Jan. 3, 2005
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Big Ten Title Chase Begins: The Big Ten opens its 100th season of Conference play this week as all 11 teams will be in action starting Wednesday, January 5. Illinois begins defense of its 2004 Big Ten title on Wednesday as the Illini host Ohio State at Assembly Hall. Illinois, which claimed its first outright title since 1952 last season, will be aiming to become the first school to win outright titles in back-to-back seasons since Purdue claimed three consecutive outright crowns from 1994-1996. Eight more programs tip off League play on Wednesday, as head coach Gene Keady begins his final Big Ten season at the Boilermaker helm when Purdue hosts Wisconsin. In other Big Ten matchups, Iowa welcomes Michigan, Michigan State travels to Penn State and Northwestern hosts Indiana. Minnesota tips off its Big Ten slate on Saturday when the Gophers host Penn State.
Heading Into Conference Play: With the majority of non-conference play now complete, six League squads have suffered three or fewer defeats. After claiming a 67-45 win over No. 22/17 Cincinnati in the championship game of the Las Vegas Classic last Friday, Illinois improved to 14-0 on the season and is one of only seven squads in the nation to boast an unblemished record. The Illini are off to their best opening mark since the 1989-90 season when Illinois won its first 17 games. It also marks the best start by a Big Ten squad since Purdue also began the 1992-93 season with a 14-0 record. Iowa has also posted an impressive non-conference record with a 12-1 mark. The Hawkeyes are off to their best start under head coach Steve Alford and their current nine-game win streak is the longest for Iowa since the 2000-01 team opened with nine straight victories.
RPI Success: The Big Ten remained second overall in the non-conference RPI ratings to the ACC, while trailing only the ACC (.5993) and Pac-10 (.5953) with an overall adjusted RPI of .5933. The Big Ten is one of only two leagues with three teams among the RPI top 10 in No. 7 Illinois, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 10 Iowa (along with the Pac-10). The Big Ten is also the only conference with six teams appearing among the top 32 in the RPI, as the three top-10 programs are joined by No. 20 Ohio State, No. 31 Minnesota and No. 32 Michigan State.
Non-Conference Success: For the eighth time in the past nine years, the Big Ten has recorded a non-conference winning percentage of over 70 percent, as Conference teams built a non-league mark of 93-39. The Big Ten's .705 winning percentage is an improvement of more than five percent over last year's non-league mark of 81-43 (.653).
The Toughest Schedule: The Conference has won 70 percent of its non-conference games despite facing some of the nation's toughest teams, including 16 opponents ranked in the top 25. In the latest RPI ratings, the Big Ten remains ranked first in strength of schedule for both all games and non-conference contests only. When looking at non-conference schedules only, the Big Ten is one of only two leagues rated among the RPI top 10 to also appear among the top 10 in strength of schedule, as the Pac-10 slate is ranked sixth.
Back-to-Back Lone Champions: For two consecutive years, the Big Ten has awarded the League championship to a lone school with Wisconsin claiming the 2003 title and Illinois winning in 2004. This marks a new trend in Big Ten basketball considering the last time the League awarded one champion in back-to-back seasons was when Purdue won three titles from 1994-1996. The only other outright championship in the last eight years came in 1999 when Michigan State won with a 15-1 record. Over the last 10 seasons, six schools have earned at least a share of the Big Ten Championship. Since the 1994-95 campaign, Michigan State (`98, `99, `00, `01) and Illinois (`98, `01, `02, `03) lead all League schools with four titles, while Purdue (`94, `95, `96) won three crowns. Ohio State (`00, `02) and Wisconsin (`02, `03) both brought home a pair of championships over the last decade while Indiana was part of a four-way tie for the title in 2002.
The 1,000 Point Milestone: Illinois' Dee Brown became the fifth active Big Ten player to score 1,000 points when he tallied 13 points against Cincinnati last week to boost his career total to 1,002 points. Three other Conference standouts are on pace to join Brown as Michigan State's Kelvin Torbert (994), Michigan's Daniel Horton (954), Wisconsin's Sharif Chambliss (948) and Iowa's Pierre Pierce (938) are also within 100 points of that scoring plateau. Four Conference players entered the 2004-05 campaign with more than 1,000 career points in Indiana's Bracey Wright (1,229), Michigan State's Chris Hill (1,358), Ohio State's Tony Stockman (1,290) and Wisconsin's Mike Wilkinson (1,184).
Offensively Speaking: Big Ten squads have always been known for their great defensive teams, but the League is also showing it can score with three teams averaging 80 points or more this season. Currently, Michigan State leads the League with 84.2 points per game, followed by Illinois (82.4) and Iowa (81.1). Illinois, Michigan State and Ohio State have all posted 100-plus point games this season. The Spartans opened the non-conference slate scoring 100 points or more in three consecutive games, while Ohio State followed with a 102-77 victory over Mercer on Dec. 22. Last week, Illinois tallied a score of 105-79 to defeat Longwood in the opening round of the Las Vegas Classic on Dec. 27.
Badgers Streaking at Home: Wisconsin continues to lead the nation with a school record 36-game winning streak after defeating No. 18/13 Alabama on Dec. 29 and will look to extend its streak when it hosts Ohio State on January 11. UW had previously won 33 straight at home from March 8, 1911 to Jan. 23, 1915. Wisconsin's last defeat at the Kohl Center occurred on December 4, 2002, against Wake Forest. The Badgers still trail the Big Ten record of 53 straight home triumphs set by Michigan State from 1998 to 2002 -- a winning streak that was ended by Wisconsin.
Big Ten Win Streaks: Two Big Ten teams enter League play with winning streaks of four or more games in Conference play. Last season, Illinois suffered a 76-56 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 31, 2004, but bounced back to win 10 straight games at the end of last year to clinch the Big Ten regular season title. Wisconsin ended the 2004 season on a roll with four straight triumphs leading up to the Conference Tournament, then added three more wins to claim its first tourney title.
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