Big Ten at Ten 3.1.13: Wasted Opportunities

Good morning everyone! Isn't College Basketball fun? With some technical difficulties happening yesterday, I was unable to get out the links, but after last night's crazy Duke loss added to the equation, it feels like Michigan really wasted their opportunity, didn't it? In the past four days, three top four teams have lost and we are living in a world where Gonzaga is the best team in the country after their gritty win at BYU last night.

Now, Virginia and Minnesota are infinitely better than Penn State, but none of these losses look specifically good right now. Nonetheless, as the final week and conference tournaments come into play, I still see Indiana and Duke as 1 seeds. The biggest loser, as I have been alluding to, is Michigan. They were in prime position to secure one of those top lines, but this Penn State loss looks bad. It helps that other teams are going down in flames, but wow.

Anyhow, kind of a busy morning for me today. Here are some links from yesterday. Enjoy and feel free to discuss if Michigan's loss to Penn State is the ugliest loss of the season.

Also check out apy5000's awesome Penn State piece from yesterday. It's fun when the underdog wins.

• The Champaign Room reports that Groce and the Illini are still in the race to secure Juco Guard Desmond Lee. I don't follow recruiting in football close enough and I sure as heck don't follow it in basketball... Still, that's an impressive offer list, so I am guessing he can play a little ball.
• John M does a recap of what the Minnesota loss means to Indiana and has some quick thoughts on big picture for the Hoosiers. Honestly, while nobody thinks that Michigan was going to win the Big Ten regular season title anyways, it has got to feel good to have some of the negative press from the Minny game gone now.
• Patrick Vint has one of the most level headed thought processes on Iowa announcing their intention to forget Florida in football recruiting. While you never like leaving a talent bed behind, I can definitely understand why you would. Also, it's not like putting all your efforts into Texas is a bad move -- especially when you have connections.
• Well, um, Michigan? Not much more needs to be said here... MnB assesses the damage.
• So is Jim Bollman the new OC at MSU or is he just hanging out there? ToC has some thoughts and the comments are a mix of 'Ugh... really?' and 'Welp, I suppose it couldn't be much worse...' On a sidenote,LGHL has their thoughts on Bollman.
• TDG has all your Gopher responses after the major upset over Indiana. I would also recommend checking out all the GIF's because who doesn't love watching victory GIF's?
• Nebraska expanded their stadium to be 90k+, but ticket sales have not flown off the shelves yet. While the sellout streak is not in jeopardy yet, Husker Mike at Corn Nation asks what number is too high for Nebraska?
• Rodger Sherman has all your Northwestern Spring Football news on SOP. My favorite part is that there is apparently work-in-motion to get a Culver's somewhere near campus for you Wildcat fans. This is most definitely good news for you all. [mmmmmm.... cheese curds]
• Ohio State plays Northwestern in Evanston tonight and while Ohio State is decidedly better than the Wildcats, with the way things are going, would anyone be surprised to see the upset? Well, yes, but still, Northwestern is playing for pride and that's a strong motivator. LGHL has the Buckeye preview.
• You know what? Good for Penn State all around. Here is the BSD story. Not much more needs to be said either.
• So apparently Danny Hope is talking now and he is not to pleased with Purdue. Apparently he felt like he had done more than enough to deserve an extension. While I am not super familiar with the beginning of Hope's career at Purdue, I definitely think it is a reach to argue he did more than enough to deserve anything. Losing records and declining attendance are the death knell. H&R has the story.
• Wisconsin worked Nebraska the other night. There are a lot of reasons that happened, but the biggest is probably that Wisconsin is playing some of the best basketball in the conference right now. B5Q looks at the details.