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Men's Basketball Weekly Release - Jan. 9
Jan. 9, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
One Week Down: After one week of conference play, Indiana (2-0), Northwestern (2-0) and Wisconsin (2-0) are all undefeated in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers' perfect league record of 2-0 has boasted their winning streak to six games, while also marking their best start in league play since the 2001-02 season. During the 2002 conference season, Indiana tallied a 4-0 start. After defeating Purdue and Minnesota last week, the Wildcats are 2-0 for the first time since the 1983 season when NU also began the league slate with a 2-0 mark. The last time Northwestern opened with a 3-0 mark was during the 1967-68 season. The Badgers have opened conference play with two triumphs for the second time under head coach Bo Ryan. Wisconsin also tallied a 2-0 mark during the 2003-04 season. The Badgers will be vying for their third win when they face Minnesota on Tuesday. The last time UW began the conference season with a 3-0 mark was during the 1992-93 season. Good Start Means Good Sign?: With Indiana, Northwestern and Wisconsin all jumping out to 2-0 records, this is generally a sign of good things to come. Over the last nine seasons, Big Ten teams that started 2-0 have ended the year above .500 in league play on 19 of 24 occasions (79.2 percent), including Illinois, Michigan State and Minnesota last season. Last year, Illinois claimed its second consecutive conference title outright after tallying a 2-0 start in league action. In three of the last six seasons, a 2-0 start has led to a share of the Big Ten crown for Michigan State (2000), Illinois (2001), Indiana (2002) and Ohio State (2002). Since the 1996-97 campaign, teams that began the season 0-2 have finished at .500 or below on 21 of 25 occasions (84 percent). The only exceptions include the 2001-02 Spartans (10-6), the 2002-03 (12-4) and 1998-99 Badgers (9-7) and the 1997-98 Hoosiers (9-7), who went 0-2 to open the season. Ranked No. 1 in RPI and Sagarin: The Big Ten remains ranked No. 1 in the latest edition of the RPI Report with a .5963 rating. The ACC (.5841), Big East (.5780), SEC (.5769) and Missouri Valley (.5662) round out the top five. The Big Ten leads the nation with four teams among the top 10 in the school rankings. Wisconsin is ranked No. 3 in the nation, while Illinois follows in 6th. Indiana is No. 8 and Ohio State is ranked 10th. Iowa and Michigan State round out the top 20 at the No. 14 and No. 20 spot, respectively. The Big Ten also leads the nation in the Sagarin Ratings with a central mean of 83.48. For each Big Ten team's RPI and Sagarin ratings, go to page four of this release. The Million Fan March: The Big Ten has surpassed the one million mark in attendance for the 35th consecutive season this week, as 1,051,370 fans have passed through the turnstiles in 89 home contests. Last year, the conference led the nation in total attendance for the 29th-straight season with 2,255,332 total patrons. Overall, the conference has broken the two million mark in total attendance in each of the last 13 seasons. Illinois' Homecourt Record: With a win over Michigan State on Jan. 5, the Fighting Illini extended their homecourt winning streak to 30 games, which ties Gonzaga (30) as the longest in the nation. The Illini were the only league team to go undefeated at home last season and their last defeat in Assembly Hall occurred on Jan. 10, 2004 against Purdue. Illinois still trails 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. 30-Plus Point Performances: Illinois' Dee Brown and Michigan State's Shannon Brown became the latest Big Ten standouts to record 30 or more points this season. Illinois' Brown tallied a season-high 34 points against Michigan State on Jan. 5, while MSU's Brown scored a career-high 31 points against Wisconsin on Jan. 8. During the 2005-06 season, eight different players have tallied 30-plus point performances, including Wisconsin's Alando Tucker, who leads the league after scoring a conference-best 38 points on Nov. 19, 2005. The Boilermakers' Injury Report: On Saturday, Purdue nearly notched an upset over Michigan, however, the Wolverines came through in the final two minutes to claim a 68-65 victory. Purdue stayed strong despite being hit with several injuries this season. Earlier in the week, freshman Nate Minnoy, who had started all 12 games for the Boilermakers, suffered a MCL tear in his right knee against Northwestern and will be lost for the season. He joins teammates David Teague, who tore his ACL at the beginning of the season and Carl Landry, who has taken a medical redshirt after tearing his ACL during the 2004-05 season. Teague was the Boilermakers' second-leading rebounder and scorer as a junior, while Landry was named second-team All-Big Ten last season and was the Big Ten's leading returning scorer. Big Ten's Grand Company: On Jan. 5, Ohio State's J.J. Sullinger (1,008) became the 13th active Big Ten standout to score 1,000 points, joining Illinois' James Augustine (1,157), Michigan State's Maurice Ager (1,226), Ohio State's Ron Lewis (1,040) and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker (1,175) who all claimed their 1,000th career point earlier this season. Eight seniors entered the 2005-06 season with more than 1,000 career points in Illinois' Dee Brown (1,581), Indiana's Marco Killingsworth (1,274), Iowa's Greg Brunner (1,248) and Jeff Horner (1,247), Michigan's Daniel Horton (1,238), Michigan State's Paul Davis (1,432) Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic (1,332) and Ohio State's Terence Dials (1,255). This week, Iowa's Adam Haluska is vying to become the next active 1,000-point scorer as he only needs to score 25 to reach this plateau.
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