Big Ten Basketball Midweek Preview, Open Thread

Tuesday, January 29

Northwestern Wildcats at #21 Maryland Terrapins

NU: 12-8 (3-6 B1G), NET 56
MD: 16-5 (7-3 B1G), NET 22
6pm | FS1 | MD -7 | O/U 135.5

MNW: Sigh. Bruno Fernando is going to go for 25 and 13, isn’t he?

And when he doesn’t, Anthony Cowan Jr. is gonna bury us from outside, isn’t he?

Play Ivan Bender, Turge. You know you want to play Ivan Bender. And feel free to let Aaron Falzon just kind of drift into the corner. You know you want to.

(Look, Maryland shoots threes really well in conference play—40%—and defends it almost as well. And they get to the line and shoot really fucking well when it’s there. Honestly, MD -7 seems like free money to me at this point, regardless of Maryland losing to Illinois.)

#24 wisconsin badgers at Nebraska Cornhuskers

wi: 14-6 (6-3 B1G), NET 13
UNL: 13-7 (3-6 B1G), NET 25
7pm | BTN | UNL -2 | O/U 132.5

Jesse Collins: Nebraska is currently in a free fall and it’s hard to tell why. It seems like everything after MSU has been catastrophic. This team suddenly can’t shoot, it’s playing uninspired defense, and looks mentally exhausted. Oh, and Isaac Copeland is done.

Weirdly, I think we can turn it around because the talent is there but Miles needs to pull his best escape yet to see it to next year, even if that’s not exactly his fault.

Wisconsin is good at stuff Nebraska is not, so we will see. Here’s hoping PBA magic can return.

beez: It’s that magical time of the year where Wisconsin travels to Nebraska and probably loses. I honestly don’t know how many times Wisconsin has actually lost Nebby, but I’m pretty sure it’s all of them. I...don’t know what to expect out of this team. We lose to god awful trash like western Kentucky, Minnesota, and road-Purdue, and then beat undefeated Michigan and, um, Illinois?

They’re good, right?

Nebraska by like 11.

Ohio State Buckeyes at #5 Michigan Wolverines

OSU: 13-6 (3-5 B1G), NET 37
Mich: 19-1 (8-1 B1G), NET 4
8pm | ESPN2 | Mich -10 | O/U 129

Ohio State is jacking threes and not making them. They’re not getting to the line. Their offensive game-plan appears to be “maybe Kaleb Wesson will be good?”

Michigan will exploit that, and in a maddening way. I’m sure it’ll involve Ignas Brazdeikis flexing for the camera and Jordan Poole splashing threes at dumb times. Or maybe the Big Ten is full of spiders and Ohio State is actually decent.

Probably not, though.

Wednesday, January 30

Indiana Hoosiers at Rutgers Scarlet Knights

IU: 12-8 (3-6 B1G), NET 41
RU: 10-9 (3-6 B1G), NET 123
6pm | BTN

Candystripes for Breakfast: Look, I want to say that this is a game we should win. I really do.

However, I am firmly terrified that Indiana is in a serious shooting slump, and they’re going to find a way to get blown out in this game. It’s not like Rutgers hasn’t beaten other Big Ten teams this year, and they’re at home, which automatically conveys a 25% better chance of winning in this conference for no reason anyone can figure out.

I don’t care if it comes down to the final shot, if Indiana pulls this game out, I’m celebrating. If they don’t, you can pretty much stick a fork in this Hoosiers season.

Illinois Fighting Illini at Minnesota Golden Gophers

IL: 6-14 (2-7 B1G), NET 115
MN: 15-5 (5-4 B1G), NET 51
8pm | BTN

WhiteSpeedReceiver: Every time we get going, we follow it up with a hiccup. We beat the hell out of an overrated wisconsin, and follow it up by getting throttled by Maryland. Beat the hell out of Rutgers, follow it up with THAT game against Illinois. So now we beat the hell out of yet another overrated team (Love you, Iwoa. You’re good for the soul.) and there’s Illinois again.

Hopefully the Gopher Athletic Department has taken my advice and is moving the visitor’s locker room outside of Williams Arena in a well-ventilated tent. Nothing works better for cooling down a team than subjecting them to temperatures that’d actually get me to consider bringing a jacket with (even though I’d just leave it in my car and not wear it.)

Thursday, January 31

#17 Purdue Boilermakers at Penn State Nittany Lions

PU: 14-6 (7-2 B1G), NET 11
PSU: 7-13 (0-9 B1G), NET 90
6pm | FS1

babaoreally: Purdue had been playing great lately, but this is college basketball and anything can happen.

The recent improvement seems directly related to Trevion Williams and others taking on more of the offensive load from Carsen Edwards. Hopefully Purdue can handle the raucous crowd at the Bryce Jordan Center as well as Rutgers did.

Aaron Yorke: After a miserable performance on offense versus Rutgers, it’s time for Pat Chambers to mix up the lineup. Get John Harrar and Jamari Wheeler out of there and let Trent Buttrick and Myreon Jones stretch out the opposing defense. There just isn’t enough offense happening around Lamar Stevens, and if that doesn’t change, Penn State might not win a Big Ten game. Purdue is rolling right now, so why not experiment a little bit?

Here’s your open thread for the week’s basketball. Behave yourselves.