Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, February 17, 2016

The Associated Press reported late Tuesday night that it appears that Illinois has an A.D., and it's Josh Whitman, the director of athletics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Whitman is just 37 years old and comes from a Division III school. Still, he?s a rising star in athletic administration, a former Illini tight end who cut his teeth in the school?s athletic department. Whitman will have a lot on his plate taking over for Mike Thomas, who was fired Nov. 9. Whitman must evaluate the Bill Cubit and John Groce, among other things, and continue to improve facilities.

Here's his bio.

***

Few teams are playing as well as Michigan State. Too bad Denzel Valentine got hurt earlier this year. Had that not happened, the Spartans may be leading the Big Ten. Regardless, the Spartans have lots of mojo coming down the stretch. Kyle Austin of Mlive.com has five things to watch:

I am watching Tum Tum Nairn, a key cog at point guard who is working his way back from injury. He needs to be up to speed as March dawns. Nairn can speed things up for the Spartans and provide a nice change of pace during short stints — if his foot can handle a little increased workload.

***

Chris Ash has excitement on the uptick at Rutgers. And, no doubt, some freshmen will have a shot to play for a program that is in transition. NJ.com has five who are most likely.

***

Looking for JC QBs most likely to impact this fall? Athlon?s has a list for you. And it includes Indiana?s Richard Lagow. The guy reminds me physically and skill-wise of Nate Sudfeld.

***

So, the countdown to the NFL draft is underway. And the conjecture continues to swirl around ex-Penn State QB Christian Hackenberg. Where does he fit among the other QB prospects?

Cal?s Jared Goff, North Dakota State?s Carson Wentz, Memphis? Paxton Lynch and Michigan State?s Connor Cook are just a few of the guys competing with Hackenberg, who may take a few years to develop.

***

February is crunch-time month for teams looking to make a push for the NCAA tourney.

Tom Shatel of Omaha.com has a good look at some of the metrics that schools who are scratching for a postseason bid may want to be familiar with. An interesting topic of discussion when looking at a team?s NCAA merits: Number of conference wins. Creighton A.D. Bruce Rasmussen, a member of the NCAA Basketball Committee, told Shatel that ?It doesn?t come up. It?s hard to measure because it goes from league to league. Again, if you?re in a good league, and you win 10 games, you more than likely have some good wins.

"But I go back to the Big Ten. Until this week, Indiana had not played any of the other top five teams in the Big Ten: Michigan State, Maryland, Iowa or Purdue. And they only play those teams a total of five times, whereas Wisconsin plays them nine times.

"It?s hard to get a read on number of league wins with all the unbalanced schedules."

In the end, as Shatel notes, every school is placed on the board and compared to others based on their individual merits. Then, it comes down to the opinions of 10 individuals.

***

It?s difficult for coaches not to play freshmen, given the 85 scholarship limits. Ohio State?s Urban Meyer says he intends to play them. He says he plans to play 18 from his most recent recruiting haul.

"I'm going to force the issue with our position coaches," Meyer said. "Sometimes position coaches, they protect themselves by saying, 'The kid doesn't know what he's doing, so I'm not going to give him those reps.' So I'm not going to allow that this year."

In reality, fifth-year seniors are nowhere in Ohio State's plans, according to Cleveland.com.

"We want to play (freshmen) immediately," Meyer said. If they're good after three years, want to go to NFL, that's their choice. … The days of fifth-year guys at Ohio State, if they're around for five years, something happened or they're not good enough. Or they were beat out."

***

Bet you didn?t know that Mike Gesell was quietly approaching the Iowa career assist record.

Andre Woolridge owns the school season record with 193 assists in 1995-96; Gesell has 157. His season average is 6.3 a game - third in the Big Ten Conference. With at least seven games left on Iowa?s schedule, Gesell would need to average 5.2 assists to pass Woolridge?s benchmark.

?I didn?t know that, to be honest,? Gesell said. ?If it happens, it happens. I?m not going out for any records. The only thing I really care about is trying to win games. As a point guard, I?m out there trying to engineer victory.?

***

Caris LeVert says he will be a game-time decision for the rest of the season. So, there?s that.

LeVert, out since Dec. 30 with what the program has only described as a lower left-leg injury, returned to action in Michigan's 61-56 win over No. 18 Purdue on Saturday. The 6-foot-7 guard played 11 minutes off the bench, grabbing five rebounds and handing out one assist.

LeVert, speaking with local reporters for the first time since the injury, said this week that he will continue to be a "game-time decision" moving forward - basing his availability on how he feels through pregame warm-ups - and that he continues to progress from the injury. This isn?t ideal news for Michigan, which has done well in LeVert?s absence but may be unable to make a deep run in March without a bigger contribution from its best player.

***

Email Tom Dienhart using the form below.

And if you want to leave a comment on this post, use the box below. All comments need to be approved by a moderator.