College Basketball

Safe at Home

Iowa and Michigan are the big surprises in the bruising Big Ten--but can they, or anyone else in the league, win on the road?

The evidence would not--actually, could not--be reviewed. Iowa coach Steve Alford stood in front of his team, 30 minutes after a humiliating 30-point loss at Michigan State on Jan. 21, and ceremoniously destroyed the game footage, cracking the VHS cassette, ripping out the magnetic tape and saying, "We have to move on."

Alford's message--forget road woes and forge onward--should be heeded throughout the Big Ten, where any venture away from one's friendly home confines has almost always ended in defeat this year. In a wide-open league that is No. 1 in the RPI rankings and could send seven of its 11 teams to the NCAA tournament, the septet of title contenders is a combined 25-1 in its home arenas during conference play. ( Ohio State had the only home loss, to Michigan State.)

And, indeed, Alford's Hawkeyes did move on from what senior forward Greg Brunner called a "frustrating, annoying" loss to the Spartans by returning home to Iowa City for wins over No. 13 Indiana and No. 16 Ohio State. At week's end Iowa found itself in a four-way tie (along with Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin) for the conference lead at 5-2, with Indiana, Michigan State and Ohio State a game behind.

It's been quite a turnaround for No. 23--ranked Iowa (16-5). A year ago the Hawkeyes staggered to a seventh-place finish in the Big Ten after leading scorer Pierre Pierce was dismissed from the team in midseason. But this year, with a veteran lineup of three seniors and two juniors, they've become an unyielding defensive unit: Their 37.4 field goal percentage defense ranks sixth in the nation. "We went through a lot," says Brunner, who was forced to serve as an undersized center as a 6'7", 240-pound sophomore, "and it's made us realize that once things started going the right way, we can be contenders."

Looming large on the Hawkeyes' schedule this Saturday is a showdown in Iowa City with No. 21 Michigan (15-3), which followed a win over then No. 11 Michigan State with a victory over No. 23 Wisconsin last Saturday. In this Midwestern meat grinder, a four-game winning streak "is almost unheard of," says Wolverines senior forward Graham Brown. Michigan fans, who endured a 13-18 season in 2004-05 while also watching as the glory of the Fab Five era was expunged from the record books by NCAA sanctions, stormed the floor after their team upset the Spartans. Following the win over the Badgers, junior forward Courtney Sims summed up the feelings of the players on the first Michigan team to be ranked since 1997-98: "To be in first place [in the Big Ten] is hard to comprehend," he said, "but it feels great."

It's clear that whoever wins the Big Ten title will need to win on the road. Uneven refereeing could be a reason the conference has so many hapless travelers: In 27 of 39 (69.2%) league games this season, the visiting team has been whistled for more fouls. That might be a reflection on the intimidating crowds in the Big Ten's famously inhospitable gyms. Says Brunner, "There aren't many conferences that stack up with the arenas we have."

Still, come tournament time, everyone has to win on the road. A year ago the Big Ten was labeled a "weak" conference and responded by sending two teams to the Final Four and a third to the Elite Eight. Now the league has seven teams ranked in the Top 20 of the RPI. But if they hope to duplicate last year's March success, the conference heavyweights must prove that they're not just a cozy bunch of homebodies.

SHOOTING STAR