Big Ten Basketball Stock Report: Back to Conference Play

Greetings OTE’ers to another edition of the Weekly Stock Report.We’re back in weekly mode this week for anyone who was confused by last week’s mid-year report. B1G play is back in the swing of things and Sparty is…behind Purdue and Ohio State. Didn’t see that one coming (and I have the betting slip to prove it). Anywho, let’s get down to it.

Stock Up

Ohio State Buckeyes- The Buckeyes started out the week by shooting 53% in Iowa City en route to a decent road win. Then, Chris Holtmann’s rebuild project followed it up by shooting 52% and forcing 11 turnovers and beat Sparty in Columbus in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. OSU fans have to be beaming after taking out #1.

Michigan Wolverines – Michigan notched a couple of wins over Iowa and Illinois this week. That means they should be automatic Stock Up, right? Well…not exactly. They actually trailed to Illinois after a cold shooting first half which was an extension of what happened in Iowa City when they failed to score a single point in over six minutes of play. Had it not been in Iowa, that could’ve been disastrous.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights – Hey, look at that! Rutgers gets an attaboy this week for beating a pretty bad Wisconsin team after getting run out of Mackey in the second half. Not that there’s value in this stock, or that they’re trending up long term, or anything really.

Stock Holding

Purdue Boilermakers – Purdue gets a hold for now. They used a second half run to blow out Rutgers. However, they had to grind against a smaller Nebraska team that gave them fits. Shooting 28% from downtown, it took a bit of time for Purdue to figure out they weren’t winning this one by shooting over the Huskers. Don’t get me wrong, Purdue’s still a contender, but the consistency is still a bit lacking.

Maryland Terrapins – This is a squad I struggle with. The schedule this week was not kind, playing 3 games over 6 days including a blowout loss to Sparty. But on either side of that dud was a team that outlasted Penn State and took down Iowa. There’s enough talent to rack up W’s, but it’s definitely not going to be easy for the Terps

Penn State Nittany Lions – The Nits earned a split this week. They were neck and neck with Maryland early in the week, playing a tough game that didn’t see either team pull away. They followed that solid effort up with a win over Northwestern in which their forwards Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins had their way with the Wildcats scoring 30 and 18, respectively.

Nebraska Cornhuskers – The Huskers are a team that isn’t going to win pretty. However, they aren’t afraid to grind and will make opponents earn their wins. In Chicago, both NUs had a bit of clank-fest in the first half. However, Nebraska warmed up a bit in the second half and got the W. Then the Huskers headed down I-65 to Purdue. Nebby shot well enough (41%) to stay in the game, but the Boilers kept them from making any runs and ultimately handed the Huskers a tough loss.

Illinois Fighting Illini – The Illini are pesky, I’ll hand them that. Brad Underwood has the Illini playing decent enough ball that they aren’t getting blown out and kept the game with Michigan within arm’s reach until the end. They’ll have some opportunities to get some wins in the not-so-distant future. For now, hold onto this penny stock.

Indiana Hoosiers – The Hoosiers rebuild project left dis-Assembly Hall this week for a pair of road games. Their perpetual losing streak to Wisconsin continued as they couldn’t figure out how to stop Ethan Happ. However, things got a little better for them as they rolled into The Barn and beat a Minnesota team that’s injured and now dealing with a visit from Sexual Harassment Panda.

Stock Down

Michigan State Spartans – Now, I’m being harsh to Sparty. I know I’m being harsh to Sparty. They blew the doors off Maryland. The problem is, they’re a very different team away from East Lansing. A few weeks ago, they struggled at Rutgers. Their next road appearance at Ohio State wasn’t much better and they got their butts handed to them. When you’re at the top, everyone is gunning for you. And guess what? Brutus didn’t miss.

Iowa Hawkeyes – Iowa gets the distinction of being last in conference play so far this year. Their schedule didn’t help as they drew rising Michigan and Ohio State and got tossed during their road trip to Maryland. The good news is they get a bit of a break before Purdue comes calling in a couple of weeks. The bad news is, it may be too late.

Wisconsin Badgers - You lost to rutger. Never lose to rutger.

Northwestern Wildcats - You know that moment when you think you have everything in line only to realize you’ve forgotten your youngest son at home? No? Me either. Sorry Northwestern, your week was bad enough that you were omitted. Clank!

Stock Crashing

Minnesota Golden Gophers – Between losing Reggie Lynch and holding Amir Coffey (is for closers) out with a shoulder injury, the loss to struggling (and short-handed) Indiana is not a good sign of things to come for Goldy. Things could get real ugly real fast in Minnesota.