Around the Big Ten Basketball: Week 12

Audio/Story posted January 22, 2020 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

Host Logan Bourandas and analysts Ben Geller and Jordan Hession look back at the last week of Big Ten basketball. They also dive into the next week and look at the best games to watch out for.

After another week of conference play passes by and fans of the Big Ten conference still have no clue who the favorite is going to be, come tournament time. Previously ranked teams like Ohio State and Michigan fell out of the rankings and were replaced with teams no one saw coming at the start of the year in Rutgers and Iowa. For Iowa this will be their second stint in the Top 25, while for Rutgers, this is its first time back in over 41 years.

The Michigan State Spartans remain at the top of the Big Ten standings and are also the highest ranked team, at No. 11, in the Top 25 with the rest of the conference beats themselves up. The Spartans are coming off a strong win against Wisconsin last week. This week presents two big trap games for them in Indiana and Minnesota.

On the longest current winning streak in the Big Ten at five games is the Illinois Fighting Illini. They racked up two wins against the bottom of the conference, in Purdue and Northwestern, last week. This week, the Fighting Illini will face an interesting test as they travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines.

A surprising team on the downswing as of late has been the Ohio State Buckeyes. After nearly climbing up to the No. 1 spot in the rankings a few weeks ago, the Buckeyes find themselves out of the rankings altogether following a loss to Penn State. Conference play has killed the Buckeyes as they are currently 2-5, good enough for third to last in the conference.

A big game to watch for this week will feature No. 17 Maryland looking to stay in the Top 25 as it travels to Bloomington to face an Indiana team on the bubble of joining the Top 25. This game will be the middle game in a tough test for the Hoosiers, which take on ranked Michigan State this week and a solid Penn State team next week.

The standings in the Big Ten are still very competitive with all but four teams being separated by just three games. Two of those four teams on the bottom were just recently ranked in Michigan and Ohio State, showing the balance that the Big Ten has to offer this season.

The Big Ten adds instant chaos to an already interesting college basketball season with so much turnover at the top of the rankings, which will only make March that much more exciting.

Logan Bourandas is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.

About the Contributors

Jordan Hession's photo

Jordan Hession

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Jordan Hession is a junior from Annapolis, Maryland majoring in broadcast journalism. Jordan is the co-host of CommRadio’s longest running live radio show The Sin Bin with Kyle Cannillo. In the summer of 2020, Jordan interned at SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio as a sports programmer. When Jordan is not discussing sports, he is writing various articles for collegiate and professional sports leagues and teams. Jordan has a love for all sports but has a genuine passion to spread ice hockey and baseball globally. Away from broadcast journalism, Jordan enjoys lifting weights and cooking. Jordan’s role models in the broadcast journalism industry include Doc Emrick, Gary Thorne and Mike Lange. In the future, Jordan sees himself working as a producer or host in sports talk radio and potentially television. To contact Jordan, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Logan Bourandas's photo

Logan Bourandas

Third-Year / Broadcast Journalism

Logan Bourandas is a third-year broadcast journalism major from Long Island, NY. He is a the news director for CommRadio and the host of Ducks on the Pond, which is an all-baseball talk show on CommRadio. He is also a sports writer, broadcaster and podcaster for CommRadio. He got his start as the station manager for his high school radio station WPOB in his hometown of Plainview, NY, where he hosted numerous radio shows and was involved in sports broadcasts. You can contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).