Public – Land Grant |
| Stadium | Crisler Center |
| Seating | 12,721 |
| Opened | 1963 |
| Head Coach | John Beilein |
| Experience | 6th year at UM |
