Dienhart's Big Ten Daily Links for Wednesday

Looking for something to do while hunched over your desk eating Ramen noodles? Surf to these web stories  to get mucho Big Ten knowledge. I do this every weekday morning for my readers and you can find my previous link collections here. Even better, you can subscribe to the RSS for the Daily links right here.

And do you have a link I need to read? Send it to me at the bottom of this post.

Big Ten
Mike Huguenin of Yahoo! Sports takes for a tour around the Big Ten. The guy knows his stuff. Trust me on this.

Illinois
Tick, tick, tick. You hear that? It?s the clock ticking on Illinois, says Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.

You don?t need to tell the Illini that this rut could cost them dearly. They know, says Tina Akouris of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Facing a must-win vs. Purdue, here?s a walk down memory lane at other big wins in the Bruce Weber era. Thanks, Champaign News-Gazette!

Bruce Weber has the backing of former Illini coach Harv Schmidt, says Loren Tate of the Champaign News-Gazette. So, he?s got that going for him, which is nice.

Indiana
Christian Watford shows there?s more to his game than one shot, says Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star. But, golly, that bomb vs. Kentucky sure was sweet.

Pete DePrimio of the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel wonders: Should Victor Oladipo start over a healthy Verdell Jones? Hmmmm. Discuss among yourselves.

Iowa
Easy points put Matt Gatens in an elite group, says Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register.

Fran McCaffrey says his non-conference schedule will improve next season, writes Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. No more Campbells. Oops, Iowa lost to Campbell.

Melsahn Basabe plans a return to the basics in the offseason, says Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

The stop-and-start Hawkeyes are ready to go, says Aaron Brenner of the Quad City Times. That?s good, because time is of the essence.

Minnesota
Look, it?s this simple: The Buckeyes are bigger and better than the Gophers, says Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Are the Gophers on the verge or just in a huge hole? Amelia Rayno of the Minneapolis Star Tribune thinks out loud for us.

Michigan
Nick Baumgardner of AnnArbor.com checks out Michigan?s hoops? Taj Mahal: The Player Development Center. In a word: nice. In two words: really nice.

Mike Martin in mum on his combine goals but is pumped to set one: He wants to break the bench press record, says Kyle Meinke of AnnArbor.com.

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press tells us how Zack Novak helped recruit Mitch McGary from his hometown to Michigan. Wolverine fans will want to thank Zack for this.

Michigan State
Brandon Wood?s grit was the key to the Spartans? win at Ohio State, says Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal.

Tom Izzo?s trust and Draymond Green?s leadership led to that big win in Columbus, says Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press.

Let?s hear it for the big fella, as Adreian Payne broke through in that big victory at Ohio State, says Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News. Don?t you wonder how good he can be? Scary, isn?t it?

Northwestern
Former walk-on Reggie Hearn gives the Wildcats a big lift, writes Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. Quick question: How did this kid get out of Indiana?

JerShon Cobb says he?s ready to return, says Tina Akouris of the Chicago Sun-Times. A depleted Wildcat roster is thankful.

Ohio State
The Buckeyes have added a lineman to their 2013 recruiting class, says Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch. Go crazy, folks!

Penn State
This one will melt your heart: Nate Stupar surprised his girlfriend with a Valentine?s Day proposal in Beaver Stadium, says Nate Mink of StateCollege.com. Sniff-sniff.

Bill O?Brien almost is ready to put a bow on his staff, says Stefanie Loh of the Harrisburg Patriot-News. He needs just one more assistant. Loh also takes a look at Bill O'Brien's contract.

Purdue
The seniors grabbed some bench-and they responded, writes Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette Journal-Courier. How refreshing. No sulking. No pouting. Just production. You know this made Matt Painter smile.

Wisconsin
Wanna snap that losing skid in East Lansing? Hit the boards, the Badgers, writes Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal.

Attention, football fans: The Badgers have set variable prices for single-game tickets, writes Rob Hernandez of the Wisconsin State Journal. This, I?m afraid, is a trend.

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart posts his Daily Links on weekdays. You can subscribe to the Daily Links RSS here, find Dienhart?s work at www.btn.com/tomdienhart, follow him on Twitter at @BTNTomDienhart, send a question to his weekly mailbag here, and click here to subscribe to his overall RSS feed.