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Daniel Horton keyed Michigan's win over Wisconsin with 25 points, including the deciding basket.
AP
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Illinois
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Indiana
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Michigan State
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Wisconsin
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Iowa
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Minnesota
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Michigan
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Purdue
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Ohio State
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Northwestern
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Penn State
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Consecutive free throws that Michigan State hit in its conference opener against Ohio State before a miss by guard Chris Hill late in the second half.
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“I’ve been in this league 20 years now, and there aren’t many places I look forward to going to.”
-- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, responding to a question about how hard it is to play on the road in the Big Ten. The Spartans opened up league play at home and will now hit the road for three straight.
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By Brian Hamilton, Special to CNNSI.com
The fans rushed the Crisler Arena floor, and this was an odd development for a couple of reasons: One, fans rushing the floor indicates that people actually attended a Michigan basketball game. And two, after an 0-6 start, no one figured to spill out of the stands after a game unless they were looking to stage a protest riot.
No, a funny thing happened on the way to the bottom. The Wolverines won, then won again. And again. Now, following a one-point squeaker over a 10-victory Wisconsin team in the Big Ten opener, Michigan's winning streak is at eight.
“A lot of people were saying, it’s the same old Michigan -- but it isn’t,” guard Daniel Horton said after the 66-65 victory.
And the Wolverines are not alone. Suddenly, any Big Ten team seems capable of beating another. Iowa began the season with expectations firmly in the gutter, but the Hawkeyes already have nine wins, including a rare road victory at Northwestern. The Wildcats, meanwhile, have posted eight wins, while 8-3 Purdue went punch-for-punch against Indiana in their special non-conference game at the RCA Dome.
“Yeah, you have the Indianas and Michigan States and Illinois that are top 10 teams in America, but it’s that second group that is so good and so tough every night. There just aren’t a lot of free games along the way,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. “Michigan and Northwestern, I don’t think those are teams that a month ago people wanted to talk about. But I think you have to. I just think this league perpetuates a lot of balance.”
“You’re looking at a league that goes as deep or deeper than any conference in the country again,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I still think that’s the plus to our league. I’m not sure you have as many elite teams at the top that some conferences might have -- but I think top to bottom, it’s going to be so difficult to win on the road and so many people are capable of beating you.”
What it apparently means once again is that there won’t be a runaway winner in the Big Ten title race. Only once since the 1992-93 season has a league champion emerged with fewer than three league losses. Last year, four teams tied for the regular-season title with somewhat pedestrian 11-5 records. That was after a run of three out of four years in which the regular season champs had three losses in league play.
It’s still unlikely that some of the mid-level Big Ten teams, such as Iowa or Northwestern or even Michigan, will rise to a Big Ten title. But that doesn’t mean they won’t have an important impact on the title race. Michigan’s win over Wisconsin is already evidence enough of that.
“I’ve never really felt that there’s anybody in conference that we can really think that we’re going into a game and, if we don’t play well, we’re going to win because we’re better,” Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien said. “I don’t see somebody going through the league with one or two losses. I just don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s way too many good teams with potential to beat each other. Even those teams that are going to be not as good as the best will have opportunity to win a couple games.”
So fans of the middle-of-the-pack teams can be almost sure to leave their seats for the court at some point this year. A couple more celebrations might become a reality before the Big Ten season is out.
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It's safe to say that Daniel Horton has had something to do with Michigan’s huge turnaround. And at least Wednesday, he had just about everything to do with the Wolverines’ turnaround against Wisconsin.
The freshman guard scored 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but that’s just the eye-catcher. There were the 10 points that came during Michigan’s game-closing 22-6 run. There was the bank shot with seven seconds left that put the Wolverines ahead by one. And there was the block on Devin Harris’ last-second attempt that sealed Michigan’s unlikely victory and continued its unlikely revival.
The chatter this week has been directed primarily toward an outstanding Big Ten freshman class. With continued efforts in big games, Horton will own a spot near the head of that class.
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HOT: Indiana vs. Penn State
The Hoosiers are 20-1 all-time against the Nittany Lions, including wins in the last 12 meetings.
NOT: Minnesota’s shooting
A team that relies on its offense shot just 5 of 26 on 3-pointers and just 30.5 percent overall in its league opener against Illinois.
HOT: Michigan State guard play
With Chris Hill struggling against Ohio State, the other members of the Spartans’ backcourt stepped up with scoring: Alan Anderson (18 points), Maurice Ager (15) and Kelvin Torbert (12).
NOT: Northwestern’s shooting
Starters made just 4 of 21 attempts from 3-point range Wednesday in five-point loss to Iowa.
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Perhaps you figured Jim O’Brien’s wasn't too worried about his depth at Ohio State. A mere look at the box score -- and the injury report -- confirms, though, that the Buckeyes' coach has plenty to be concerned about.
In the team’s Big Ten opener Thursday, four starters played at least 34 minutes against Michigan State. One (Zach Williams) went the distance for 40 minutes and another (Brent Darby) fell just two minutes short. This is really nothing new for Ohio State; Darby, the floor leader, has played 35 or more minutes in 10 of 12 games.
The problem is, the Buckeyes may even be hurting more for depth -- literally. Guard Sean Connolly missed the Michigan State game with an ankle injury. Darby suffered a hip injury during the game. And O’Brien doesn’t have much time to figure out how to solve these issues: Ohio State has to turn around from the Thursday night matchup and host Indiana on Saturday.
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 Illinois’ Brian Cook and Sean Harrington
Combined for 47 of the Illini’s 76 points in critical opening road win at Minnesota, featuring 3-pointers on three straight possessions by Harrington down the stretch that got Illinois in position to win.
Michigan’s Daniel Horton and LaVell Blanchard
Combined for 42 points in a huge upset win over Wisconsin, including a combined 9 of 16 shooting from 3-point range and Horton’s game-winning bank shot with time running down.
Michigan State guard Alan Anderson
Hit all 14 of his free throw attempts against Ohio State, taking just four shots from the field en route to 18-point night.
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It’s inevitable, but every year some potential contenders have to work to stay out of a big 0-2 hole as conference play moves into its first weekend. This year, it’s Wisconsin and Ohio State facing huge obstacles as they try to get off the early schneid. The Badgers must travel to always tough Illinois on the heels of a disappointing loss at Michigan. Ohio State, reeling from its lack of depth, has a 48-hour turnaround before it hosts Indiana.
Then there’s Minnesota, which gets to stew a week after dropping a Big Ten home opener to Illinois before it heads to Wisconsin. But that’s not where potential pitfalls end for the Gophers. Michigan State visits after that, and suddenly a trip to Michigan on Jan. 22 isn’t the bargain one thought it would be (and Minnesota lost at Michigan last year). Odds are it won’t happen, but an 0-4 league start would make Minnesota almost a shoo-in candidate for most disappointing team of the year honors.
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Indiana coach Mike Davis benched center George Leach for part of the team’s Big Ten opener on Wednesday. “Leach is trying to block too many shots and not playing position basketball,” Davis said. “That’s a concern of mine. Because in the Big Ten, you can’t depend on blocking shots, because it’s so physical.” … Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has a pretty good way to introduce freshman stud Alando Tucker to those who haven’t seen him yet. “He has ability physically to get off the floor, which everybody knows. When you break Mike Finley’s vertical record, that tends to get notoriety.” … Minnesota has now played Illinois to open the Big Ten season for three straight seasons and lost all three. Gophers coach Dan Monson joked that it’s the last residual punishment for the academic fraud transgressions. “That’s about as severe a punishment as we can get,” he said. … Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said that due to his team’s poor 3-point shooting against Iowa -- the Wildcats were just 6 of 25 and leading sharpshooter Winston Blake remains in a prolonged slump -- lineup changes are in order. “I’ve been stressing not taking too many threes,” Carmody said. … Part of Purdue’s improvement this year has apparently come with coach Gene Keady getting his defensive message across, starting with the 10 days of practice the team had before a European trip. “We went back to the drawing board after Iowa beat us in the Big Ten [tournament],” Keady said. “At that time, we just started like we didn’t know anything about basketball with our players.” … Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is still lamenting the fact that he hasn’t been able to get a steady rotation going. Guard Maurice Ager is now just getting to practice frequently and forward Adam Wolfe is still working his way back. Izzo said that Wolfe has probably practiced “six times in the past year.” “It’s just kind of wearing on all of us, yet I think we’ve made some steps in right direction,” he said.
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