It’s now December and it feels like as each day goes on, we get more and more familiar with these Big Ten teams. Feast Week played a huge part in that, and just when you thought you knew everything about the conference, you don’t.

The MTEs (multiple team events) around the holiday weekend were as marquee as they are made out to be. It’s a time to see where you fit in in the world of college basketball and everybody has their eyes on you. It seems as if everybody involved, whether its media, fans, players and coaches, live for these tournaments. Well, maybe not everybody — Dan Hurley may have other feelings as UConn lethargically went 0-3 in Maui.

Maui, Atlantis, Fort Myers and Players Era, just to name a few, held the fate of the emerging powers of the Big Ten. Without further ado, let's hop into it!

After its 4-0 start, there are major problems with Indiana. Who is to blame?

Even with Indiana being ranked in the AP Top 25, they were not mentioned at all in the first three weeks of this series. I just didn’t necessarily think that it was worth talking about. You beat three mid-majors and handle an underwhelming South Carolina team at home.

But then the Hoosiers took off for Atlantis. Regardless if they won the tournament or finished last, they would have been featured either way.

Let's not beat around the bush, Indiana heavily underachieved and underperformed in Atlantis. The Hoosiers put up uninspiring performances against teams that were ranked at the time of play, or currently ranked in the latest poll, Louisville on Wednesday and Gonzaga on Thursday.

To prevent these types of performances from happening, Indiana did the work in the off-season and picked up high-quality transfers in Oumar Ballo, Kanaan Carlyle, Myles Rice and Luke Goode.

In those four, you get a dominant big, a position which has a great track record under Mike Woodson. You get a point guard who can both score and assist — some may have even uttered him as the best point guard IU has had since Yogi Ferrell, and I agreed frankly through the first four games. Plus scoring threats from Kanaan Carlyle and an Indiana kid as your consistent 3-point go-to.

But something is just missing. It starts with what has plagued Woodson teams in all of his seasons at IU — 3-point shooting.

Indiana made seven 3s against UL and four against the Zags, 35 and 22 percent respectively. Luke Goode was 2-for-8 from beyond the arc in the two losses combined. With Goode not being able to be consistent in his sole purpose, it’s almost as if he didn’t even transfer. Which means that you have to find consistency elsewhere.

While Mackenzie Mgbako, who to me, has looked to have a similar jump from freshman to sophomore seasons much like Franz Wagner did in his time at Michigan, he was 6-for-17 in the losses. Mgbako has been playing like a lottery pick so far, but couldn’t get it done in the Bahamas.

It just seems as if Indiana not only can’t play from behind, but also quits when things aren’t going well. That is on the coaches.

Now, wherever you go in IU twitter it seems as if everybody wants Mike Woodson gone. But at the same time, Mike Woodson is not missing 15 threes, he's not committing the easily preventable turnovers, which Indiana had 23 of against Louisville.

He had a plan to go get transfers, transfers that would make sense, and they do make sense. So I’m not one to blame everything on Woodson. But we will see. Indiana has a tough mid-major matchups against Sam Houston State, who ranks 14th in the country in three-point efficiency. Plus, a pesky MAC squad in Miami-Ohio on friday.

Also, the Trey Galloway drama is a horrible look, for any program.

Ninety-one points in three games — welcome to the Dylan Harper show

All I can say is wow. The prophecy is true.

Rutgers went 1-2 in the Players Era tournament, losing to two tournament teams and a third that will contend for their conference. But what matters is that Rutgers has it.

In three games, Harper notched 91 points — 34, 36 and 18 points in each of the three Players Era games. Plus, Harper shot over 50% from the floor in both of the 30-pointers.

He is everything that we thought he would be. Rutgers played three teams that were probably better than them, and won a game. But even in defeat, this should make Knight fans smile.

What does this mean for the rest of the RU squad? Well, it’s only December and Rutgers has time to find their strengths outside of Harper and Ace Bailey. What we do know is that the Scarlet Knights have guaranteed scoring threats that Big Ten defenses will have to focus on mainly. Five-star recruits bust all the time and become non-factors. It looks like that won’t be the case for either Bailey or Harper.

But if other RU players can provide vital scoring roles, this team will be dangerous. Steve Pikiell has his work cut out for him.

Again, even in defeat, I am all smiles if I am Rutgers.

Oregon wins the first Players Era tournament in Vegas, knocking off two ranked teams in process

There really isn’t much else to say other than Oregon is getting the best from everybody on its roster.

Especially from Villanova transfer T.J. Bamba. It seems as if every time I write about Oregon, somebody is consistently performing above and beyond. Whether it’s Nate Bittle, who was heavily involved last week, or Jackson Shelstad, and now Bamba.

Bamba scored double-figures in all three of Oregon’s Players Era games and was the leading scorer against Texas A&M and San Diego State.

Consistency from its assets. That is what makes Oregon so good. The Ducks are the best team in the Big Ten right now.

Quick hitters

Michigan shows shades of Beilein in Fort Myers Classic tournament win

Michigan heads back to Ann Arbor with some hardware after beating Virginia Tech and at the time No. 22 Xavier in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

In seven games under Dusty May, Michigan looks like it could be a dark horse in the Big Ten, and they showed why in Florida.

It starts and ends with this; if Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin are scoring double-figures at the same time, watch out. Wolf’s scoring so far in 2024-25 hasn’t been an issue, and against the Musketeers, he was phenomenal. 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was 4-for-4 from 3, plus 14 rebounds.

But for Goldin on the other hand, it’s been streaky. The talent and size are there, he’s just making dumb mistakes that Michigan cannot afford in the long run. Specifically, as crazy as this may sound, missing dunks and layups at 7-foot-1. But against Xavier he had easily his best night as a Wolverine, with 18 points.

Goldin even made his only 3-point attempt of the game. Funny enough, Michigan fans speculated how many times he had not only made, but attempted 3-pointers. Goldin responded on Twitter/X that it was his first attempt, ever.

These are the two biggest scoring threats for Michigan. We saw them both shine in Michigan’s biggest stage this season thus far, a neutral site against a ranked team.

But the early December window of conference matchups throws Michigan into the fire early. That fire is Kohl Center, where Michigan hasn’t won, without including the empty arena COVID season, since 2018.

It should be an awesome matchup between two amazing offenses.

Conference Slate - Week 4 - Dec. 2-8

Tuesday Dec. 3

Michigan @ No. 11 Wisconsin, 9 p.m., Peacock

Sam Houston State @ Indiana, Big Ten Network

Iowa @ Northwestern, 7 p.m., Peacock

Washington @ UCLA, 10:30 p.m., FS1

Wednesday Dec. 4

Ohio State @ Maryland, 6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network

Michigan State @ Minnesota, 8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network

No. 12 Oregon @ USC, 10:30 p.m. Big Ten Network

Thursday Dec. 5

No. 8 Purdue @ Penn State, 6:30 p.m., FS1

Friday Dec. 6

Miami Ohio @ Indiana, 7 p.m., Big Ten Network

No. 19 Illinois @ Northwestern, 9 p.m., Big Ten Network

Saturday Dec. 7

Iowa @ Michigan, 2 p.m., FS1

Rutgers @ Ohio State, Noon, FS1

Nebraska @ Michigan State, BTN

No. 11 Wisconsin @ No. 5 Marquette, 1:30 p.m., FOX

USC @ Washington, 6 p.m., Big Ten Network

Sunday Dec. 7

Maryland @ Purdue, Noon, Big Ten Network

UCLA @ No. 12 Oregon, 6 p.m., Big Ten Network

Power Rankings

1. Oregon

2. Purdue

3. Wisconsin

4. Illinois

5. Maryland

6. Ohio State

7. Michigan

8. Michigan State

9. Indiana

10. Rutgers

11. UCLA

12. Nebraska

13. Iowa

14. Washington

15. Northwestern

16. Penn State

17. Minnesota

18. USC

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