Thursday Basketball Open Thread: Wisconsin-Ohio State, Iowa-Indiana

So the Charging Blockcast is still up, and you should always listen to Thump and Green Akers—and, this week, BuffKomodo and misdreavus!—talk about all things basketball, especially when the guests force them to talk non-Michigan State, non-Illinois teams.

As the calendar has turned to Thursday, though, and we’ve got a game in Indiana-Iowa that could actually put up some points (and has OTE regulars who care about it), I figure you deserve a fresh open thread.

Thursday Big Ten Basketball

{WBB} Nebraska at #6 Indiana

5pm | BTN

If this game were in Lincoln, I’d have given the Huskers a shot, since they seem to have some PBA Magic working...but the Hoosiers look poised to take a double-digit lead into the half, so...

{MBB} #16 Ohio State Buckeyes at #13 Wisconsin Badgers

6pm | ESPN2 | wisc -3.5 | O/U 142

Gross.

{WBB} #22 Iowa at Purdue

6pm | BTN+

{WBB} #8 Michigan at Penn State

7pm | BTN

{WBB} Rutgers at Northwestern

7pm | BTN+

There’s gonna be some clangs in this game—two defensively-minded teams meet.

But you should watch this game because of the Wildcats’ star guard Veronica Burton. One of my favorite things: Burton has been dating Wildcat-turned-Cleveland Browns CB Greg Newsome II since his NU days, and in addition to apparently harassing refs and being very vocal in the stands, he also stans her constantly on Twitter. The latest episode in this saga came when some ESPN listicle of the best 25 players in women’s college basketball omitted Burton (but included folks like Hawkeyes PG Caitlin Clark, a volume scorer who—whatever, y’know, it’s fine, I’ll let Newsome tell you):

You’re probably thinking—wow, so about 100 words on Northwestern women’s hoops, no mention of the men’s collapse from last night, and you haven’t even gotten to the Iowa-Indiana game?

...that’s correct.

{MBB} Indiana Hoosiers at Iowa Hawkeyes

8pm | FS1 | Iowa -4.5 | O/U 150.5

As crack sleuth and FotP 87 Rides a Surfboard has been all over this week, Mike Woodson does not plan to wear a suit against the Hawkeyes tonight, and he is 0-fer without the suit.

Do with that information what you will.

In the meantime, pop some popcorn and watch Keegan Murray and Trayce Jackson-Davis just kinda do their thing for 40 minutes—as long as neither coach thinks it’s super important to establish, like, Filip Rebraca or Race Thompson inside or anything dumb, this could be two of the best individual stat sheet-stuffers in the conference trading haymakers for a couple hours. Here’s hoping.

...but MNW, disgusting basketball games are your thing.

You’re goddamn right. Here are a few I’ll be checking out tonight:

Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Cleveland State Vikings

6pm | ESPN+ | The Cleve -2 | O/U 148.5

The Golden Grizz are, perhaps, a legit team?! Thanks to an upset win at Oklahoma State and close-enough loss to Michigan State, Greg Kampe’s bunch are pushing the Top 100 in Kenpom. Meanwhile, the Vikings—and hot coaching commodity Dennis Gates—are quietly amassing another strong season. Look for this one to set the pace in the Horizon.

...that’s not disgusting enough.

You demanding heading-writer. FINE.

Chicago State Cougars at UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros

7pm | ESPN+ | UTRGV -8.5 | O/U 149

Back in MY day, youngster, Chicago State was a late-season non-conference game for Northwestern in, like, mid-February—AND we would fire up our hubcap-sized laptops to watch the then-UT Pan American feed when the ‘Cats played a non-conference game in Brownsville.

Fast forward to whatever year it is and the Cougars have WON A CONFERENCE GAME!

That’s right, people—this game is gonna be fast (both teams kinda push the pace) and dumb (they aren’t good at it). WACtion!

UIC Flames at Milwaukee Panthers

7pm | ESPN+ | UWM -2.5 | O/U 135.5

Want to keep your sicko watching closer to the Midwest? I’ll have an eye on Flames-Panthers in this kind of weird hold-out hope that Northwestern dips its toes into the “famous alumni” pool when they replace Chris Collins in the off-season.

UWM coach Pat Baldwin and his 5-star recruit son (a frosh on the East Side) would be an interesting look...

SIU Edwardsville Cougars at Eastern Illinois Panthers

8pm | ESPNU | SIUe -6 | O/U 132

Dunno, just feels like these programs deserve some love.

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at The Beach

9pm | ESPN+ | UCSB -4 | O/U 147

We could ALL use more Dan Monson in our lives, couldn’t we?

Plus, Long Beach State renamed its athletics programs “The Beach” and play, apparently, in the Walter Pyramid. GOOD ENOUGH!

But that ends by 11pm CT. And I’m gonna be RACING from the high of Iowa-Indiana!

LUCKY FOR YOU, FRIEND.

Loyola Marymount Lions at San Francisco Dons

10pm | CBSSN | SF -9.5 | O/U 141

UC Irvine Anteaters at Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors

10:59pm | ESPN+

Here’s your open thread. Enjoy. Behave.