It's shaping up to be a classic season of Big Ten hoops. It feels almost as if the early 2010s vibes are back this season. Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa are all in the upper echelon of the conference through the first couple weeks. This conference is must-see TV, especially on the weekends.
But, the new additions to the conference are still adjusting to a lot of things: New opponents, travel and of course, officiating. I say we waste no time and get into that now.
Mick Cronin is going to have a heart attack and I don’t blame him
So you wanna coach hoops in the Big Ten, eh? Is what somebody should’ve asked Mick Cronin on June 30, 2022 when his Bruins and the USC Trojans announced their move to the Big Ten.
In UCLA’s two matchups last week, the loss at Pauley to Michigan and then the loss at Maryland, the Bruins added to their losing skid that formed at Nebraska.
Throughout this losing streak Cronin has lost his players and his mind.
After the Michigan loss, Cronin expressed to the media that he essentially is the only one “trying” at practice and seemingly in games too.
“I have to run on the court to get guys to play hard,” Cronin said to the media after the Michigan loss. “I have the most energy of anybody at practice every day. I’m upset with everybody in that locker room, my assistant coaches and my players.”
To go on top of that, Cronin was not a fan of the officiating in College Park on Friday night and was ejected.
I have two thoughts on this situation.
My first thought is, if Cronin is giving it his all, and his players are not, why doesn’t he just resign and leave? He’d be hired at a number of places in the off-season. Leave the players in the dust.
Maybe that is a stretch by me because he did recruit those players, but I thought about that idea quite a bit.
Secondly, I do agree that some of the officiating can be a little much in the Big Ten. The no-call that got Cronin ejected was a pocket picking steal from Ja’Kobi Gillespie which could’ve gone either way.
Iowa does the unthinkable, plays defense and beats Indiana by 25 behind six steals from Thelwell
Fran McCaffery loves the 3-ball. It’s been the forefront of Iowa basketball (for both men’s and women’s for that matter) for years. That’s no different this year. But coming into this season, Iowa only had two proven commodities in my opinion, Payton Sandfort and Owen Freeman.
Coming into the season, many Hawkeyes needed to step up. Those players were Josh Dix, Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort. Those guys have stepped up. Dix is averaging 14 points and game and the other two I named are both averaging over nine points a game.
But while watching Iowa play Indiana I couldn’t help but notice Iowa played some stellar defense, which is not something they do too often.
Morehead State transfer Drew Thelwell was a force against IU with six steals.
With his contribution defensively and 11 team total 3-point makes, the Hawks blew out Indiana.
While watching this Iowa team, they resemble an NBA team in the sense that no lead is safe with Iowa. They will always make games close — mostly because they have an NBA caliber player in Payton Sandfort who can put them into games they may be out of.
Now, Iowa is in the thick of the Big Ten sitting at 3-2 and have five unranked matchups up next. The Hawks can make some real noise.
Quick Hitters
Kasparas Jakučionis’ absence leads to ugly home loss for Illinois
Star Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakučionis has been dealing with a forearm injury that he sustained at Washington on Jan. 5.
In his absence, the Illini made light work of Penn State, winning by 39 but also lost at State Farm Center to USC. I think very poorly of this USC team. They have athletes but lack cohesiveness. Desmond Claude led the way in Champaign with 31 points.
Illinois is plenty deep to play without Jakučionis, as it did against Penn State. But UI has three huge games, at Indiana, at Michigan State and then Maryland.
Games to watch
Tuesday Jan. 14
No. 19 Illinois @ Indiana, 7 p.m., Peacock
Iowa @ USC, 10:30 p.m., FS1
Saturday, Jan. 18
No. 17 Purdue @ No. 13 Oregon, 3 p.m., NBC
Sunday, Jan. 19
No. 19 Illinois @ No. 12 Michigan State, noon, CBS
Nebraska @ Maryland, noon, Big Ten Network
Northwestern @ No. 20 Michigan, 2 p.m., Big Ten Network
Team of the Week
Drew Thelwell (IOWA)
Josh Dix (IOWA)
Ben Humrichous (ILL)
C.J. Cox (PUR)
Vlad Goldin (UM)
Co-Freshmen of the Week
Ben Humrichous (ILL)
C.J. Cox (PUR)
Power Rankings
1. Michigan
2. Michigan State
3. Purdue
4. Illinois
5. Oregon
6. Wisconsin
7. Iowa
8. Maryland
9. Indiana
10. Nebraska
11. Penn State
12. UCLA
13. Ohio State
14. USC
15. Rutgers
16. Northwestern
17. Washington
18. Minnesota
