The game of the year did not disappoint, as Wisconsin overcame a 15-point second half deficit to defeat Ohio State 71-67 in a 57 possession game.  I have to admit--this is my favorite matchup in the Big Ten.  For one, these two teams have been the class of the Big Ten (by an efficiency margin standpoint) since 2006.  Second, Bo Ryan and Thad Matta have as two divergent styles as you’ll see, both in terms of Xs and Os and Jimmies and Joes.  Ohio State tends to shoot lights-out en route to a powerful offense (5th in the nation in effective field goal percentage), while Wisconsin all but eliminates turnovers altogether (lowest turnover percentage in the country this year).  Matta also builds his teams with blue-chip recruits (the annual over/under on McDonald’s All-Americans arriving in Columbus is two), while Bo Ryan redshirts freshmen as a matter of course.  In other words, these guys are polar opposites except when it comes to success.  

Saturday’s game was all the more enjoyable because of the role reversal.  Ohio State actually had fewer turnovers than the Badgers, while Wisconsin was lights out from the field (especially from three point range).  A matchup between the nation’s first and third-best offenses figured to bring fireworks, and it did not disappoint.  The Buckeyes took control of the game early in the second half, building a 15-point lead with about 13 minutes remaining.  It’s often said that Wisconsin isn’t built to come back on teams, something I don’t fully understand after the Badgers nearly pulled off a miracle in about two minutes against Illinois in last year’s Big Ten Tournament.  In any event, thanks largely to Jordan Taylor (more on him later), the Buckeyes’ lead evaporated entirely over the course of four minutes.  From there, Wisconsin’s outside shooting (12-24 from three point range) proved to be too much for OSU to handle.  

With the win, Bo Ryan’s team ensured that another season goes by without an undefeated team.  We Geeks had our doubts about the Buckeyes’ shot at history all along.  Yes, Ohio State is a great team, and is certainly one of the favorites to win it all.  But perfection is nearly impossible, and there were cracks showing in this team for weeks now.  Perhaps the best predictor of losing a close game is winning a few.  And Ohio State has had its fair share of close wins.  Indeed, 6 of the Buckeyes’ 11 conference wins have been by five points or less.  But expecting a team to lose at least one game is not exactly harsh criticism.  The fact is that Ohio State is a formidable opponent, and a #1 seed is all but a sure thing at this point.

Back to Jordan Taylor--if there’s a better player in the Big Ten, I haven’t seen him.  Yes, Jared Sullinger and JaJuan Johnson have had outstanding seasons, but right now there’s no one playing better basketball than Wisconsin’s point guard.  His 27 point, 7 assist line (against just one turnover) is something of a ho-hum performance for Taylor amongst his recent games.  What people tend to forget is that Wisconsin plays very slow--57 possessions per game--so there aren’t as many chances for players to rack up counting stats.  Yet there’s Taylor, racking up over 20 points per game in conference play.  The season isn’t over, but Taylor has been the best in the conference in my mind.  And frankly, it’s time to start talking about whether Taylor has been the best in the country.

On Sunday, Purdue exploded for 54 second-half points en route to a 81-70 road win over Illinois.  All things considered, this might be Purdue’s best win of the season.  Illinois’ lofty Pomeroy Ranking was certainly the best of any other opponent Purdue has defeated, and the fact that it was on the road makes it all the more significant.  In the second half, the Illini just didn’t have an answer for JaJuan Johnson.  Frankly, no one in the Big Ten has had an answer for him.  The big man had 24 points and 9 rebounds on Sunday, but his running mate E’Twaun Moore was even more efficient with 20 points on 9 shots.  Brandon Paul continued his solid conference campaign with 23 points on 14 shots.

Purdue dominated Illinois on the glass, holding the Illini to just four offensive rebounds while capturing 42 percent of their misses.  The Boilers also enjoyed 9 more trips to the line than Bruce Weber’s team, and that was enough to win comfortably.  But give the defense credit, as the Boilermakers held Illinois to under a point per possession.  This is a disturbing trend for the Illini, who still haven’t yet locked up a Tournament bid.  It’s now two games in a row where they haven’t hit the point per possession mark.  That’s got to change this week if they want to be sure they’re invited to the Dance.  They’ll face Michigan at home before heading to the Breslin Center.  Anything short of two wins likely leaves them with sweaty palms heading into the Big Ten Tournament.  What Bruce Weber needs to figure out is how to get Demetri McCamey playing well again.  The senior has been held to 6 points or less in 4 of his last 6 games.  That’s something that happened only three times all of last season.  

Purdue’s win keeps them on pace with Wisconsin, with an outside shot at the Big Ten title still in their sights.  This was the first of three difficult games for Purdue, with home matchups against Wisconsin and Ohio State this week.  If they can defend Mackey Arena, Purdue will probably be in the title hunt until the last game of the season (when Wisconsin visits Columbus).  That said, someone is going to end up as an also-ran after Purdue’s matchup with Wisconsin on Wednesday.  

Michigan played a great 35 minutes of basketball against Indiana, but followed it up with a terrible 5 minutes in a 73-69 win.  Michigan had a 20-point lead in the second half, but really struggled with free throws down the stretch to allow IU to make a game of it.  Really, both teams were terrible at the line (Indiana’s 59 percent edged Michigan’s 51 percent).  But the Wolverines made shots everywhere else to finish above a point per possession.  Tim Hardaway, Jr. continued his torrid stretch with 26 points on 11 shots while Victor Oladipo put up 13 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes (#FreeOladipo).

The loss probably closes the door on any slim NIT hopes the Hoosiers had remaining.  But how about the coaching job John Beilein has done in Ann Arbor this season?  Last year’s team ran through Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, so much so that players not named Harris or Sims needed a permission slip to shoot.  With those two gone, Michigan figured to struggle mightily.  And while the Wolverines aren’t going to challenge for the conference title, they are going to finish with at least a .500 record on the season.  Really, this team still has an outside shot at an at-large bid.  That’s a fine achievement in itself for a team that lost so much in the offseason.  Give a lot of credit to Beilein and his staff.

When Northwestern MAKES SHOTS, the Princeton offense can be a thing of beauty.  When they don’t, it can be difficult to look at, as was the case in a 65-41 loss to Penn State.  The Wildcats missed their first 15 three point attempts in what was easily their worst offensive output of the season.  Indeed, I have this as their lowest point per possession total since a 2008 matchup against Illinois, in which Bill Carmody’s team managed a meager 37 points.  Meanwhile, Penn State shot the ball relatively well and poured it on in the second half in a game that was never that close.  Talor Battle continued his strong senior campaign with 19 points on 9 shots, but this was a team effort as four Nittany Lions finished with double figure scoring.  I guess it was a team effort on the other end, too, but in a bad way, as JerShon Cobb was the only Wildcat with double figure scoring, and he only had 10.

The loss moves Northwestern completely off the bubble and into “tournament or bust” territory, while Penn State’s at large hopes are merely on life support.  The fact is that both teams are likely headed to NITland (or the nearby CBIville).  Even though these two squads aren’t going dancing, they both have plenty of quality wins and have made a lot of noise in conference play.  It’s really a testament to just how good the conference has been.  

In the weekend’s finale, Minnesota easily dispatched with Iowa in a much-needed 62-45 road win.  The tall Gophers manhandled the Hawkeyes on the interior, shooting 56 percent on two point shots and rebounding 45 percent of their misses.  Meanwhile, Iowa stuck to the perimeter game to avoid Minnesota’s interior height.  This didn’t work out very well, as Fran McCaffrey’s team shot just 21 percent from three point range.  The only real shot Iowa had at beating Minnesota was for freshman Melsahn Basabe to have a big game.  Alas, the talented forward was plagued by foul trouble, and managed to stay on the floor for just 17 minutes before fouling out of the game.  Much of that was due to Trevor Mbakwe’s aggressiveness.  Mbakwe finished with 24 points, which included a 10-11 performance from the foul line.

Had Minnesota lost this game, they might have needed to run the table for the remainder of the regular season in order to garner an at-large bid.  The optimist might point out that all of the teams remaining on the Gophers’ schedule are beatable (no Ohio State, no Purdue, no Wisconsin, and no Illinois), and that 3 of their final 5 are at home.  While true, Pomeroy still only gives this team about a 5 percent chance of doing so.  More than anything, that’s a reflection of just how deep the conference is.  In any event, 4-1 over that stretch should put the Gophers in the field comfortably.  Anything short of that, and it might depend on how some of the other bubble teams fare.  

Conference play resumes on Tuesday when Michigan State visits Ohio State.  At most, the Spartans can probably afford to lose two more games between now and the Big Ten Tournament to keep their at-large hopes alive.  It’s no fun to play in Columbus with your back against the wall, but that’s the state of things in East Lansing these days.