Wisconsin loses its top two players to graduation and comes back to win the Big Ten regular-season title. Purdue loses at home to Wofford in mid-December and comes back to finish just a game behind the Badgers.
Indiana loses its coach and never does come back, losing two of its final three regular-season games. Michigan State loses at Iowa and Penn State and is another team that doesn’t come back, dropping its regular-season finale as well.
It was fitting, then, that the regular season closed with Ohio State’s upset of the Spartans and Penn State’s upset of the Hoosiers. Anything less would have been out of character for this conference, whose postseason madness begins Thursday in Indianapolis.
Alone in the penthouse
Wisconsin (26-4, 16-2): Coach Bo Ryan, asked Monday how his team won its surprising title, said: “That’s a good question. I don’t know if it was any one thing. We just survived. Survival’s a pretty good thing. When teams made runs on us, we absorbed them and came back with runs of our own. To be 8-1 on the road [in conference play] without a dominant player, that says a lot about the group. … It probably helped them that people scratched their heads and said, ‘Where are they going to get their points with [All-American Alando] Tucker gone?’ It helped them understand they’d have to do it collectively.”
A floor below
Purdue (24-7, 15-3): Closing the regular season with a victory Sunday at Michigan doesn’t sound like much, but on closer inspection it was a testament to the maturity of the young Boilermakers, whose title hopes had been buried 24 hours earlier with Wisconsin’s victory at Northwestern. “They realized going into the last game they were not playing for a Big Ten championship,” coach Matt Painter said. “But their competitive juices were flowing. … I’m proud of the way our guys still battled and fought.”
Wandering about
More Top Picks Best Enclosed Litter Boxes For Odor Control
Indiana (25-6, 14-4): Laid one egg while losing at Michigan State by 29 and then laid another while falling in overtime to the banged-up Nittany Lions. Is the emotional tank empty in this season of turmoil? “There is no concern at this point because we’ve been through the transition [from Kelvin Sampson to Dan Dakich],” assistant coach Jeff Meyer said. “We’ve talked about going into a new season.”
Michigan State (24-7, 12-6): Laid its own egg by blowing a late lead in Columbus, where it continued a season-long trend of generously turning the ball over — 21 times, in this case. Now the Spartans must again face the Buckeyes on Friday in the first tournament game for both teams. “I’m excited about it,” coach Tom Izzo said. “They’re playing for a spot [in the NCAA tournament]; we’re playing for pride. I’m not sure what’s bigger. But from here, it’s our pride.”
Ohio State (19-12, 10-8): Was on life support before closing its regular season with victories over the Boilermakers and the Spartans, which resurrected its hopes of an NCAA tournament bid. “I don’t know exactly where we are,” coach Thad Matta said. But when asked if its 10-8 conference record should be good enough for inclusion, he replied: “It should be. I hope that does something for us.”
From middle to bottom
Minnesota (18-12, 8-10): Lost its last two, which cost it any chance of slipping past the Buckeyes and getting a bye in the Big Ten tournament first round. The Golden Gophers’ best hope lies with their multiple defenses, which forced opponents into an average of 17.1 turnovers per game.
Penn State (15-15, 7-11): Lost leading scorer and rebounder Geary Claxton in mid-January and now is also without its other big gun, junior forward Jamelle Cornley. All season he had been playing on bad knees. He sat out the Nittany Lions’ upset of the Hoosiers and was scheduled for surgery Monday.
Iowa (13-18, 6-12): Has been off since Tuesday, which allowed coach Todd Lickliter to watch his son John play in the state high school tournament. His team, City High in Iowa City, won the title.
Illinois (13-18, 5-13): Enters the Big Ten tournament with its worst seed since 1999, when the Illini were a bottom-feeding No. 11. But that year they advanced to the final with wins over Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio State, which gives them at least some hope.
Michigan (9-21, 5-13): Shot a league-worst 40.1 percent overall and 31.3 percent on three-pointers, which was second worst.
Northwestern (8-21, 1-17): Has often played an opponent even through much of a game and been saddled with a loss after suffering through a fatal drought. “Regardless of our record, I think we can play with teams and even beat them,” coach Bill Carmody said.
———-