ESPN Men's Basketball

This morning, my man Myron Medcalf honed in on the Indiana Hoosiers. He spoke with coach Tom Crean about Cody Zeller's similarities to Andrew Luck -- which go deeper than "they're both really good" -- and the massive preseason expectations the Hoosiers will face in the run up to the 2012-13 season. Crean is handling the preseason expectations how you'd, ahem, expect -- by trying to instill some perspective in his players, who he believes aren't "caught up" in the hype for next season:

"When you’re immersed in it, you stay in your own reality. And our reality is we’ve got a long way to go to get where we want to go. We’re going to have upwards of eight freshmen and sophomores on this team next year. Obviously, one of them is Cody [Zeller] but still, he’s only going to be a sophomore. And the bottom line for us is we’ve got to get a lot of guys meshed into this team."

Of course, he's right. That goes not only for Indiana's chances of competing for a Final Four spot or a national title, but also for winning the Big Ten, which will again be the nation's best conference in 2012-13.

Indiana is the early favorite to win the league, but it's hardly a guarantee. At least two other teams, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines, are fully justified in having Big Ten title aspirations. Both teams will arguably have as much talent on their rosters as the Hoosiers.

As expected, Ohio State lost Jared Sullinger to the NBA draft, and shooting guard William Buford graduated this spring. But the Buckeyes -- thanks to Thad Matta's excellent 2011 recruiting class -- have big-time players waiting in the wings.

Center Amir Williams was infrequently used in his freshman season, but was the No. 4 center in his recruiting class. He should be ready, after a year of Sully apprenticeship, to take on big minutes and a major role on both ends of the floor. Swingman Sam Thompson could experience a similar sophomore boost, and point guard Shannon Scott will take on a bigger share of minutes playing behind and alongside starting point guard Aaron Craft. Sophomore small forward LaQuinton Ross missed his entire freshman season due to academic issues, but he could play a role as well.

Plus, the remaining starters are awfully good. Deshaun Thomas is one of the nation's most versatile scoring threats who rounded out his game throughout an excellent sophomore season, while Craft remains the nation's best perimeter defender, bar none. Offense may be a struggle for these Buckeyes early in the season, but their sterling ballhawking defense, a trademark of Matta's teams at OSU, isn't going anywhere.

Michigan will be no less talented. Coach John Beilein got the best news of his offseason when he learned that Big Ten Freshman of the Year (media) Trey Burke would eschew the NBA draft and return to school. Burke is a fantastically intelligent, savvy player, and his efficiency statistics (he posted a 105.3 offensive rating in 2012) will only get better as he improves his outside shooting and cuts down on the turnovers that occasionally marred his proclivity (as evidenced by his 28.7 percent assist rate) for the art of the dime. Shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. could be one of the nation's most polished perimeter scorers as a junior.

Beilein will mesh his leftover talent -- from a team that won a share of its first Big Ten title since the mid-80s, no less -- with the two best recruits of his Michigan tenure. Glenn Robinson III, the son of former NBA star Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson (we agreed we are calling Robinson III "Little Big Dog," yes?) is ranked No. 18 overall in the class of 2012. He has drawn raves from ESPNU's scouts for his "freakish athleticism" and ability to score from the perimeter, off the dribble and in the mid-range. His longtime friend and fellow incoming freshman, power forward Mitch McGary, was once considered the second-best prospect in the class of 2012. He's slipped since then, but only to No. 27 overall in the class, and he promises to be a force in his first season for the Wolverines.

The loss of shooters Stu Douglass, Zack Novak and Evan Smotrycz, and the addition of Robinson and McGary (as well as the return of forward Jon Horford from injury) present Beilein with an interesting but altogether welcome problem: These Wolverines won't be a typical Beilein team. They will attack the glass and pound the paint far more often, if only out of necessity. And with all those weapons, they'll be very difficult to stop.

Then there's Michigan State. The Spartans lost their heart and soul in senior forward Draymond Green, but the rest of the picture is bright: Point guard Keith Appling is back, as are forwards Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix. Impressive freshman guard Branden Dawson saw his season end after tearing an ACL in early March; his return will be tentative throughout the year. The good news? Tom Izzo beat out Indiana and Purdue to land the No. 2-ranked shooting guard in the class, Gary Harris, and will add three top-100 players (power forwards Kenny Kaminski and Matt Costello and small forward Denzel Valentine) to a team positively brimming with big, tough, athletic players. If the Spartans can do without Green -- and that's a valid question, given how much he meant to this program -- and rebound the ball at a similar rate as in 2012, they're legitimate Big Ten contenders, too.

Then there are the usual suspects: Wisconsin is Wisconsin, and Bo Ryan still hasn't finished worse than fourth place, or missed the NCAA tournament, in any season of his 11 seasons at the school. Minnesota will get Trevor Mbakwe, one of the nation's most bruising power forwards (now on his sixth-year medical redshirt season), back from last year's season-ending ACL injury. Purdue coach Matt Painter will bring in three top-100 players (center A.J. Hammons, shooting guard Rapheal Davis and point guard Ronnie Johnson, all three of whom hail from Indiana), an influx of size and young talent to build around. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery hauled in his best recruiting class, including Iowa native Adam Woodbury, the No. 10-ranked center in 2012. Northwestern has Drew Crawford and a spate of solid guards to put around senior transfer Jared Swopshire, an athletic former Louisville forward who could be a perfect fit for Bill Carmody's Princeton system.

You get the idea. Not all of these teams will contend for the Big Ten regular-season title. But most of them will. At the very least, the conference is sure to have a deep spate of teams determined to make any path to the Big Ten crown less a sprint than a drawn-out, physical scrum. Remember when Kentucky went undefeated in its league, with a massive efficiency margin to boot? Yeah. That ain't happenin' here.

Indiana is the favorite, and an obvious pick to get to the Final Four, and for good reason. But before the Hoosiers can turn their attention to the glories of March, they'll have to test their mettle for months on a twice-weekly basis against the best league in the country. That can be a good thing, or a bad one. It can be galvanizing experience, or a humbling one. Either way, nothing will come easy.

ESPN.com's Myron Medcalf talks with Michigan State's Brandon Wood after the Spartans defeated Iowa in the Big Ten tournament.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Thoughts on Michigan State's 92-75 win over Iowa.

Overview: At the start of the game, the Hawkeyes and Spartans were even. The score was tied, 22-22, with 11:14 remaining in the first half. Then the Spartans seemed to realize that they actually have to do something in this year’s Big Ten tournament, which could make a major difference in their NCAA tournament seeding. Michigan State ended the half on a 33-17 run.

Turning point: When the Spartans separated themselves from the Hawkeyes midway through the first half.

Key player: Draymond Green led four Spartans in double figures with 21 points. He also had 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.

Key stat: Michigan State shot 70 percent from the field in the first half. No typo. The Spartans went 21-for-30.

Miscellaneous: In the first half, Derrick Nix punched a hole into the Big Ten logo on the padding around one of the baskets after a tough bucket. … Michigan State scored 55 points in the first half. The Spartans scored a total of 55 points in their Feb. 28 loss at Indiana. … The Spartans played their first game without Branden Dawson, who tore his ACL in the final game of the regular season.

What’s next: Michigan State will face the winner of Friday’s Indiana-Wisconsin matchup. Iowa (17-16) should get into the NIT. The Hawkeyes took steps this season.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The top dogs arrive Friday, which creates a variety of interesting matchups for the second day of the Big Ten tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Here’s the rundown of Friday’s games:

No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 8 Iowa (noon ET, ESPN) -- The Spartans arrive without the services of Branden Dawson, who suffered a torn ACL at the end of Sunday’s loss to Ohio State. That injury could affect the Spartans’ seed. They have to prove that they’re not a dramatically different team without the talented freshman. They’re facing an Iowa team that’s been picked as a sleeper by many. The Hawkeyes finished off a spent Illinois team Thursday, but they’ll have a much tougher test Friday. In their only matchup of the year, Michigan State beat the Hawkeyes 95-61 on Jan. 10. But the Hawkeyes have been a better team in recent weeks, proven by February wins over Indiana and Wisconsin.

No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Indiana (25 minutes after Michigan State-Iowa, ESPN) -- The Hoosiers won their first Big Ten tournament game since 2006 when they beat Penn State in the opening round. But it was bittersweet. Senior point guard Verdell Jones suffered a serious knee injury that could end his year. But the Hoosiers were resilient after Jones went down. That’s a quality they’ll need against Wisconsin on Friday and during the NCAA tournament. The Badgers hope to improve their seed in the Big Dance via the conference tournament. Jordan Taylor struggled early, but he found a rhythm during Big Ten play. The Badgers could win this tournament, especially if they play with the same vigor that led to an upset at Ohio State a few weeks ago. They defeated Indiana 57-50 on Jan. 26 in their only meeting this season.

No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 10 Minnesota (6:30 p.m. ET, BTN) -- Most figured that Northwestern would be involved in this game, fighting for an at-large bid. But the Gophers beat the Wildcats in overtime Thursday behind freshman Andre Hollins’ explosive performance (25 points), despite competing without an injured Ralph Sampson III. Minnesota coach Tubby Smith has had success in Indy throughout his tenure. In his first year with the program, the Gophers upset a nationally ranked Hoosiers team in the first round of the 2008 Big Ten tourney. In 2010, they beat Purdue and Michigan State on their way to the Big Ten tourney title game. Michigan secured a piece of the Big Ten regular-season title with a strong effort down the stretch. The Wolverines have one of the top young players in America, freshman Trey Burke, who earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors from media members. They’re talented enough to win the Big Ten tournament and to make noise in the NCAA tourney. The Wolverines beat the Gophers 61-56 in Ann Arbor on New Year’s Day in their only previous meeting.

No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 6 Purdue (25 minutes after Minnesota-Michigan, BTN) -- The last time these two teams met, the Buckeyes earned an 87-84 victory Feb. 7 in Columbus, which was the only meeting between the teams this season. Ohio State's William Buford was a beast in that game, but the Boilermakers held their own. They advanced to Friday’s matchup with an easy win over Nebraska in the opening round, when they hit 51 percent of their 3s. They’ll need similar success from the field against the Buckeyes, who played like the team most thought they’d be this season during their upset win against Michigan State on Sunday. Ohio State is the most talented team in the Big Ten. If the Buckeyes can just find some poise, they can win the Big Ten tournament and fulfill their postseason potential.

Overview: Both Iowa and Illinois entered the Big Ten tournament in need of a championship to earn a trip to the Big Dance. Iowa had managed to impress in stretches this season (the Hawkeyes swept Wisconsin) and was mentioned as a sleeper in the buildup to the Big Ten tournament. Illinois, however, had fallen on hard times. The Illini had lost 11 of their past 13 -- a stretch that might cost Bruce Weber his job -- prior to Thursday’s 64-61 loss to Iowa.

After a back-and-forth first half that featured a 50 percent shooting clip for Illinois and a 46 percent mark for Iowa (Illinois had a 31-27 lead at halftime after a D.J. Richardson 3-pointer at the buzzer), Illinois stormed out to a 40-33 advantage just minutes in the second half. But Iowa returned fire with a 22-8 run that gave the Hawkeyes a 55-48 advantage midway through the second half.

It was just a four-point game in the final minute, and a crucial Iowa turnover seemed to put Illinois in a position to change the outcome. But the Illini coughed the ball up before they could do anything with that vital possession. Joseph Bertrand hit a 3-pointer with 16.1 seconds to play, cutting Iowa’s lead to one (62-61). But a pair of free throws by Matt Gatens put the Hawkeyes ahead again by three.

Turning point: The Illini appeared to possess a little mojo at the start of the second half, but Gatens squashed that momentum with a pair of crucial buckets near the 14-minute mark. Gatens hit a deep three, then dunked off a turnover on the other end. The game turned off that stretch. Iowa began playing with more vigor, which led to the run that turned the game in the Hawkeyes’ favor.

Key player: Gatens was a star for the Hawkeyes. He scored 20 on 7-for-12 shooting. Beyond the box score, however, the senior stayed calm when Illinois started to pull away at the start of the second half. He also had three rebounds and an assist. He converted all four of his free throw attempts, including two in the final seconds.

Key stat: The Illini committed 12 turnovers compared to Iowa’s six. The Illini went 7-for-25 from beyond the arc.

Miscellaneous: The Illini made this game far more difficult than it had to be with tough shots toward the end of the shot clock … Meyers Leonard scored 18 points in what might have been his final game at Illinois … Freshman Aaron White (13 points) could be a Big Ten star next year.

What’s next: Iowa moves on to face Michigan State at noon on Friday. Illinois will probably end up in the NIT. The bigger question is how long Weber will be on the sideline.

Believe it or not, a certain massive matchup in Durham, N.C., isn't the only college hoops game on the schedule today. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.

Here's a look at much of the action -- bubble and otherwise -- that served as the appetizer to tonight's main course. Be sure to check back later this evening for our writers' reactions and analysis from across the country.

No. 7 Marquette 83, No. 12 Georgetown 69: When March calms down, and the offseason finishes out its usual assortment of draft decisions, coaching intrigue and off-campus arrests (and everything else), I'm going to sit down one week and calculate college hoops winning percentages on senior night. With the exception of Northwestern (which lost in heartbreaking fashion Wednesday), it felt like nearly every team in the country won its final home game of the season this week. A lot of that is just good, old-fashioned home-court advantage, and some of it is skill and so forth, but when you strip all that away, I'm still going to guess pretty much every college hoops team in the country sees a massive bounce in its winning in the final home game of the season. Quantifying emotion is never easy. This feels like a chance.

In any case, Marquette followed this (presumably real, potentially imagined) trend Saturday, easily handling a Georgetown team that was itself coming off a dominant performance in its final home game of the season, a 59-41 victory over Notre Dame. In doing so, the Golden Eagles extended their Big East record to 14-4 and ensured the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament next week. Meanwhile, Jae Crowder made one last-ditch pitch for Big East player of the year: He scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds on 8-of-15 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. (Crowder missed all five 3-point attempts, a portion of his game that he's really improved this season. When your center can shoot 37 percent from 3-point range, you've got a very difficult team to guard.)

Can Crowder win the award? Because he should. With all due respect to Darius Johnson-Odom and like four or five different Syracuse players, Crowder's mix of offensive efficiency (offensive rating: 122.9; including 61 percent from inside the arc, a low turnover rate, and the aforementioned perimeter solidity), rebounding and defense (he's averaging 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game) make him, to me, the most complete, most important player in the conference.

No. 9 Murray State 54, Tennessee State 52 (Ohio Valley Championship): With six minutes left in the OVC title game, bubble teams across the country were no doubt finding it difficult to establish regulated breathing patterns. Tennessee State was up 48-43, the Racers were struggling to find stops against the dish-and-kick action of the Tigers' 1-4 low sets, and even worse, Isaiah Canaan, Murray State's do-it-all star, was battling through an off night. A two-bid OVC -- and a suddenly shrunken bubble -- were very real possibilities.

But Murray State locked in on defense, stacking great possession after great possession, cutting the Tigers off and preventing easy shots in the paint, and eventually came back to seal the win. The final go-ahead basket was a matter of immediate controversy at the broadcast table; our own Fran Fraschilla was convinced Murray State guard Jewuan Long charged on his game-winning basket. The call was close, no question. But all due respect to Fran, who is way better than this than I am, I disagree that it should have been a charge. A few things here. Long shot the ball before contact was initiated; the defender was still slightly sliding under the move, rather than entirely in front of it; and, most importantly, it was the penultimate play of a one-possession game with the NCAA tournament on the line. The ref needs to swallow his whistle there. And, in general, college coaches and players -- frankly, this applies to the NBA, too -- need to stop coaching defense like this! It's bad for the sport. There are plenty of ways to defend a driving player without fouling or attempt to draw a foul. Choose one. Don't run to a spot and hope the ref gives you the benefit of a 50-50 call, especially when your season is on the line. In short: Play defense.

Maybe that's the pickup player in me coming out; I would have little sympathy even if Long committed a blatant charge. But it wasn't. The no-call couldn't have been more appropriate. And every bubble team in the country can breathe just a little bit easier as a result.

Illinois State 65, No. 14 Wichita State 64: On second thought, bubble teams, you can go back to freaking out now. Why? Because Arch Madness has yielded its first truly mad result of the tournament. Wichita State is the Missouri Valley's best team and No. 1 overall seed, not to mention everyone's pick to be this year's mid-major tournament darling. But that didn't stop the Redbirds -- thanks to Tyler Brown's two clutch free throws and two misses in the last six seconds from WSU's Toure' Murry and Garrett Stutz -- from shocking the Shockers all the same. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Wichita State doesn't have much to worry about in the way of its NCAA tournament seed, of course. But every team along the bubble line, including many of those mentioned below, should be terrified. If Creighton suffers the same fate at any point this weekend, the Missouri Valley will send three teams to the NCAA tournament and steal one bid from a bubble that is destined to shrink even further down the stretch.

Could that third team be Illinois State? Why not? When you beat Wichita State on a neutral court, you deserve the benefit of the doubt.

No. 2 Syracuse 58, No. 18 Louisville 49: This was always an uphill battle for Louisville for one obvious reason: The Cardinals can't score. Louisville can defend. It can rebound. It can get stops when it needs them. But when you have the Big East's 11th-best offense on a per-possession basis, when your effective field-goal percentage ranks outside the nation's top 200 teams, when you turn the ball over on 21.8 percent of your possessions (national rank: No. 241) and your task is to break down Syracuse's smothering 2-3 defense in the Carrier Dome, well, good luck. Syracuse played its typically potent brand of extended defense, forcing Louisville a downright awful 2-of-23 mark from beyond the arc, and that's pretty much your game right there.

It's going to be interesting to see how Rick Pitino tries to adjust this team as he heads toward the NCAA tournament. A few weeks ago, Pitino told ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt that he liked to speed the game up and take more risks in the tournament; in his experience, too many coaches slow down in the tournament, fearing disorganization and disarray. This might be his only course of action in March. The Cardinals can't find any offense, but they can press and trap and slap and claw and hope to get easy buckets from turnovers and bad shots in transition. At this point, with this anemic, predictable offense (prediction: Peyton Siva won't see a defense guard him over the top on another ball screen all season), does Pitino have any other choice?

Variously Questionable Bubble Losses

West Virginia 50, South Florida 44: The Mountaineers desperately needed this win. Before this week's victory over DePaul, WVU had lost seven of its previous nine games and seen its once-certain at-large tournament bid -- WVU was once a No. 5 seed in Joe Lunardi's bracket; now it's a No. 12 -- become an entirely precarious matter. This win obviously helps, and not just because it was a win: It also put a ding on one of WVU's potential bubble rivals, South Florida, which has surged into the bubble conversation in recent weeks thanks to a gaudy Big East record and consecutive victories over Cincinnati and Louisville. A win Saturday might have put the Bulls on the right side of the bubble in official fashion. As it is, their profile still looks much better than it used to, but with a 5-10 road record and a 2-8 mark against the RPI top 50, some positive results in the Big East tournament may well be necessary.

UCLA 75, Washington 69: First things first: This was a really nice win for UCLA. It hasn't been the easiest week for the Bruins (that's a candidate for understatement of the year), but with back-to-back good wins (a blowout of Washington State and this plucky victory over the league's standings leader) at least they finished on a positive note. As for Washington, the loss might well have cost the Huskies the outright Pac-12 title. Cal still needs to win get a likely but hardly guaranteed win at Stanford, but either way, the Huskies' argument -- that an outright regular-season conference title in a high-major, albeit really bad, conference should guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament -- looks even more specious now. Washington, like the rest of this league, has nothing in the way of nonconference results to point to as proof that it is considerably better than the RPI's impression of the Pac-12 as the 10th-best league in the country. It will be fascinating to see how the committee treats UW, and the Pac-12 as a whole, but if I'm the Huskies I'm planning on making a very deep run through the Pac-12 tournament, just to be safe.

Marshall 79, Southern Miss 75: Will a loss at Marshall damage Southern Miss's bubble chances? Doubtful. Marshall is a quality team -- a deep fringe bubble candidate in its own right -- and a four-point loss in the Herd's building isn't, or shouldn't, be the kind of thing that damages a team's bubble chances. What's more, the Golden Eagles still own an RPI within the top 20. In the past 16 years, no team with an RPI of 20 higher has ever missed the tournament. (The closest was 2005-06 Missouri State, which didn't have nearly as strong a profile as this team.) They should be fine.

Maintenance-Minded Bubble Wins

Xavier 72, Charlotte 63: Xavier's final home win of the season wasn't what the Musketeers would have planned heading into the season. To wit, from the AP: "It was a bittersweet day for Xavier, which had grown accustomed to ending its final home game with a spray of confetti and a few celebratory snips of the net. The Musketeers' streak of five straight A-10 regular-season titles was snapped this season." That dream was over weeks ago. Xavier has bigger fish to slice now. The Musketeers are as close to the bubble as you can be (Lunardi's most recent bracket has them as the first team outside the field). A win won't necessarily change that, but a loss would have been disastrous, and Xavier is now in at least slightly better position as it heads into A-10 postseason play.

Northwestern 70, Iowa 66: It was very easy to imagine Northwestern -- which missed marquee wins (Michigan, Ohio State) in soul-crushing fashion twice in the past two weeks -- losing at Iowa. The Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin and Indiana at home in recent weeks, Northwestern would no doubt be feeling the historic tournament pressure, and so on. But this was an impressive victory, or at least as impressive as a victory over Iowa can ever be. This is a little like Xavier's win: It doesn't provide a bubble bump, but it does prevent a potentially disastrous move in the wrong direction at the worst possible time of the season. Is Northwestern in right now? I'd guess yes. But it's hardly a done deal. Like nearly everyone else on the bubble, the only way for Bill Carmody's team to enter Selection Sunday with any measure of confidence is to play well in next week's conference tournament. That much is clear.

Miami 77, Boston College 56: Same situation here: A loss would have been a dream-killer. A win doesn't move the needle. Miami basically has two tourney-worthy qualities on its profile: A win at Duke (huge) and a home win over Florida State (slightly less huge, but still important). But other than that, there's not much there. Can the Hurricanes knock off one of this league's top four teams -- especially Duke or UNC -- on a neutral floor next week? That might be the baseline requirement going forward.

Connecticut 74, Pittsburgh 65: The Huskies have spent much of the past three weeks looking downright determined to overcome their computer numbers (a top-five overall strength of schedule and a top-20 nonconference figure) and somehow, some way, miss the tournament. This week's loss to Providence was an apparent punctuation mark on a pretty much horrible Big East season, or at least horrible relative to this team's elite talent. After this win, though, it looks like UConn will -- just barely -- hold on to a spot above the bubble fray.

Finally, there's serious movement in the Big Ten Power Rankings. And it mostly centers on Ohio State’s recent struggles and Iowa’s … surge? Without further ado, the new Big Ten Power Rankings:

1. Michigan State: Tom Izzo is certainly in the national coach of the year conversation. And Draymond Green is the Big Ten’s player of the year. The Spartans have won a slice of the Big Ten title, and with a victory at Indiana on Tuesday, they would earn the outright conference championship. A loss against the Hoosiers, however, would set up a possible three-way tie for first in the Big Ten, with Ohio State traveling to East Lansing on Sunday.
2. Michigan: The Wolverines’ Saturday loss to Purdue snapped a four-game winning streak for Michigan. And it was its first home loss of the year. The Wolverines don’t control their own fate, but with a little help and road wins over Penn State and Illinois this week, they could grab a share of the Big Ten title.
3. Wisconsin: The Badgers bounced back from a midweek loss to Iowa by outplaying Ohio State in Columbus on Sunday. They held Jared Sullinger to eight points, his second-lowest tally of the season. And down the stretch, they were the tougher team.
4. Ohio State: Columbus, we have a problem. The Buckeyes have lost three of their past five games. And Sullinger is struggling (17 points combined in past two games). This Buckeyes squad has Final Four talent, but I'm not sure it has Final Four poise. This team panicked on its final possessions against the Badgers. Do the Bucks have the necessary leadership to make a run in March?
5. Purdue: The Boilermakers needed a signature victory to feel more secure about their at-large hopes. So they played with passion during a 75-61 win at Michigan this weekend. Matt Painter continues to find a way with this team. Despite limited size, limited depth and off-court issues, the Boilermakers are an NCAA tourney team.
6. Indiana: The Hoosiers were never going to live up to the hype that commenced after December victories over Kentucky and Ohio State. But you have to step back and take a look at what’s happened in Bloomington this season. A team that won three Big Ten games last season is comfortably in the field of 68 and has amassed 22 victories. The Hoosiers crushed Minnesota on Sunday (69-50 in Minneapolis), avenging an earlier loss to the Gophers.
7. Northwestern: Wildcats fans, prepare to send towels my way so I can wipe the egg off my face. Weeks ago, I was confident that the Wildcats wouldn’t sniff the NCAA tournament. But here they are, right on the bubble. If they beat Ohio State and win at Iowa this week, how could the selection committee leave them out? A .500 conference record isn’t sexy, but look around the country. They wouldn’t be the only team with questions surrounding their postseason résumés. Plus, the Wildcats can secure another major win in the Big Ten tournament. There’s a first for everything, right?
8. Iowa: Yep, it can happen. It hasn’t happened. But it can. The loss at Illinois on Sunday was disappointing, but the Hawkeyes (7-9 in the Big Ten) can play their way into the field of 68. If they win their next two and get to the Big Ten final, the selection committee would have to consider them. Reminds me of the 2009-10 Minnesota team I covered, one that upset Purdue and Michigan State in the conference tournament and earned an at-large berth that season.
9. Minnesota: This was supposed to be the week that the Gophers solidified themselves as a team with a legit argument for the NCAA tournament. But they unraveled during a must-win home game against Michigan State. And they were crushed by Indiana on Sunday. This squad overcame the November loss of Trevor Mbakwe to a knee injury, and it’s been in a position to earn an at-large berth in recent weeks. But it continues to squander crucial opportunities. Time has run out for Tubby Smith’s team.
10. Illinois: The Fighting Illini needed Sunday’s win over Iowa, a win that snapped a six-game losing skid for Bruce Weber’s team. With matchups against Michigan and Wisconsin ahead, the Fighting Illini can give their at-large résumé at least a fighting chance.
11. Penn State: The Nittany Lions pushed Northwestern, a desperate bubble team, to the brink Saturday during a 67-66 loss. They’ve lost a lot of games, but they’ve never given up under first-year coach Pat Chambers.
12. Nebraska: You can rearrange the bottom four in a variety of ways, but some team has to fill this spot. The Cornhuskers’ Big Ten debut hasn’t gone so well, as evidenced by their 34-point performance at MSU this weekend. But at least they’ll have an opportunity to spoil some team’s postseason aspirations in the Big Ten tournament.

1. The Illini finally got that they have something to play for: themselves. In their win over Iowa Sunday, Illinois actually looked like a team that still cared about playing and fighting for an NCAA tournament berth. Meyers Leonard and Brandon Paul responded to Bruce Weber and the staff. The Illini could still make the bid process interesting if they can beat Michigan and win at Wisconsin this week.

2. Colorado coach Tad Boyle should be the Pac-12 coach of the year. The Buffaloes, who lost their best two players off last season’s team, won their 11th game in the conference with a 13-point win over Cal. The Buffaloes have no business finishing with a bye as a top-four seed in the Pac-12 tournament, yet can do so with a win at Oregon Thursday. If the Buffaloes didn’t get worked by Stanford by 24 at home (odd) then taking a Pac-12 title away from co-favorite Washington could have been a possibility.

3. Miami took one step closer to a tournament bid by beating Florida State Sunday. But Miami will have to keep winning if Reggie Johnson isn’t cleared by the NCAA. The selection committee has to judge the 'Canes without him from this point forward. If he returns then the overall body of work will be back in play. But if he doesn’t and Miami were to lose at NC State Wednesday (Boston College is next to close the season) then it will be a tough call.

Consider, for a moment, the kind of week Iowa guard Matt Gatens just had.

On Sunday, he set a then-career high in points, scoring 30 in a 78-66 win over Indiana. Four days later, Gatens scored 33 -- yes, another career high -- in a 67-66 win over Wisconsin. Taken as a whole, Gatens was 22-of-36 from the field, including a scorching 14-for-20 from 3-point range. On Thursday night, he hit two free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining, enough to hold off Wisconsin's final push.

"My teammates are like, 'What's gotten into you, man?'" Gatens told ESPN.com by phone Friday. "It's just one of those things. It feels good. It's all been clicking. It's great."

Wherever the hot stretch came from, its timing couldn't be better. That's true of the Hawkeyes, who are suddenly, desperately clawing their way toward fringe NCAA tournament consideration.

Few people are lucky enough to know what they want to do in ninth grade. Gatens was one of them. That's when Gatens, a top-100 recruit in the class of 2008, committed to then-Iowa coach Steve Alford. This may have been the least surprising commitment of all time. Gatens was born and raised in Iowa City. His father, Mike Gatens, played at Iowa in the 1970s. His mother, Julie, is a former Hawkeyes cheerleader.

Gatens remembers visiting practices as a kid, watching Tom Davis' old teams, idolizing point guard Andre Woolridge -- whose No. 5 jersey Gatens adopted as a child (and still wears today) -- lead the Hawks on the break in front of a rocking Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd. Back when Carver-Hawkeye used to rock.

Since he was born, Gatens has bled black and gold. If only he'd been born at a different time.

"When I came to Iowa, my goal was to get to NCAA tournaments and compete on a national level," he said. "We obviously haven't done that."

Gatens couldn't have known it at the time, but his commitment would be followed by one of the more fallow periods in Iowa hoops history. Before 2006-07, Alford's final year with the program, the Hawkeyes had reached the NIT or NCAA tournament in 24 of the past 28 seasons. This dated back to Lute Olson's tenure in the late 1980s and early '90s. Alford resigned at Iowa after the 2006-07 season, just one year before Gatens was set to enter the program.

He was replaced by former Butler coach Todd Lickliter, whose tenure at the school might charitably be described as a "disappointment." "Disaster" is probably a better word. Lickliter went 38-57 overall and 15-39 in the Big Ten in three seasons. His final season, a grating 10-22 campaign, pushed football-obsessed Iowa fans away. In 2010, Lickliter was replaced by former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, and Gatens faced the prospect of playing for the program's third coach in five years.

Through no fault of his own, the hometown kid who only ever wanted to play for Iowa found himself caught in a vicious rebuilding cycle. He was a talent, perhaps Iowa's only talent, capable of scoring in bunches -- Gatens has averaged double-digit points in each of his four seasons -- but not quite good enough to carry a program on his back. The easy thing to do -- what many college players do, and understandably so -- is transfer. But Gatens never gave it a thought, never wavered on his teenage commitment. Why?

"I grew up loving the Hawkeyes," Gatens said. "It was always my dream to play here. Iowa fans have a saying: 'Once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye.'"

In McCaffery's second season, the Hawkeyes are still rebuilding. McCaffery has two ESPN top-100 recruits, both Iowa natives, on board for 2012. Which is all well and good, Gatens said, but as a senior with just a few more weeks left in his career, he isn't content to go down without a fight. Frankly, he's running out of time.

"I'm just trying to get this program back to where it deserves to be," he said. "We've got a lot of young guys here. The program is going to be fine. But we seniors want to go out and create our own memories for the fans too.

"You just want to get everything you can out of it. We want to get the tournament. We haven't done it, but if we keep playing the way we are down the stretch, I think we can get into that conversation."

It isn't going to be easy. Iowa, which is 2-8 away from Carver-Hawkeye this season, will travel to Illinois and Nebraska for two of its final three games. Both are must-wins, and they're followed by a home date against bubble team Northwestern in the March 3 season finale. After wins over Indiana and Wisconsin, the Hawks' at-large résumé is much better than it was, but their bad RPI (No. 126) and ugly nonconference strength of schedule (No. 305) mean they have to win out (for a 10-8 Big Ten record) and possibly make a run in the Big Ten tournament to get within striking distance of at-large consideration.

It's a long shot, sure, but it's one that didn't even exist before Gatens dropped 63 points and 14 3s on two ranked teams this week. As his career winds down, and the prospect of life after Iowa basketball comes into stark focus, Gatens is trying to be remembered as more than the hometown kid whose career came at the worst possible time.

"Hopefully the fans will remember me as a guy who loved Iowa, whose dream it was to play here, a guy that remained loyal to the fan base through good times and the bad," he said. "But hopefully, they'll remember me as someone who went out on a higher note. Hopefully they can remember me a winner too."

1. Alabama coach Anthony Grant has built up quite a bit of leverage. Grant held his ground on the suspensions of JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell and the Tide has won two straight. Mitchell is done for the season, but Green has been reinstated, though, Grant didn’t play him at Arkansas Thursday night. The Tide, which looked lost and out of the NCAA tournament discussion a week or so ago, are now back in position with three winnable games to close the season against Mississippi State, Auburn and at Ole Miss.

2. Could Iowa make a run to the NCAA tournament? Well, it’s not totally crazy. The Hawkeyes have won two home games in a row over ranked Indiana and Wisconsin as Matt Gatens scored a combined 63 points in two games. What if Iowa were to win at Illinois, Nebraska and beat Northwestern at home to finish 10-8 in the Big Ten? It’s not implausible. The Hawkeyes may be more than a spoiler in the Big Ten tournament. There is a chance the Hawkeyes could be playing their way toward a bid. The beauty of a league like the Big Ten is that the opportunities are still available.

3. Duke has a more favorable schedule than North Carolina. What would really be remarkable is if Duke won the ACC despite losing two conference home games and neither was against North Carolina. But it’s possible. The Blue Devils aren’t going to wow you, but they have risen in the games that mattered most on the road in the ACC. Duke could end up being one of the softest No. 1s among the four, but could earn it if the Blue Devils can get past the Tar Heels in the coming weeks.

Matt Gatens scores a career-high 33 as Iowa sweeps the season series with No. 15 Wisconsin.

The Big Ten proved to be the king of college basketball conferences this weekend with a variety of upsets, near-upsets and tough efforts by some of the league’s bubble teams. Doesn’t make it any easier to rank this league, though.

1. Michigan State: The Spartans keep rolling. They toyed with the Badgers on Thursday. They fought off a motivated Boilermakers squad Sunday. And with just four games remaining on their Big Ten slate, it’s hard to see the Spartans stumbling and squandering the Big Ten title. And they’re probably a team that deserves a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

2. Michigan: The Wolverines kept their conference title hopes alive with a crucial win over the Buckeyes. They’re undefeated at home. And although he’s just a freshman, Trey Burke (17 points, five assists against the Bucks) is a gamer who’s equipped to lead the Wolverines on a run in March.

3. Ohio State: The Buckeyes don’t look like the same crew that recently rattled off six straight wins. They took a major hit against the Spartans last weekend. And their loss to Michigan on Saturday put a serious dent in their Big Ten title hopes. It’s easy to look at Jared Sullinger's recent struggles (14 turnovers in his last three games, including 10 in the loss to the Spartans last weekend), but William Buford has failed to record double-digits in three of his team’s four Big Ten losses. Buford, the team’s second-leading scorer, finished with six points in Saturday’s loss in Ann Arbor.

4. Wisconsin: The Badgers are certainly an NCAA tournament team. If they play a team that’s equally interested in the grind-it-out style that makes Bo Ryan’s system go, then they’ll have a chance to advance in March. But I don’t know how they’re going to keep up with some of the nation’s more talented offensive squads if their scoring droughts continue (five scoreless minutes in the first half of their loss to Michigan State).

5. Indiana: Sunday’s road loss to the Hawkeyes interrupted a three-game winning streak for the Hoosiers. With Cody Zeller inside and the confidence that comes from knowing that they’re the only team in the country that’s cracked the Kentucky Code, the Hoosiers have the potential to make noise in March. Their struggles away from Assembly Hall, however, warrant doubts.

6. Northwestern: A few weeks ago, I wrote that the Wildcats would not crack the field of 68 on Selection Sunday. Northwestern had offered few reasons to consider another postseason path. But I’ve certainly been proven wrong in recent weeks. The Wildcats never quit after losing three consecutive games in late January. They’ve won four of six, and if you ask Joe Lunardi, they’re in the Big Dance right now. A victory over Michigan on Tuesday would be huge.

7. Purdue: In stretches of Sunday’s loss to Michigan State, the Boilermakers took on the “play through adversity” mantra that sometimes fuels inspired performances. But in the end, MSU was too tough and the Boilers lacked the firepower to build on a 38-35 halftime lead. The D.J. Byrd/Kelsey Barlow drama could change Purdue's postseason outlook.

8. Iowa: Sunday’s win over nationally ranked Indiana was another sign of progress for Fran McCaffery and his staff. Next season’s task: win on the road (five straight losses). Some squad from the bottom of the league is going to score an upset in the Big Ten tournament. The Hawkeyes are on that list.

9. Minnesota: The Gophers are certainly on the outside of the bubble right now, but a victory over Michigan State on Wednesday could push Minnesota back into the discussion. The Gophers don’t have a magic number, just a need to score some additional signature victories in the coming weeks when they’ll play the Spartans, the Hoosiers and the Badgers.

10. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers’ 23-point win over Illinois on Saturday was an embarrassment for the Illini but a major boost for a squad that’s struggled all season. Is it too late to save Doc Sadler's job?

11. Penn State: The Nittany Lions’ loss to Wisconsin in Madison was Penn State’s ninth consecutive road loss. This is another team that’s been solid in stretches at home but unable to duplicate any sliver of that success away from State College, Pa.

12. Illinois: I don’t care about the Illini's record. I don’t care about nonconference wins or their past victories over the Spartans or Buckeyes. That performance against Nebraska this weekend -- an 80-57 loss when they knew what was on the line -- put the Illini at the bottom of these power rankings. They’re the worst team in the league right now for a lot of reasons. But on Tuesday in Columbus, they have a crucial opportunity to revive their at-large hopes and potentially save Bruce Weber’s job. Don't count on it.

Matt Gatens' career-high 30 points leads Iowa to a 78-66 win over No. 20 Indiana.

On Jan. 10, the Hawkeyes were in a tough spot. Michigan State was doing what Michigan State often does to teams like Iowa -- defending like crazy and scoring at will and blowing the Hawks off the floor in East Lansing, Mich. -- and by the 11-minute mark in the second half, with MSU leading 69-41, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery had seen enough.

You've seen what happened next: McCaffery lost it. He directed his ire first at the referees, for which he received a technical foul, and he was arguably lucky not to be thrown out of the game. A minute later, he turned his anger inward, gesticulating wildly during a timeout before picking up a padded MSU bench chair and slamming it forcefully down on the Breslin Center court.

McCaffery's actions were met by the Big Ten with something less than enthusiasm. League commissioner Jim Delaney said the conference "communicate[d] its concern" to Iowa's athletics department about McCaffery's outburst, and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta had to walk the line between supporting his coach and agreeing that the chair toss was slightly over the line. When asked about the incident, McCaffery was largely defiant, saying he wasn't going to sit on his hands and watch his players get blown out by 40 points without "fighting" and "coaching with passion." All in all, the chair-slam ended up being less controversial than funny, the subject of more amused ("Ha, look at McCaffery lose it! And here comes the chair! Bam!") reactions than outrage. Really, the whole thing seemed premeditated: McCaffery was trying something, anything, to snap his team out of its doldrums.

And that was the last of it, or so we thought. Turns out, McCaffery's infamous chair found another use this weekend: fundraising.

Per Iowa communications director Matt Weitzel, the chair was sold Sunday at an auction/steak fry (mmm, steak fry) benefiting the Iowa baseball program. The chair included McCaffery's signature and two handwritten messages: "Go Hawks!" and "Coach with passion!" The going price? $2,100. You can see a large image here.

Really, it's a win-win: Iowa raises a bit of cash, McCaffery turns his follies into a benefit for his athletics program, and some lucky fan with moderately deep pockets adds a rather hilarious memento to his rumpus room collection. In the meantime, McCaffery's signed message -- "Coach with passion!" -- may just become his trademark calling card. Given McCaffery's typically demure demeanor, perhaps that's the biggest surprise of all.

(Hat tip: The fine folks at Midwest Sports Fans)

How many NCAA tourney bids will the Big Ten receive? Five seem safe at this point, but beyond that is anyone's guess -- especially after Illinois' home loss to Northwestern on Sunday.

1. Ohio State: The Buckeyes went to Madison and beat the Badgers at their own plodding game Saturday. Thad Matta's squad isn’t just the best team in the Big Ten right now. It’s arguably the top squad in the country based on the way it’s played during its five-game winning streak. The Buckeyes could really pull away from the rest of the field with a win against Michigan State Saturday.

2. Michigan State: Spartans fans can exhale now. Draymond Green scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a 64-54 win over Michigan Sunday, days after leaving the team’s road loss at Illinois with a knee injury. The Spartans get a shot at Ohio State Saturday in Columbus. And they possess the physical style to stifle the Buckeyes.

3. Wisconsin: Can’t knock the Badgers for putting up a 40-minute fight against an Ohio State team that’s been the league’s best squad for weeks. A few late mistakes cost the Badgers. Their challenges from the 3-point line (18.5 percent against the Buckeyes) continue to hurt a team without an inside force. But they’re going to challenge every team in the Big Ten with their stingy defense.

4. Michigan: Yes, the Wolverines had their fourth conference loss of the season Sunday against Michigan State. No, they’re not out of the Big Ten title race. The Wolverines get Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois at home in the coming weeks. And they play Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern and Penn State on the road. The Wolverines, however, continue to suffer inside with their limited frontcourt depth.

5. Indiana: The Hoosiers have won three of their past five games. Saturday’s 78-61 win at rival Purdue served two crucial purposes for Tom Crean’s program. It saved Indiana from a 5-7 Big Ten record and it snapped its four-game road losing streak in conference play. Only two of Indiana’s final seven games will be played outside of Bloomington.

6. Illinois: The Illini followed Tuesday’s 42-41 home win over Michigan State with a 74-70 loss to Northwestern Sunday … in the same arena, Assembly Hall in Champaign. Really? You try to figure out this up-and-down Illini team because I can’t.

7. Purdue: The Boilermakers have lost three of four. And they play Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana in their last eight Big Ten games. Why are those opponents significant? Because they all have the inside threats that can expose Purdue’s void in the paint.

8. Minnesota: The Gophers have won five of their past seven games. After losing their best player, Trevor Mbakwe, to a season-ending knee injury in November, they could easily be at the very bottom of the Big Ten standings.

9. Iowa: The Hawkeyes are 3-2 at home in 2012. Fran McCaffery’s team has won two in a row. That’s certainly an accomplishment for this rebuilding team.

10. Northwestern: The Wildcats entered the season amid ongoing hope that this would be the first time the program makes the NCAA tournament. That’s not going to happen this season.

11. Penn State: The Nittany Lions have the worst record in the Big Ten at 2-9. But there’s just something about State College. Big Ten teams always seem to encounter trouble when they play there. Plus, Tim Frazier (18.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 6.3 apg) is one of the top players in the league. That’s why they avoided the No. 12 slot.

12. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers’ introduction to the Big Ten hasn’t been a smooth one. And that’s too bad because Bo Spencer (15.3 ppg and 3.5 apg) is a special player and he deserves more praise.