We’ve already heard all about his many strengths. And he could very well be the next Scottie Pippen, but he’s still far from perfect. As transcendent as his game seems at times, there are still some flaws.

At times his appearance on the court is less than ideal. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he sounds like Kermit the Frog, or looks like a dinosaur. I’ve even heard these opinions expressed working for THE Ohio State University. During the tournament’s first weekend his body language and overall composure were less than ideal.

A reporter questioned his collegiate coach Thad Matta about this. He answered by deflecting and changing the topic. “I thought that there was a couple of things that were happening. I was trying to get changed as well. But he’s just got to keep the composure and keep playing through it…Nobody pays attention to his defense. He did a tremendous job defending us well tonight and really using his length off their stack actions,” Matta said.

I had some off-the-record conversations with the teams that OSU eliminated in the NCAAs, and members of the opposing coaching staffs basically told me they were disappointed in how Evan looked in real time when compared against how he looked on film. They were disappointed in his demeanor, how they perceived his maturity, and how he acted on the court given his prestigious stature as a player.

And when opponents got physical with him, he didn’t seem to react well. Turner got rattled quite a bit during the first game of the NCAA Tournament, a blowout win over UC-Santa Barbara. And in the Big Ten Tournament, the trash talking Illini got in his head and under his skin. Here’s a video I shot of him in the locker room after the game. He’s voicing his frustration over the Illinois “front-runners.”

Of course, polarization is just the nature of the beast when you’re a big star. Turner has a lot of BFFs among big-time college basketball stars, but he’s also so hated by opponents that his teammates  call him “The Villain.” But like Chris Rock says: “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

In March, I actually got tired of coaches and announcers making the “he almost had a quadruple double, if you count the TOs” joke every time Turner got a triple double, or close to it. The joke eventually got more annoying and played out than “Flo” and her Progressive insurance advertisements.

During March Madness a reporter questioned Matta about Turner’s tendency to turn the ball over, and again he deflected the question without really answering.

“I love him being out there — a lot of times just for the defense. I think everybody only watches him on offense. But he gets his hands on so many balls and 6?7? with his wing span, he was challenging shots at 24 feet that you really don’t notice. And then when that thing goes up, a lot of times he’s coming up with the rebound, and he does a great job in that regard,” Matta responded.

Of course in the grand scheme of things, his turnovers are not that big of a deal because he’s going to be playing the three in the NBA. He only played the point at OSU, because they had absolutely no other options. Their best alternative was P.J. Hill for crying out loud. Of course, in the NBA the small forward position is to talented athletes what Elisabeth Hasselbeck is to sounding idiotic, so “His Royal Smoothness” will have some TOUGH matchups on his hands when he gets into the league.

But when you look at his entire upside, his TOs aren’t really the end of the world. Matta summed it up best following the Buckeyes’ final victory of the season; a second round defeat over Georgia Tech where Turner had 24 points, 9 rebounds and also 9 of his team’s 18 turnovers.

“As long as he gets me 24 and 9 and 9, I’ll leave with it. Obviously, we’d like it to cut down. In that type of situation we’re going to put the ball in his hands a lot and he’s going to make decisions…I thought when the time was needed, he delivered for us,” Matta said.

For an in-depth scouting report on Turner go here

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

Remember when Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was being recruited? As far as high school players go, his hype was bigger than Jesus, Jimmy Clausen, and Tim Couch combined. (This analogy is contingent on Jesus’ having played college football, and I’m assuming that’s true because he’s a part of Notre Dame’s wall of fame.)

Entering his junior season, Pryor hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.

Katie Witham covers Ohio State football and basketball for the Big Ten Network, and before spring practice started, I asked her what Buckeye fans will be focused in on this April.

“This spring all eyes, including mine will be on Terrelle Pryor and how he’s progressed. The kid is good. There’s no doubt about that,” Witham said.

“The biggest thing for me with Pryor is whether or not he can back up all the talk; and that means doing away with all the easy turnovers and making something happen every snap,” she continued.

Last fall Pryor was the preseason Big Ten Player of the year. He fell well short of that expectation, but he did have his moments. I’ll let Sport Bank’s Ohio St. expert Hans Hetrick sum up Pryor’s ‘09.

Pryor obviously closed out the season with a fantastic Rose Bowl, but there are a few caveats that should be considered, namely, his release and decision making, both of which are slower than the Olentangy River in the middle of summer.

Oregon brought a lot of people into the box in that game. Remember, running the ball and playing good defense was OSU modis operandi throughout the season. The Ducks were going to make Pryor win the game through the air, and he did. But he did it against a small Oregon defense. Pryor’s ability to break tackles and a fantastic job by the offensive line gave him an extraordinary amount of time to throw the ball or pick a gap and run. In my mind, Pryor still hasn’t proved he can carry the team on his arm, which he’ll need to do if the Buckeyes are to make a serious run at the NCAA championship.

The good news for Pryor is that almost the entire offense is returning for 2010, standout tackle Jim Cordle being the only loss. That should help Pryor pick right up where he left off in the Rose Bowl.

That hasn’t exactly happened this spring. Outside of the most football-crazy portions of SEC and Big 12 country, there are precious few who care about spring football. But for those that do, eyes have indeed been watching Pryor, and the results have been less than promising.

I’ll let the O-Zone describe what went down on Saturday.

The Buckeyes lost five starters on defense this off-season, but it didn’t show one bit Saturday. Jim Heacock and his defense held on to the coveted Scarlet practice jerseys with a 78-24 thumping of the offense in the spring jersey scrimmage…With the defense hounding him all morning, Pryor finished the game just 5-of-16 passing, unofficially, for 45 yards. Part of that was the cold weather, part of it was dropped passes and bad protection, but a big portion of it was just bad passing by the junior signal caller who was wearing a black no-contact jersey.

It’s become abundantly clear that Pryor hates wearing the black jersey, and seems to struggle when he is confined to being a pocket passer at the mercy of his offensive tackles. For that reason, Tressel doesn’t expect to get an accurate reading on Pryor’s progress from this type of setting.

The article also mentions how this game had only one touchdown in it. Yet there were 102 points scored! What the..?! If watching one team play itself doesn’t turn you off from spring football, then perhaps the inconsistent, incoherent, and indecipherable scoring systems for the games will.

Yes, it’s true that we can’t learn much about a quarterback from a game where he’s not allowed to be hit. And perhaps Pryor’s ugly stats do mean much less in a game where he’s not allowed to scramble (especially when analyzing a QB whose game has such an important running dimension). And we should recall that Pryor put up the most impressive statistics of his college career during his final six games in ‘09, all Buckeye wins, capped off with a 338 yard day which earned him the Rose Bowl MVP award.

But this much is clear; if Pryor doesn’t challenge for national QB awards and/or lead his Buckeyes into the national championship discussion, his career will be a tremendous bust. In 2010, should Pryor struggle, those shortfalls can no longer be blamed on lack of experience.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

Katie Witham, Ohio State reporter for the Big Ten Network, discusses OSU potential with fellow Buckeye expert Paul M. Banks, Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

(PMB) The Buckeyes have been placed into my regional each of the past 3 weekends, so after spending so much quality time with Thad Matta lately, (this following a season covering two Big Ten teams: Illinois and Northwestern) I sort of feel like I’ve earned my Master’s in OSU b-ball, and I may be a doctoral candidate if they reach Indy. I imagine, due to your work with the Big Ten Network, you’re maybe in the same place?

(KW) Definitely!  But we’re being paid to watch and talk about sports so can we really complain?! I consider myself extremely fortunate to be doing what I’m doing.  Ohio State is known for their excellence in all of their athletic programs and Thad Matta is one of most amiable and genuine coaches I have ever had the chance to interview.

(PMB) Agreed. We do have a dream job. Everyone knows all about Evan Turner; how great he is. You think he’ll win the Naismith and Wooden awards? Conversely, what flaws do you see in his game? Since OSU has no real options at point guard (P.J. Hill doesn’t get many minutes), Turner has had to set up the offense all year, and he’s made more than his share of turnovers. I’m actually getting tired of coaches and announcers making the “he almost had a quadruple double if you count the TOs” joke every time he gets close a triple double, or close to it. He’s appeared a bit rattled lately. Illinois got into his head with trash talk during the conference tournament, and UCSB seemed to fluster him by getting physical in their double teams.

(KW) Player of the Year is a huge accomplishment and no one deserved it more than Evan Turner this season.  He’s the type of player that is blessed with natural ability, but also works hard in developing it.  I think if he keeps at it, he wins the Naismith and Wooden.  If he has a weakness, it’s being too overconfident at times.  He’s a damn good player.  There’s no doubt about that…but there’s a difference in playing like a good player and playing like you know you’re a good player.

(PMB) A player of Turner’s stature needs a good nickname, so far I’ve heard “His Royal Smoothness,” “the Velociraptor” and as Mark Titus of Club Trillion calls him, “The Villain”. Heard any good ET nicknames? Care for any of these?

(KW) Actually, I haven’t heard any.  I like “His Royal Smoothness” though because he does make it look so easy.

(PMB) Let’s move on to the great players overshadowed by Turner: William “Slinky” Buford- arguably college basketball’s best second banana and the guy you’re interviewing in the introductory picture, David Lighty, and Dallas Lauderdale. (Readers: click on the highlighted names to read feature interviews on each player)

All of them have potential NBA skill sets and talents. And we can’t forget Jon Diebler, a deadly spot up shooter who gives this team another viable weapon. 

(KW) I know Diebler’s our 3’s man, but William Buford is shooting 43% from beyond the arc just in the last 2 games, and for me, Buford seems to come up with the big bucket right as Ohio State needs a swift kick in their butt.  That’s huge as a teammate.

David Lighty, the Buckeye’s unsung hero.  This guy can play and unfortunately is so overlooked most of the time because Evan Turner is that good.  Defensively, he’s my man and such a critical part of what holds this team together.

Dallas Lauderdale, the guy knows a good pair of shoes when he sees them!  Never fails to compliment me on my best pair of heels…and has come up with 11 blocks so far in the tournament.  Love it.

And the work ethic and just downright fight that Jon Diebler possess…The kid been battling a mean case of the flu throughout the NCAA’s, even had an IV (or two) before the Georgia Tech game and still knocks down four 3-pointers in the 2^nd half to keep OSU in the lead!  That’s impressive.

(PMB) Yep, Lauderdale led the Big Ten in blocks this season, and Lighty always does a great job disrupting passing opponents passing lanes with his long arms.  Just how far do you think this team of four guards and one center (who only play 6, or at most 7 guys in a game) can go? Their bracket certainly seems to breaking their way and they’ve looked really good when considering how uncharacteristically poor Turner has shot in the tourney so far. I think they’ll take the Midwest Regional this weekend.

(KW) I genuinely think they could go all the way.  I know all we’ve been talking about in the media lately is OSU’s lack of depth but you know as well as I do that’s more or less media hype.  There’s a funny thing that happens sometimes in sports…when you’re on a team that has a  group of players with a lot of ability and click together…anything can happen.  I think the biggest thing for the Buckeyes is coming out and playing an entire 40 minutes at the level they are capable of.  If Ohio State plays to their opponent’s level, they won’t make it much further.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks, Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

As I’ve pointed out before, National Player of the Year Evan Turner is like the Hillary Clinton of college basketball: quite a polarizing figure. Fans of teams eliminated by Turner’s Ohio State Buckeyes HATE him. And as the tournament rolls on, this bandwagon will indeed pick up more steam.

But on the other side, he’s also Mr. Popularity. He told me after the Big Ten Tournament Michigan buzzer beater, he had 150 text messages waiting for him when he got back to the locker room. And of his many close friends, a few are college hoops stars.

In the past I profiled (click where highlighted to read more about Turner’s friendship with each player) Illinois Demetri McCamey, and Penn State’s Talor Battle. This week we add Georgia Tech’s native of Oak Park, IL Iman Shumpert. And if you had Turner himself to this team, we’ll just need a fifth to round out the All-Turner BFF team.

“You always want to see guys from your city do well, but we also want to win and be mentioned as better than the other one,” Shumpert said Saturday when asked about his upcoming match-up against Turner and the Buckeyes.

The two players were 8th grade teammates with Turner at the two, and Shumpert running the point. It’s a rare experience to have two players with high NBA first round draft potential on the same team middle school team. In high school, they played against each other multiple times. After Evan Almighty and Ohio State eliminated Shumpert’s Tech team, Evan talked about what the thought of Shumpert’s skills today versus back then. “You know, he’s definitely gotten stronger, defense has gotten a lot better,” Turner stated. “He’s always been a leader. But pretty much the same. He’s definitely a competitor and he’s coming out to win,” he continued.

His Royal Smoothness Evan Turner also talked about how much he keeps in touch with Shumpert. “Actually, me and Iman talk a lot away from basketball. We talk a lot on AIM and Skype and stuff on Facebook. So when we’re at home we usually see each other for the most part. We’re definitely friends,” he said.

I was more intrigued though by a soundbite from the previous day. A reporter asked Shumpert, “have you ever played against a guard who rebounds as well as Turner does? “Demetri McCamey. Demetri was actually a five man for MacArthur when we were all in 8th grade, and Evan and I went up against him, so he naturally rebounds as well as anybody,” he responded. Looking at where these three guys are now, and where they come from, it’s a very strong example of just how much basketball talent we have in the Chicago area.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net Paul M. Banks has an exclusive with Ohio State’s Mark Titus, founder and author of the enormously popular “Club Trillion: Life views from the end of the bench” blog.

Ohio State walk-on Mark Titus created his own blog, “Club Trillion”, whose name refers to his stats in most games: 1 minute of playing time, and zeroes for every other statistic. His blog, and lack of playing time have garnered lots of national media attention including: ESPN.com’s ‘BS Report’ with Bill Simmons, the New York Times.

Last April, Titus used his blog to formally announce his entrance into the 2009 NBA Draft. Even though his draft stock is about as high as Lehmann Brothers. This specific blog entry was a headline story on Yahoo!’s home page.

PB: So the Ohio State SID tells me she has to arrange more media requests for you than just about any player. What’s been the best part of all the publicity you’ve received?

MT: “I just wanted to tell some stories, having a unique perspective, being on a top 10 basketball team. I never expected it to be as big as it is. That wasn’t the goal, I was trying to have a lot of fun with it all and it’s been pretty fun for me.”

PB: Web 2.0, Facebook where you have about 10,000 fans, Twitter- all this stuff emerging now made it the perfect time for something like this to blow up?

MT: “Everything worked out well for me, the fact that I’m at a school where there’s a huge following all over the world. We got alumni everywhere so that definitely helps, the social media going on helps me, the fact that we have a really good team helps, it’s all been a nice culmination.”

PB: And it’s made you kind of a campus celebrity?

MT: “When I go out in Columbus now, people recognize me and that’s kind of fun for me. Because the first year at Ohio State- I was Greg Oden’s friend, and walking around it was “Whose that guy walking around with Greg Oden?” Now people know my name.”

PB: And it’s changed the national perception of bench-warmers, and computer geeks- two types of people who typically are seated as far away from the “cool table” as possible.

MT: “I never really had that intention, but it has. There’s a lot of people who have fun not playing. I guess that’s been the most rewarding part. There’s high school kids who email me and tell me they don’t play on their high school team. They were discouraged but then they found out about my blog and now they turn it into a fun game and they’re not so discouraged anymore.”

PB: So now you could even say it’s cool to be a benchwarmer and a blogger…maybe?

MT: “Yeah exactly, I had no idea what a blog even was until I started mine. Benchwarming is not necessarily something I loved doing. It’s not like 2 years ago I wanted to be the face of benchwarming or anything. Now that we’re having fun wit it, it’s no so bad.

PB: And you have a book deal in the works?

MT: “I’ve been contacted by a lot of publishers, I need to get a book agent and sort it all out. There’s going to be a book, a fun little thing. I’m going to write about my experiences at Ohio State, the fun things I’ve been able to do, the great players I’ve played with, and more behind the scenes stuff that I haven’t been able to talk about on my blog.”

PB: Future plans after graduation?

MT: “I really don’t know. I’m really opinionated, so maybe a column or something would be cool, but I don’t have my eyes set on anything. Whatever comes up, I’ll try to tackle.”

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,

INDIANAPOLIS- Big Ten player of the year, and likely national player of the year Evan Turner has become quite the polarizing figure this weekend. The Ohio State swing-man made magical memories for OSU fans on his way to becoming Big Ten tournament MVP. But he also angered many partisans of the teams who were vanquished by the Ohio State Buckeyes; en route to their tournament championship.

If he’s on your side- you love him. Here’s what his coach Thad Matta had to say after the tournament championship game.

“You know, at what point I literally said, hey, take the game over, and that’s when he hit the three off the pull-up. But when you say that to a guy like Evan, he’s so cerebral basketball-wise, he can do it with the pass, you can do it with the defensive stop. But his play-making ability is really good. And just with his size, they had smaller guys on him, they tried Johnson on him there for a while, but it was — when you look at the body of work over the weekend,

I mean, this has to go down as probably — I know I’ve been in this league for six years. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Of course, if you’re playing against Turner, you probably don’t enjoy his body of work so much. I even heard two different nicknames for ET circulating around the BTT. People who love him call him “His Royal Smoothness,” his detractors refer to him as “The Velociraptor.” Evan was candid about his disgust with the Illini trash-talking on Saturday. “They were just running their mouths too much, and that was it.They were hitting shots and front runners, and they were running them off entirely too much. That’s all I’m saying,” Turner re-iterated.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term “front-runner” he means they only talk smack when they’re winning, and remaining quiet when the game is tight.

So what did certain Illinois players say?

Now I can’t verify this, but what I heard from three different reporters who were court-side for Illini-Ohio St, was Illini freshman D.J. Richardson supposedly said: “If I keep spanking you, they’re going to send my black ass to jail.” At Turner. And Turner’s friend/former high school teammate Demetri McCamey added: “You’re going to prison,” at Richardson. Again these are not verbatim QUOTES, just what was SUPPOSEDLY overheard. Neverthless be proud Illini Nation. Your team, a bubble team, was talking smack to the Sporting News player of the year and his potential #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament teammates. As an alum, I find this to be one of the finest Illini moments of 2010 so far.

Of course, Turner is anything but innocent in this exchange, as we saw him make the “grasping money” signal with his hands towards the Illinois bench in one of the overtime sessions.

Whether that signifies the money he’ll soon make in the NBA, that his shot is “so money,” I don’t know. But what I do know is minutes after Ohio State’s 72-53 route at Illinois on Feb. 14, Evan Tweeted “You all witnessed the ‘Valentine’s Day massacre,”’ on his Twitter account after finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. So you could say he started this up a month ago.

(Also, in a semi-related story, Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson drew a technical foul for allegedly saying “he keeps grabbing on my sh#$t” to the referee; in reference to an opposing Minnesota player during the other game Saturday night.)

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

1) Ohio State- Hard to put the Buckeyes anywhere else on the list.  Terrelle Pryor was the most efficient passer in the conference last year and OSU is never lacking talent.  For the first time in a while though, the talent is unproven.  Wouldn’t be surprised to see Ohio State lose a game or three this year. 

2) Penn State- Some of the same issues face the Nittany Lions that face the Buckeyes.  They lose a lot of experienced players in bunches.  Wide receiver and defensive back positions groups will be very green.  Penn State has a quarterback better than Pryor though, in Clark and a proven NFL-bound back in Evan Royster.  PSU should benefit from playing absolutely no one in their out of conference slate as they bring their young guys around. 

3) Illinois- The Illini struggle with success.  The last two times they went to BCS bowls, Illinois followed up with a 5-7 season.  This year though, Illinois returns all of its rushing yards, a dynamic veteran quarterback, and the best receiver in the conference.  The defense needs to step up, but I think the Zooker brings the Illini back this season. 

4) Iowa- The Hawkeyes received some bad news in the preseason, learning that RB Jewel Hampton would be out for significant time.  The good news for the Hawkeyes is that they return a bunch of players.  The Hawkeyes are strong in the trenches and if Stanzi can limit the turnovers and become the ideal game manager he can be at quarterback, Iowa will be in great shape. 

5) Michigan State- The Spartans were picked third in the conference by the Big Ten media this summer.  I don’t see it.  They lose Javon Ringer, who represented basically their entire offense.  One guy to watch is linebacker Greg Jones, he’s something special.  Kirk Cousins will get the start at QB for the Spartans, while Keith Nichol will also get snaps in the first game.  Nichol has the higher ceiling, but Cousins is likely the smart move at the outset. 

6) Michigan- The Wolverines have taken plenty of heat in the week leading up to the season and it remains to be seen whether the “scandal” will help bring them together or be too large of a distraction.  If Tate Forcier can even be an average starter as freshmen go, he’ll be a significant upgrade at QB.  The Wolverines have four returning starters on the O-line and a defense that couldn’t be worse than last year.  If they put the distractions aside, I see a big jump for UM.

7) Northwestern-  I have changed my mind on the Wildcats in the last couple of weeks.  I really like what Pat Fitzgerald is doing in Evanston and Mike Kafka is a great fit for this offense.  With a favorable schedule, I like the Wildcats to make some noise in the Big Ten this year.   

8- Wisconsin-  Bret Bielema has to be feeling the heat in Madison, and I’m not talking about the kind of heat that seems to land a running back in legal trouble once per year.  Wisconsin failed miserably to meet expectations last year and the pressure is on this year.  Scott Tolzien will be your yearly new starter for the Badgers, who will rely heavily on John Clay and Zach Brown to carry the load. 

9) Minnesota-  Tim Brewster’s squad will be led by the pass-catch combo of Adam Weber and Eric Decker.  Decker is one of the best receivers in the league, but the Gophers will need to establish the run with one of their young backs to give Decker a chance to really break games open.  I think Minnesota gets off to a decent start, but falters down the stretch with losses to Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, and Iowa in five of the last six weeks of the season. 

10) Purdue-  New coach, bad players.

11) Indiana- Was there any doubt Indiana would be here?  Kellen Lewis is gone, but the pistol offense is coming to town.

So what did we learn coming out of the event?

• Ron Zook broke his regiment of water skiing and small child eating to show up, which was nice.  Zook actually spent a lot of time talking discipline and off the field issues, which I guess is disturbing.  Apparently a couple of bars are off limits to players around campus (any guesses?) and they have drafted “character teams” so either Zook is very proactive in attacking character issues, or there are some serious ones.  He also jokingly–or not so much–chided the media for picking Terrelle Pryor as preseason Big Ten Offensive POY.  Good for him.  Way to base the distinction on hype rather than, you know, the guy who won the actual Offensive POY award last year (Clark). 
• Joe Pa is still living and stuff, and he was there cracking jokes and drawing out plays on tablecloths about how they used to run the spread in the 1840’s 1940’s.  A couple years ago I thought he should just hang it up, but now I hope he lives/coaches forever.  Not because of the diagrams, just because I changed my mind. 
• So yeah, Terrelle Pryor was preseason POY for offense and Greg Jones, a linebacker from MSU, got the honor on defense.  Jones is a solid choice and if you hadn’t heard of him, try to watch him play this year.  He will only be a junior, but is a heck of a talent.  Pryor…well, it’s no secret I don’t like him.  You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think Todd Boekmann could have done just as well, if not better for the Buckeyes last year.  It’s not that hard to lob deep balls up to future pros when the other team has eight or nine in the box to stop your star running back.  Pryor can run and he throws a nice bomb, but his intermediate passing game will need to improve if he wants to live up to this hype. 
• The top three teams as voted by the media will be OSU, PSU, and MSU.  Well there’s no surprise there…wait, MSU?  This is a team that was actually outgained by its opponents last year, and loses it’s only offensive star in Javon Ringer.  The QB situation should be addition by subtraction with Hoyer out and Cousins or Nichol in, but come on.  The best thing the Spartans have going for them this year is that they miss Ohio State and Dantonio has been better at avoiding embarrassing losses in games they should win easily.  I like Illinois and Iowa over the Spartans. 
• In terms of the other coaches, Dantonio and Tressel were unbelievably boring, Bielema made some lame excuse about why UW plays cupcakes every year, Rodriguez said his team was on track to improve, but he didn’t seem to want to be there, and Pat Fitzgerald continues to look like the perfect guy to lead Northwestern and I mean that in a good way. 

Plenty more Illini coverage will be coming, along with previews for each team before the season gets started in September.  You can rejoice football fans, the long month of July is almost over.

11:00 am (1) Michigan State vs. (8) Minnesota-

Michigan State swept the series against Minnesota winning easily on the road and blowing the Gophers out 76-47 in the Breslin Center.  Both teams have quite a bit to play for as well.  The Spartans find themselves still alive for a one seed in the NCAA Tournament and with Oklahoma and Pittsburgh losing, they actually have a pretty good chance if they run the table.  Minnesota finds itself scoreboard watching already and might need a win to get in.  Westbrook and the big guys inside will need to lead Minnesota if they’re to have a chance, but Michigan State can rotate a lot of bodies in there with Suton, Roe, Green, and Gray, and the Sparties have the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Travis Walton to match up with Westbrook.  The Gophers pulled off the upset of the conference tourney last year against Indiana, and they’ll need an equally surprising result today.

1:30 (4) Wisconsin vs. (5) Ohio State-

The Badgers hosted the only meeting between these teams and won it by five.  Both teams are near locks for the tournament at this point and are both nine seeds in the latest Bracketology.  That doesn’t mean that we’ll see a relaxed game between two apathetic teams though.  The Badgers seem to make it to the last day of this tournament every year, and Bo Ryan will likely be pissed with anything less this year.  Ohio State hasn’t played its best basketball down the stretch and would like nothing more than to build a little momentum going into the Big Dance by winning today and getting a shot at Michigan State tomorrow.  The key for Wisconsin will be to contain Evan Turner.  The kid can score and is capable of putting the Buckeyes on his back for a win.  Ohio State will need to keep Wisconsin off the glass.  The Badgers are at their best when they hit the offensive boards.  So many easy putbacks and open threes are set up on second chance points for Wisconsin.

Michigan takes on Illinois at 5:30 and Penn State gets Purdue in the late game.  I’ll preview those a little later today.

In: Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois

The Spartans clinched at least a share of the Big Ten Championship Sunday, beating Illinois.  With a trip to the finals of the conference tournament the Spartans will likely lock up a two seed in the field of 64.  Purdue and Illinois have been impressive all year, hovering in the top 25 for most of the time.  Both suffered big losses this week (at Michigan for Purdue and against MSU for Illinois) that will knock them down a peg or two when it comes to seeding.  If you don’t think the last week and the conference tourney is important for these two, the difference between a 3 seed and a 4 or 5 could mean the difference between playing UNC or Kansas to start the second weekend.

Out: Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern

Northwestern had a chance to sneak into the bubble talk, but a stretch where the Wildcats lost 4 of 5 probably doomed them.  With games at Purdue and Ohio State left, it doesn’t look good.  NU fans should be proud of this group though, they played hard all the time and were actually pretty fun to watch.

On the Bubble: Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Penn State

Most think the Big Ten ends up with 6 or 7 spots in the tourney, meaning that one or two of these teams will be playing in the NIT.  Ohio State is the safest this bunch I think, with season sweeps against Michigan and Penn State.  They played a respectable out of conference slate and finish out with easier games against Iowa and Northwestern.  Wisconsin is also pretty safe after a big win against Michigan Sunday.  The Badgers played the toughest schedule of the bubble teams, have the best RPI, and are 9-7 in the conference.  Wisconsin plays at Minnesota and finishes with Indiana at home.

Minnesota, Penn State, and Michigan are the interesting ones here.  Penn State saw their touney dreams flash before their eyes on Saturday as they barely escaped with a win at home against Indiana.  The Nittany Lions have 20 wins, but played an embarrassing non-conference schedule including such tournament bound teams as…well, no one.  Lunardi has PSU as one of the last four teams in the tournament right now, but they might need to win out to stay in with the winner of the Michigan-Minnesota game this weekend likely getting a big boost.

Minnesota and Michigan play on Saturday and the winner has a very good chance of making the Big Dance.  Both teams have very impressive non-conference wins; Louisville for Minnesota and Duke and UCLA for Michigan.  I’d say Michigan has to win at Minnesota and their first round game in the Big Ten Tournament to get in, while Minnesota has to split their home games against Wisconsin and Michigan this week and win one tourney game as well.

Big games to watch:

• Ohio State at Iowa, Tue. 8:05 PM (BTN)
• Wisconsin at Minnesota, Wed. 7:30 PM (BTN)
• Illinois at Penn State, Thu. 8:00 PM (ESPN)
• Michigan at Minnesota, Sat. 11:00 AM (ESPN)
• Penn State at Iowa, Sat. 1:05 PM (BTN)
• Purdue at Michigan State, Sun. 11:00 AM (CBS)
• Indiana at Wisconsin, Sun. 6:00 PM (BTN)

After being up by five at halftime, it seemed like the Illini were holding onto a one-possession lead for most of the second half.  With about 8 minutes to go, Illinois started to pull away and once again it was NQTC favorite Chester Frazier making a big play.  After an Evan Turner free throw Frazier hit a three from the corner with an arch that must have just missed the ceiling as the shot clock hit zero.

Mike Davis led the Illini again with 22 points on 11-14 from the field, and Trent Meacham chipped in with 17, including some big free throws down the stretch.  The game ended with Meacham missing a free throw on purpose, leaving Ohio State with a 70 foot heave to try for the win, and since this wasn’t Lebron in a Powerade commercial, the Illini got the win.

Illinois is now alone in third place in the Big Ten, a game and a half behind Michigan State for the lead and a game behind Purdue for second place.  They will have a good chance to gain some ground this week with two home games, one against Minnesota on Thursday and the second playing host to the Spartans on Sunday.

Again, hopefully this means that the Penn State debacle was an anomoly, but unfortunately this team might always have the chance to lay an egg like that.  The good thing is that the defense can keep Illinois in almost any game, and with this huge road win they showed they can deal with adversity and adhere to the cliche advice of taking it one game at a time.