We continue to work our way up our projected standings, and today we’ve reached our pick for fifth place: the Illinois Fighting Illini. Bruce Weber’s squad may be the biggest wild card in this season’s Big Ten, as it is supremely talented but woefully inexperienced.  What’s a reasonable range of expectations for a team like this? Let’s find out.

First off, apologies for the absence of the Numbers last week. The demands brought on by our Penn State coverage proved to be a bit too overwhelming.

Every Big Ten men’s hoops team has played at least one game, and in today’s quick-to-judge world, we thought why not offer some initial thoughts on what we’ve seen through the first week of action. See Brent Yarina’s way-too-early Big Ten impressions in this post.

It was a busy day of Big Ten women’s hoops Tuesday night, with five teams in action. Michigan State beat IPFW, 62-56, in its home opener to pace the conference on a 4-1 night. Also winning were Illinois, Northwestern and Nebraska, which drilled Mississippi Valley State, 99-53. Wisconsin suffered the lone defeat, losing to instate rival Marquette. Catch up on all the action on our Big Ten scoreboard. Watch our video from Michigan State’s win now and see all the scores and video in this post.

Just two weeks remain in the regular season, but there still is a lot to play for in the Big Ten. Michigan State could wrap up the Legends Division this week with a win at home over Indiana and a loss by Nebraska at Michigan. Regardless, if the Spartans win out, they are in the Big Ten title game on Dec. 3.