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Men's Basketball Weekly Release - Dec. 12
Complete Release in PDF Format
Dec. 12, 2005
Ranked No. 1 in RPI: The Big Ten is ranked No. 1 in the first edition of the RPI Report with a .6032 rating. The Big East (.5780), ACC (.5752), Missouri Valley (.5708) and the SEC (.5676) round out the top five. The Big Ten is the only conference with four teams in the top 20 of the RPI ratings. Ohio State is ranked No. 5 in the nation, while Illinois follows in 6th. Michigan (11th) and Michigan State (20th) round out the top 20. The Big Ten also leads the nation in the Sagarin Ratings with a central mean of 82.04. For each Big Ten team's RPI and Sagarin ratings, go to page four of this release. Tough Schedules: According to the first edition of the RPI Report, the Big Ten's strength of schedule ranks second in the country behind only the SWAC. After one month of non-conference play, the league has competed against 26 teams among the ACC, Big East, Big 12, SEC and Pac-10. The Big East ties with the Big Ten also facing 26 teams among those six conferences, while the ACC has competed against 25. The Big Ten has also taken on 10 top-25 ranked teams, ranking third behind the ACC (13) and Big East (12). The Big 12 ties the Big Ten with 10 top-25 opponents, while the SEC (9) and Pac-10 (4) follow. Big Ten's Perfect Starts: Illinois (10-0), Michigan (7-0) and Ohio State (4-0) remain undefeated after one month of non-conference action. The Fighting Illini have won their first 10 games for the second season in a row with this year's 10-0 start. Illinois won its first 29 games last season. The Wolverines are off to their best start since the vacated 1996-97 season, when U-M sprinted out to an 8-0 record. The last non-vacated year was when the Wolverines opened with a 11-0 record to begin the 1988-89 season. Michigan concluded that year by winning the program's only national championship. The Buckeyes have jumped out to a 4-0 start for the second consecutive year under head coach Thad Matta and are seeking their first 5-0 start since the 2001-02 season when OSU opened with a 6-0 mark. Landry Will Redshirt: After playing in five games, Purdue forward Carl Landry will miss the remainder of the 2005-06 season with a medical redshirt. Landry, who ranked second in the league in scoring last year with 18.2 points per game, is still experiencing soreness and swelling in his knee after suffering a torn ACL on Feb. 26 last season. Among the Nation's Best: The first edition of the NCAA national statistical rankings were released last Tuesday, as several Big Ten programs appeared among the top 10 in the country. Indiana leads the nation in three statistical categories (field goal percentage - 55.6; three-point field goal percentage - 50.5; assists - 23.8 pg), while ranking second in scoring offense (89.4 ppg) and also tying for fourth in three-point field goals made (10.8 pg). Iowa ranks fifth in field goal percentage defense (34.6) and ninth in scoring defense (53.6 ppg), while Ohio State placed second in the country with only 13.0 personal fouls per game and Michigan State rated sixth in free throw percentage (81.2). Individually, Iowa's Jeff Horner was tied for fifth in assists with 7.0 per game and Ohio State's Je'Kel Foster was ranked sixth in field goal percentage, while Indiana's Marshall Strickland was tied for seventh in three-point field goal percentage (62.5). The national statistics are updated every Tuesday on the NCAA website and the conference players and teams among the top 30 are added every Wednesday on page five of this release. Home Dominance: Big Ten squads have jumped out to a 40-3 mark (.930) in home games this season, as eight teams are undefeated and three programs have only one loss on their home courts. Iowa leads the way at 6-0, while Illinois (5-0), Michigan (4-0), Wisconsin (4-0), Ohio State (3-0), Purdue (3-0), Michigan State (2-0) and Northwestern (2-0) are also unbeaten on their own floors. Last season, the Big Ten boasted a record of 131-44 (.749) at home. After defeating Georgetown on Dec. 8, the Illini have extended their homecourt winning streak to 26 games, which ties for the third-longest in the nation (Washington - 29, Gonzaga - 28 and Southern Illinois- 26). lllinois was the only league team to go undefeated at home last season and the Illini's last defeat in Assembly Hall occurred on Jan. 10, 2004 against Purdue. Neutral Friendly: Big Ten teams have also shown that they can play in neutral contests as league teams went 4-0 last week on neutral courts. Michigan State downed No. 6/6 Boston College in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City. On Saturday, the Spartans followed with another victory, defeating Wichita State, 79-53, at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. Indiana posted a 79-53 victory over No. 15/15 Kentucky at the RCA Dome, while Illinois defeated Oregon, 89-59, at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Ore. MSU has competed in the most neutral contests of all Big Ten squads, tallying a 5-1 mark, while Illinois and Wisconsin lead the league with 3-0 marks. Big Ten Coaching Milestones: Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan earned his 100th victory at UW as his team defeated Marquette 77-63 on Saturday. Ryan became the fifth coach in school history to earn 100 victories after compiling a 100-38 record in his five seasons at the Badger helm. Ryan is now tied with former UW head coach John Erickson (1960-68), who tallied a mark of 100-114, for the fourth-most victories at the Badger helm. Close Call Contests: Big Ten squads have quickly become accustomed to close games this season, owning a 14-6 record in games decided by six points or less. Illinois and Michigan lead the Big Ten with matching 3-0 records in these contests. League squads have also competed in six overtime games this season, tallying a 4-2 mark. 30-Plus Point Performances: Michigan's Courtney Sims became the latest Big Ten standout to record 30 or more points this season as the junior forward scored a career-high 33 points against Delaware State on Dec. 7. Sims is the sixth different player to tally 30-plus points this season. Wisconsin's Alando Tucker leads the league after scoring a conference-best 38 points on Nov. 19. Big Ten's Grand Company: The Ohio State duo of Ron Lewis and J.J. Sullinger are looking to become the latest members of the league's 1,000 career point club. Both Lewis (930) and Sullinger (926) are just under 100 points from joining Illinois' James Augustine (1,078), Michigan State's Maurice Ager (1,093) and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker (1,055) 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 (1,495), Indiana's Marco Killingsworth (1,182), Iowa's Greg Brunner (1,182) and Jeff Horner (1,203), Michigan's Daniel Horton (1,139), Michigan State's Paul Davis (1,325) Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic (1,213) and Ohio State's Terence Dials (1,129).
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