http://hoopraker.com the rakes offer some takes on big ten basketball Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:13:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Lima Connection When Travis Walton laces up his sneaks for the biggest game of his life this afternoon against UConn, he should consider looking south, to Findlay, Ohio, for some inspiration.  Led by legendary head coach Ron Niekamp and DII Player of the Year, Josh Bostic, the University of Findlay ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/04/04/loose-balls-final-four/ Another town and one more show.  Congratulations to the Nittany Lions team and Coach Ed DeChellis.  The game Tuesday against Notre Dame was a masterpiece in defensive strategy and execution.  In the win last night, DeChellis throttled down the offense to adjust to the Baylor zone.  It was Big Ten basketball ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/04/02/one-championship-in-the-books/ His label is tweener, a term used to separate five-star meat from two- and three-star gristle. Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Wright State, Butler and Penn State. These are the schools that ponied up a scholarship to Jamelle Cornley. Ohio State, ten minutes from Cornley's home on the North Side of ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/04/02/the-tweener-factory-state-college-pa/ Wow.  What a great game.  Wow.  My head's still reeling from Michigan State's 64-52 dismantling of Louisville. The pride of Lima, Ohio, Travis Walton's blue collar effort on Terrence Williams was textbook.  The confidence of Durrell Summers to nail big shot after shot in the second half.  Goran Suton continuing ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/29/a-beautiful-spartan-effort/ The Penn State's made a deep run in the NIT, advancing to NYC and the Final Four where Mike Brey's group of underachievers await.  While Ed DeChellis was duly recognized for the success of his Nittany Lions during the regular season when he was named Big 10 Coach of the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/26/let-them-be-recognized/ The six power conferences (Big East, ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, SEC, and Pac10) control the NCAA Tournament with an iron fist.  Those who follow one of the majors rejoice in getting as many teams from their respective conferences into the Tournament as possible.  But there's no doubt, the Mid-Majors ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/21/beware-of-mid-majors/ The disappointment emanating from Dayton is palpable.  Before a partisan crowd, Ohio State played without purpose and without assertiveness.  They built a quiet 11 point lead but couldn't hang onto it. They were pummeled on the boards as a rail thin player from Staten Island named Ryan Rossiter outplayed BJ ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/21/buckeyes-blow-it/ Get aggressive out there.  Ohio State, take it to Siena.  Michigan State, gel now and roll over Robert Morris.  Wisconsin, shock the pundits and give Florida State the hammer. Led by three coaches with fire in their bellies, we expect these teams to follow Michigan's lead and play hard, smart, ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/20/attitudinal-shift-coming-day-2/ March delivers seven Big Ten teams to the doorstep of NCAA Tournament.  By most measures, all but two of these teams (Michigan State and Wisconsin) are in the toddler stages of rebuilding projects. Purdue and Illinois are led by sophomores; Ohio State, on account of successive defections of talent to ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/17/save-it-for-a-rainy-day-big-ten-in-the-big-dance/ The first round play of the Big Ten Tournament offered no headlines to compete with various upsets in other conference tournaments.  The teams that were expected to win in the first round games won.  In each case, the winners put the finishing touches on their NCAA Tournament resumes while the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/13/first-round-no-surprises/ On the heels of the last week's All-Hoopraker teams, our editorial board concocted another excuse to drink a few pints on Sunday night as we devoted the better part of three transcendent hours at a tiny, crowded table in our favorite temple of triglycerides to debate, gerrymander and tabulate the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/09/with-honors-3/ As is our tradition, Hoopraker’s editorial board spent the better part of two hours this afternoon sequestered at the corner table on the second floor of The Spotted Pig in New York's West Village. The board, brows furrowed, ear drums processing the magic of James Honeyman Scott's guitar, and hearts ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/06/with-honors-all-hoopraker-edition/ With a season sweep of the Illini, Penn State substantially boosted its resume for an NCAA invite.  Unlike the much maligned 38 to 33 game in Champaign two weeks ago, Illinois maintained a thin thread of control throughout this game.  But perhaps foreshadowing trouble in March, the demons that plagued ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/06/illinois-loses-it-touch-penn-state-shines/ The Northwestern Wildcats are perhaps the hottest team in the Conference right now as they won their fourth straight last nite beating Purdue on their home court 64 to 61. This string of victories include home wins against OSU and Iowa, and road wins against Indiana and the Boilermakers.  The Boilermakers had ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/05/wildcats-pursue-historic-records/ Iowa let another close game slip through its Midwestern fingers in Carver-Hawkeye last night, falling 60-58 to Thad Matta's five-star laden Buckeyes.  The game featured another strong performance from the Talented Mr. Turner, a shooting clinic from former-West Virgina/John Beilein recruit Devan Bawinkel, and several more in a season of ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/04/jake-kelly-for-governor/ The Big Ten's John Beilein and Bill Carmody are proponents of the Princeton Offense, sometimes confused by the likes of Jay Bilas with a slowdown game.  This week, the Wildcats and Wolverines both put up some pretty impressive offensive numbers, 75 and 87, respectively .  The Michigan/Purdue game last night was ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/27/princeton-offense-yields-points/ This season we’ve been impaled by the presence of referees perhaps more than any season in recent memory.  That’s not a good thing.  Ideally, players, coaches and fans prefer not knowing the referees are even on the court.  Too often the referees who frequent Big Ten arenas take center stage, ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/24/zebras-on-cialis-redux/ Understandably much focus is being placed on the Big Ten Conference's strong sophomore class.  As of February 22, the top three scorers are sophomores- Battle (17.3), Harris (17.2), and Turner (17.2).  Four seniors are in the top 15 scorers- NU's Moore (14.9), Cornley (14.6), Landry (12.8), and Pringle (12.7).  Seniors ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/22/role-of-seniors/ The tight conference race continues as Michigan State falters at Purdue, Illinois stumbles against Penn State on their own court, and Ohio State loses to Northwestern in Evanston.  Purdue is growing stronger by the week; Penn State seems to be back on track, and Northwestern wins a close one. We ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/22/march-madness-begins-in-a-week/ On Sunday, the Cats simply could not find a way to pull out a win over Michigan.  The game was close the entire 45 minutes- yes, it was an overtime.  Again, Michigan put the clamps on Moore and held him well below his shooting average of 15 points per game.  ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/17/cats-lose-again-bos-back/ Push Through the Tape Anyone who has run a marathon knows that a long race requires rigorous preparation including diet, conditioning, mental toughness, and tactical smarts.  The Big Ten Conference race is at the 20 mile mark in marathon terms and all of the preparatory steps begin to pay dividends for those teams ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/15/race-to-finish-begins/ This weekend, four Big Ten teams play for their post-season lives. In a season marked by what will be commonplace for the foreseeable future, a brutally competitive Conference with no easy wins, the margin for error is now nil for Penn State, Michigan and Northwestern and getting slim for Minnesota. The ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/14/saturday-post-up-two-games-three-wins/ Last week, Ohio State (17-5, 7-4) faced a challenge of playing two ranked teams back-to-back and they nailed it. In the process, a basketball smart sophomore from Chicago named Evan Turner put Ohio State on his back and, en route, garnered the mantle of the Big Ten's best for the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/13/ohio-states-talented-mr-turner/ ESPN can muster the courage to hammer John Beilein and Manny Harris for an inadvertent elbow to Chris Kramer's nose, which it deemed worthy of an all-out blitz against Michigan led by Jay Bilas and followed by Pat Forde.  But last night, a Kyle Singler elbow to Tyler Hansbrough's face ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/12/a-duke-elbow-an-espn-bias/ After a 54-42 loss to Michigan State in Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor isn't smiling this morning.  The reality of the Wolverines' NCAA aspirations have rapidly vaporized in the swoon of seven losses in nine games and they now sport a 15-10 record.  No doubt, at the end of the night, ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/11/two-winners-in-michigan/ Spartans Peaking Michigan State is playing well even though Raymar Morgan continues to battle the viral infection.  The Spartans have such a deep bench that playing without Morgan is not as big a negative as it would be for lesser teams.  Morgan's inability to play up to full strength in the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/10/random-big-ten-thoughts/ On second thought, maybe ESPN sage Pat Forde was on to something when he suggested college basketball players need to keep their elbows to themselves.  In the wake of another in a series Big Ten flying elbows delivered, this time by Indiana's Devan Dumes upon the shoulder of Michigan State's ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/09/tom-crean-devan-dumes-suspended-for-a-few-instances-of-crossing-the-line/ Riding a three game shooting slump, Illinois (19-5, 7-4) regained its footing this weekend with a combination of defense and blue collar effort in a 66-48 beating of Purdue (17-6, 6-4) in Champaign.  For its part, Matt Painter's Boilermakers ended a rough week that saw it lose twice on the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/08/understaffed-boilermakers/ Come February in a conference as competitive as the Big Ten, the passion for the game oozes off the chins of players and coaches thick as tobacco juice.  Show up in another time zone and you'll get drilled as Minnesota was against the Spartans.  Show up with less than your ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/06/loose-balls-february-6/ ESPN's Pat Forde's a good read but his latest column for ESPN.com, in which he scolds Michigan basketball, is misguided.  Fronted by a tabloid-ready photo of a bleeding Chris Kramer, Forde piles on John Beilein suggesting, much as cohort Jay Bilas did earlier in the week, that Michigan hoops suffers ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/04/pat-forde-piles-on-bielien-miscellany/ The Big Ten Network has been running a generally well conceived commercial touting the stellar and deep tradition of the Conference.  Images of Kevin McHale, Hoosier National Championship banners, and Magic Johnson grace the screen.  Then we see Ohio State's David Lighty lacing up his sneakers with a poster of ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/03/loose-balls-february-3/ The train you hear rolling down the track is the biggest week in Ohio State’s (15-5, 5-4) season. On Tuesday night, Purdue (17-4, 6-2), winner of six straight steams into Value City Arena and on Saturday night the Buckeyes play Minnesota (18-3, 6-3). Win both and the Buckeyes earn their ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/02/the-buckeye-season/ Last week, we wrote Northwestern's penchant for delivering a tantalizing upset each season was insufficient to placate hungry Wildcats fans in 2009.  Now is the time for Bill Carmody and his Northwestern players to sustain the level of competitiveness they showed against Michigan State throughout the remainder of the season.  ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/02/01/a-great-big-ten-game-live-from-evanston/ Nothing too complicated here: Michigan really needs to pull off an upset today against Purdue and Wisconsin really, really needs to beat Northwestern in Welsh-Ryan. No doubt, with the split to Duke and the UCLA win now a distant memory, Michigan needs the stars to align, regroup and put their ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/31/code-red-big-ten-saturday/ Don't look now, but look where Bo Ryan is looking: around the corner.  In the midst of a five game swoon that could become six should the Badgers lose to Northwestern in Welsh-Ryan on Saturday, Ryan has integrated freshman Jordan Taylor in a rotation that already has come to rely ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/30/loose-balls-january-30/ Basketball heaven is upon us.  A classic ready matchup between Illinois and Minnesota awaits Big Ten fans tonight while last night we had the rare treat to watch two team play their hearts out.  Such was the case in Evanston as an impassioned Tom Crean urged and prodded and cajoled ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/29/hey-bacon-lovers/ If you've got a tv and a computer, turn them on.  Now get ready to watch the Illinois Minnesota game.  I suspect you won't regret the decision.  Are they on? Okay. Now, if you're anything but an impassioned Illini fan, head straight for The Daily Gopher.  They'll be chatting away ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/29/go-to-the-daily-gopher/ Three blocks from a frozen Lake Mendota and an empty Union Terrace, Matt Painter and his Boilermakers will try to bury Wisconsin.  If there ever was a late January must win for the Bo Ryan’s Badgers (12-7, 3-4), tonight’s game against Purdue (15-4, 4-2) is it.  Lock Down Against Minnesota, the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/27/time-out-of-time-in-madison/ It never made complete sense: 10 games into the basketball season, a freshman transfers because he's not starting.  Now, we learn, former Ohio State point guard Anthony Crater, who quit the team one month ago and transferred to South Florida, was arrested along with Mike Mercer, an SFU transfer from ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/26/anthony-crater-arrested/ We've watched for the better part of five seasons as Thad Matta recalibrated Ohio State basketball.  With spacing on offense at times reminiscent of Duke and a defense evoking shades of North Carolina, Matta has stockpiled a string of 20+ win seasons.  But, deep into his tenure, the Buckeyes still ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/21/anatomy-of-a-stinker-buckeye-style/ After blowing a home game against Ohio State this weekend, Michigan (13-5) heads into State College tonight to play Penn State (14-5). Both teams are tied at 3-3 in Conference and with February games looming against the top tier of the Big Ten, Penn State needs to protect the Bryce ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/20/protect-your-home-penn-state-and-illinois/ Six games into the Conference season, here's an indiscriminate collection of players we enjoy watching without sole regard to their individual numbers.  Some are stars, some will be stars, some are glue.  All make their teams better, which at the end of the day is all that really matters. Damian Johnson ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/19/honor-roll-big-ten-players/ At 15-2, Illinois is set to play Michigan State, the heir apparent to the Conference title in the Breslin Center on Saturday.  It's a tall order for any team but expect Illinois to show up and make it a game.  With the series split with Michigan and a huge road ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/17/illini-flying-under-radar/ You can't lace up your sneakers and hit the court without confidence and expect to win.  If you think you're playing a team better than yours, in about 2 hours they most certainly will be.  In the wake of a shellacking by Michigan State to open the Conference season, Minnesota ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/16/loose-balls-january-16/ Two teams sit at the precipice.  After losses by Minnesota and Northwestern in their Conference openers, both teams can give substantial credence to the promise of their successful non-conference seasons with wins over Ohio State and Michigan State respectively.  Losses by the Gophers or the Wildcats, however, will dent the ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/03/gophers-and-wildcats-need-wins/ Happy New Year from Hoopraker.  I feel remarkably well for a guy who stayed up far past his bedtime and found no mercy from a son who came calling, race cars in hand, at 6:00 am.  Anyway, a big day in the Big Ten, from Williams Arena, to Ann Arbor ... http://hoopraker.com/2009/01/01/loose-balls-jan-1/ The reign of Purdue's Chris Kramer as the Big Ten's finest defensive player is over.  Rather than a knock on Kramer, it's an acknowledgment that Minnesota's Damian Johnson is a remarkable player and a defensive force.  After hounding future lottery pick Earl Clark into a miserable shooting game in the ... http://hoopraker.com/2008/12/31/minnesotas-sweet-d/ With the conclusion of the non-conference slate of games comes a moment of solitude where we acknowledge the blossoming of last season's promise into this season's reality.  Outside the shadow of Mount Nittany, it may be a mild surprise that Conference's best backcourt thus far comes from Penn State. The ... http://hoopraker.com/2008/12/30/the-big-tens-best-backcourt/ One Z-Pack, two refills of penicillin, one bottle of Advil (maybe more) and a room scattered with Kleenex.  It's been a deep and dark December at Hoopraker.  In two weeks marked by our infirmity, a few simple truths have become self-evident for the basketball teams at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Michigan ... http://hoopraker.com/2008/12/16/loose-balls-december-16/ The Northwestern Wildcats helped even out the split of games in the ACC/Big10 matchups by beating the Florida State Seminoles 73 to 59 last night in Evanston before 3537 fans.  For a long time fan and watcher of Wildcat basketball there were some reasons to gain some optimism that things ... http://hoopraker.com/2008/12/04/wildcats-win-big/