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What a season for the Michigan Wolverines. The regular season officially came to a close in Saturday night’s 84-80 victory over Indiana, and now it’s onto the postseason for the Big Ten champs. But before the Wolverines even thought about the Big Ten tournament, they had to cut down the nets and make the celebration official. Check out photos of Michigan’s celebration in this post. [ MORE: Charles Woodson photobombs Michigan team picture ]
The final weekend of the Big Ten regular season got off to an exciting start Saturday. No. 12 Michigan completed an impressive 15-3 Big Ten championship season with a victory over Indiana, and Illinois upset No. 24 Iowa on Jon Ekey’s last-second triple. Catch up on all the action and video highlights in this post. [ MORE: View Saturday’s full Big Ten scoreboard ] ILLINOIS 66, IOWA 63 | RECAP | BOX | PLAY-BY-PLAY (AP) Jon Ekey hit a 3-pointer in the final second to lift Illinois to a 66-63 victory over No. 24 Iowa on Saturday night. Rayvonte Rice
BTN gets fans ready for March Madness with a 2013 Tournament Rewind next Monday through Wednesday, featuring replays of last season’s most exciting NCAA Tournament games involving Big Ten teams. Four Big Ten men’s basketball teams reached the Sweet 16, two advanced to the Elite Eight, and after an incredible run, Michigan came up just shy of winning the National Championship. All six 2013 Big Ten opponents – Arizona, Kansas, Wichita State, Florida, Syracuse and Louisville – are likely to make deep tournament runs again this year. Monday, 7 p.m. ET: Watch Ohio State’s Sweet 16 victory over Arizona Monday,
Michigan State used a run out of intermission to create separation from Iowa in an eventual 10-point win. Both teams scored nearly at will in this one, but the Spartans’ outstanding three-point shooting masked a high turnover rate that is becoming worrisome. This has been Tom Izzo’s best-ever team at limiting turnovers (at least in the tempo-free era), but the past three games have seen Michigan State turn it over on nearly a quarter of its trips. Is this a temporary blip, the result of some long-absent players getting back into the groove? The Spartans had better hope so, as
The Big Ten tournament will feature a few new uniforms, thanks to adidas outfitting Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin with special “Made in March” alternates. The uniforms were designed to pay tribute to the unique history of the schools and, according to the official release, “provide the teams with the most advanced uniform system and basketball apparel technology so they can take on the challenges and intense play of March.” [ MORE: Here’s a look at all of adidas’ “Made in March” uniforms ] Michigan and Wisconsin agreeing to don an alternate design for the postseason is no big shock. Both
Surely, you saw the Ellen DeGeneres Oscars selfie that featured a host of Hollywood celebrities. It has more than 3.2 million retweets. Well, to honor the team’s first outright Big Ten crown since 1986, the Michigan basketball team “recreated” the shot with mugshots of their players. [ MORE: Stauskas silences “U-S-A!” chants | Top 5 2014 Michigan moments ] The two things I notice first? Freshman Zak Irvin is “Ellen,” and star Nik Stauskas is “Bradley Cooper.” We're sorry for this. #B1GChamps pic.twitter.com/ola2BHY2wT — Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) March 5, 2014 About Brent Yarina BTN.com senior editor Brent Yarina covers football
The college basketball regular season is coming to a close, which means that it’s time for ESPN Insider Chad Ford’s annual NBA Mock Draft update. Ford lists five Big Ten stars in his latest Mock Draft 3.0, which was created based on NBA standings through March 4. [ MORE: Video: Nik Stauskas answers Illini fans’ ‘U-S-A!’ chants ] Leading the way is Indiana freshman Noah Vonleh, who Ford has going No. 10 overall to the Philadelphia 76ers. “If the Sixers grab a small forward with their first pick, an athletic, versatile power forward paired next to him seems like a
It seems every radio show I am on, I’m asked this question: Is the Big Ten the best league in America? Or, it is an average league with a lot of good teams? It’s a good question, and one that we soon will find out. The conference doesn’t appear to have an elite team. Michigan State was the closest thing to that template when the season dawned, but injuries have proven ruinous for the Spartans. Wisconsin has the fewest overall losses of any team with just five. But all five defeats have come in Big Ten play. Even worse, the
Michigan won the Big Ten title outright last night on the strength of a shockingly easy win at Illinois. Sure, the Illini don’t have an impressive record, but John Groce’s team came into the matchup on a three-game winning streak, during which no opponent broke 0.9 points per trip. This was a hot team whose defense was absolutely stifling conference opponents. Talk had even begun of this Illinois team somehow sneaking back onto the bubble in the season’s final week. The Wolverines obviously didn’t get the memo. Michigan had an historic night from three, knocking down 16 of 23 from
Michigan is a fun team to watch. Nik Stauskas, of course, paces the high-scoring attack that helped the Wolverines claim their first outright Big Ten title since 1986. It’s fun to watch the Michigan bench, too, because the reserves are having as much fun as the key contributors. Especially freshman walk-on Andrew Dakich. Nearly two weeks ago, Dakich delighted the college basketball world an intereseting dance (see below) following a Caris LeVert triple vs. Michigan State. In Tuesday night’s win at Illinois, he celebrated one of Stauskas’ seven 3s with a perfectly timed dice roll. See Dakich’s dance move vs.
