Day Three: Must Avoid Stadium Food

Yesterday was unbelievable. From the Evan Turner - Manny Harris duel goin' down right in front of our noses to the stunner that Minnesota, behind frosh Devoe Joseph (16 huge points, carried the Gophers in the 2nd half and OT), pulled on Michigan State, it was a wild-a** day of basketball action.

This is just a quickie because we have to leave B-Town again and get on up to Conseco (home away from home) Fieldhouse, but I'll just leave you all with this.

STADIUM FOOD EATEN:
(3) Donatos pepperoni pizzas
(1) Loaded baked potato (butter, cheddar, broccoli, bacon, southwestern corn salsa, sour cream, pretty sure I put some other stuff on there too but it was a long day, and that thing gave me the -itis real bad, it was just about naptime a few minutes after finishing.)
(2) Popcorn tubs
(1) Brat (AVOID - they're much better in Chicago)
(1) Giant twisty pretzel
(1) two-scoop Ritters waffle cone

I suspect there's more that I'm forgetting.... but you get the idea.

Today I'm rooting hard for Minnesota and against Purdue's horrible, whiny fan base. And (why not) for Illinois too. I will have much more on the fans and teams of the Big Ten Tournament 2010 later.

What a great baked potato.

Day Two: Tonight We Dine In Hell

Okay, so yesterday was a grind. Today we have FOUR games on tap at the lovely (albeit slightly rainy) Big Ten Tourney. I'm about to head up there, definitely need to get myself a nice healthy breakfast at some point, my system is reeling from barley, hops, and Kilroys steak overload.

First up, Ohio State vs. Michigan. Then we've also got Wisconsin vs. Illinois (a must win for the Illini against what is definitely a top-25 type squad in the Badgers with Leuer), Purdue vs. Northwestern, and Minnesota vs. Michigan State.

I see upset potential in those last two games. Of course, I'm biased, but still. Minnesota played really well against inferior competition yesterday, and Michigan State hasn't exactly been on a tear to end the season. It'll be interesting to see how motivated the Spartans are.

And for the record, it's going to be about TEN HOURS of basketball today, not counting break time (tailgate) and travel. That's a freakin' marathon. Can't wait.

Adam Rittenburg's Big Ten Blog at ESPN had some very interesting insights on the NU vs. Indiana game yesterday as well as on the tourney as a whole.

Check this out. Directly related to what I was saying last night.


"After scoring only three points in an ugly first half, Thompson exploded for 13 in the final 20 minutes and really provided a lift from beyond the arc (four 3-pointers). The man nicknamed "Juice" didn't have much of it early, but an elbow to the throat from Indiana's Tijan Jobe early in the second half changed that.

Though the elbow wasn't intentional, no foul was called and the 5-9 Thompson let the 7-feet Jobe know about it. Thompson got in Jobe's face and the officials called double technical fouls with Indiana leading 35-29 and 17:08 left.

"He felt like the big guy was trying to bully the little guy," Wildcats guard Jeremy Nash said. "He was like, 'I'm not having it. I'm going to show you how big I can play.'" Thompson did in the final nine minutes, sparking Northwestern with his shooting and showing emotion rarely displayed.

"That really got me going," he said of the altercation with Jobe. "It gave me a lot more energy to make me want to go out there and play hard. It was just me being small and him trying to move me out the way. "


Basically, IU lost thanks to Tijan being out there flailing around blindly. Awesome.

Big Ten Tourney Day One

I just got back from a three-game stretch in Conseco, and thought I better throw some thoughts everybody's way. Here's three observations from each game:

(8) Michigan over (9) Iowa

1 - This was actually a very entertaining game. We got in at halftime and it was 32-23, I believe? Anyway, it was fast paced and both teams played decent defense.

2 - Iowa's Cully Payne played well. He may be a better prospect as a frosh PG than Indiana's Jordan Hulls.

3 - Does Michigan have a chance against Ohio State tomorrow? I doubt it.

(7) Northwestern over (10) Indiana

1 - Michael Thompson was clutch in this game. His second half barrage of treys doomed Indiana.

2 - Starting Tijan Jobe? Really? I understand him being a senior and a hard worker in practice, and Indiana really didn't play badly until 28 minutes in, but still. Jobe hasn't done anything all year. He didn't do anything today. Start Elston or Capobianco, or even Pritchard.

2a - I made a few quarter bet victories on Pritchard finally scoring in the second half. Devan Dumes didn't help me out nearly as much.

3 - Once again, Indiana falls apart down the stretch. It was really, really hard to watch this team in the second half. Just very little offense, and even less defense. It's hard to be truly optimistic when your team can't stop anybody.

(6) Minnesota vs. (11) Penn State

1 - I thought, just maybe, that Penn State could give Minny a run here. Not so much.

2 - Damian Johnson, the super-athletic forward from Minnesota, is one of my favorite guys in the entire Big Ten this year. On a team where the "name" guys are Lawrence Westbrook, Ralph Sampson The Younger, and even *bleeping* Blake Hoffarber, I think Johnson is really the man to watch.

3 - Poor Talor Battle. I guess he has an NIT title to show for his four years at Penn State. Still, without much to say for his pro prospects, it would be hard to feel good about going to PSU right now if you were Battle.

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow. It's a busy slate and should be an intense day of basketball. Let me know if there's anything you guys want from the insider (balcony) perspective.

And no, they're not selling beer at Conseco. Because the Big Ten and Indiana are full of idiots.

Derek Anderson Keeps it Real

Most of the time, when athletes are angry at their organizations or fans, they keep to the standard PR lines. Well, Derek Anderson let loose on Cleveland today following his release.

Anderson wrote he will never forget that Browns fans cheered when he was injured on the field. He called them "ruthless" and said he hopes when he comes back to Cleveland with another team that "we roll them."

Just for the record, wherever Derek ends up holding a clipboard next year, the odds were already extremely good of "rolling" the Browns. Mangini Year Two: Where magic happens.

Great Article On Ozzie Guillen

Gene Wojciechowski wrote this great article on my favorite person in Chicago Sports Ozzie Guillen.

Northwestern's Head Coach Bill Carmody Chatting on ESPNChicago.com Wed at 11 CST

Just wanted to give everyone the heads up that Northwestern's Head Coach Bill Carmody is Chatting on ESPNChicago.com Wed at 11 CST. I think this will be an interesting read for Hoosier fans as well as Wildcats fans because of the two schools' first round matchup.

Indiana to the Final Four.......of the Big Ten Tournanment

You all might think I'm crazy, but I think Indiana has a realistic shot of making it to the Final Four of the Big Ten Tournament this weekend. While I was looking at the bracket trying to find the start time of the game tomorrow (Listed as 25 min after game 1, so roughly 5 pm ET on ESPN2) I started looking at the Hoosiers match ups.

The Hoosiers first game is a rematch of Saturday's game against the Northwestern Wildcats. The Hoosiers won that game in overtime despite giving up a sizeable lead over the last 4 minutes of the game. The Hoosiers were in control for most of the game thanks to Hulls' three point shooting, but made some inexperienced mistakes to allow the Wildcats to stay in the game. If The Hoosiers clean up these mistake and ride the emotion of the quasi-home crowd in Indanapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse they should be able to win this game.

If the Hoosiers do succeed in beating the cardiac cats, they're second round opponent will be none other then in-state rival Purdue (6:30 ET on BTN). I know what your thinking, isn't this the same Purdue team that handed the Hoosier's a 74-55 the game before Northwestern? Yes, this is the same team, but I still feel like the Hoosiers can win. During their last meeting, it was Purdue's Senior Day and their last home game of the year. They came into the game with more emotion then the Hoosiers and it showed. This match-up will take place in a neutral court (both teams should be equally represented in Indy). Indiana played Purdue close in their game in Bloomington and had a chance to win it on a prayer from VJIII that was not answered. If the Hoosiers play like they did in Bloomington, they could beat the Hummeless Boliermakers.

If the Hoosiers win that, who would they play next? Most likely Michigan State. I'm not even crazy enough to predict the Hoosiers in the title game.

If the Hoosiers do get one or two wins in the Big Ten Tournament, it would be a great jumping off point for next season. The Hoosiers need a successful season next year or Hoosier fans might stop being patient with Crean. This season has had it's ups (Beating Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden) and downs (losing to Iowa twice) but the team has shown a lot of promise. They played a lot of close games but couldn't win them. When the game was on the line last Saturday against the Wildcats, there was 4 freshmen and 1 sophomore on the court. Yes the team is young (led the nation in % of minutes played be freshmen) and inexperienced, but if they can grow on this season, the future could look brighter in Bloomington.