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.