Hoopraker

November and December will deliver eleven teams to the doorstep of conference play. Several are in the earliest stages of wholesale rebuilding projects, a couple are consensus locks for the upper tier of the conference and late March dancing, and then there is a vast middle scrum of teams of significant, but more elusive potential that will make this year’s Big Ten race a fascinating spectacle. Time will tell many tales as we move into winter, but several teams will enter the new year with at least one distinct advantage over their conference brethren. (more…)

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Postpone raking the leaves until Sunday and skip that five-year kid down the street’s birthday party. Thanks to some brave scheduling and a little luck of the calendar, the Big Ten has games too good to miss on Saturday. (more…)

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Already a drafty, low population clime, the Bryce Jordan Center may be developing wind chill factors inhabitable to both the program’s fans and its current head coach. After failing to meet reasonable expectations last season and with evidence of underachievement already clear despite an experienced and talented roster this year, Ed DeChellis and his ballclub need to find a way to generate some heat. (more…)

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Snow and single digits graced Minneapolis on Monday. Inside Williams Arena, a boisterous 12,454 Golden Gopher fans fought though the Midwestern night and witnessed another step in the rejuvenation of their team under Tubby Smith. Working quietly in the Great North of the Big Ten, Tubby has Minnesota (5-1) playing hard and with purpose, exorcising the prior regime’s discontent in a mere six games. (more…)

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No one in the Big Ten needs a week of practice more than Ohio State. On Saturday night in Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Buckeyes were embarrassed, not because they lost to a very good Butler team but because they failed to compete. (more…)

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