Aaron Craft already was a big deal prior to Sunday’s NCAA tourney performance against Iowa State. Add the late momentum-shifting charge and game-winning buzzer-beater to his record, and we’re dealing with a guy approaching icon status. Heck, Thad Matta wants a statue of Craft erected outside the arena. And local children must agree, because they’re building snowmen of Craft.

When the dust settled on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the Big Ten had four teams standing in the Sweet Sixteen. Here are some scattered thoughts on the action, bullet-point style:

Indiana won the Big Ten championship outright by about half a Newton, as Jordan Morgan’s tip-in attempt was a hair too strong, allowing Indiana to complete a road comeback and dulling the festivities of the rest of the weekend. After a sluggish first half that ended with Michigan leading 33-30 (33 possessions), the two teams combined for 80 points in the second half (32 possessions). However, despite the fact that these two teams played a back-and-forth battle, I think the result raises more concerns about Michigan than Indiana.

Any sober look at Iowa in the preseason would have put the team somewhere in the vicinity of the bubble. The team was coming off an 8-10 Big Ten campaign that, albeit one blessed with good fortune, portended good things to come with most of the roster returning this season.

Yes, the object in basketball is score. You need athletes, shooters, passers and rebounders. But good teams also possess toughness.

What is it about Aaron Craft’s style of play that makes so many respect him? Pardon the terrible cliches, but it’s that the Ohio State point guard gives 100 percent all the time and does whatever to help his team- even if it means he puts his body at risk. Craft showed these qualities in Tuesday’s win over Iowa, when he jumped over the first row of seats as he tried to keep the ball in play. Watch the play right now.

Earlier this season, Indiana coach Tom Crean dropped a piece gum on the court and put it right back in his mouth (watch it here). To be fair, as Crean later tweeted, it was a fresh piece that he fumbled in the process of putting in his mouth. The five-second rule applies there. But what about a wet mouthpiece that rests on the floor for several seconds?

This may surprise you, but every now and then we say something that really gets fans riled up. The best example of this is our belief that while Aaron Craft is a very good defender, he is not, nor has he ever been, Ohio State’s best defender. And this year, he’s not even the team’s best perimeter defender. Rather than take this as a complement to Ohio State’s collection of outstanding defenders, a lot of people take this as a slight to Craft.

At 10 p.m. ET tonight, “The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2013″ spotlights the Big Ten’s top point guards. The show airs immediately following the Wisconsin-Iowa game, and then airs again at 3 p.m. Sunday following the Indiana-Northwestern game and again at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Ohio State picked up a solid road victory at Purdue last night, but the bigger story may be the point guard controversy simmering in Columbus.

During Saturday’s Ohio State game against Chicago State on BTN, our crew showed a little video that captured BTN analyst and former Buckeye player Jim Jackson and current Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft trying the same trick shot. Both men missed their first attempt but they each make their second and it’s an impressive angle. “I let him get his confidence,” Jackson said of his approach to the competition with Craft, “and I took his cookies right away from him.”

The Big Ten had a relatively bad weekend, dropping marquee games against other high-major conference teams. The main event was a battle between two top-10 teams when Kansas visited Columbus. Given that the game was on the Buckeyes’ floor, Ohio State should have won this game, and probably by more than just a point or two. Instead, Kansas ended up with a relatively comfortable 8-point win. The Jayhawks led most of the way, and started pulling away with about ten minutes left. There was no great mystery as to why OSU lost—they were terrible shooting the ball, both inside and outside the arc. On twos, Ohio State converted just 35 percent, and they were at 26 percent on threes. Kansas, meanwhile, shot 53 and 46 percent, respectively. Otherwise, OSU outplayed the Jayhawks, but shooting trumps all.

Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue all hosted exhibition games Tuesday night. As expected, the three teams carded wins over Northwood, Walsh and Montevallo, respectively. Michigan State’s Branden Dawson and Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas both opened the season with a flurry, registering back-to-back buckets off the opening tip. Watch Dawson’s opening sequence and Thomas’. Check out Dawson’s left-handed jam now and get our video recaps from all three games in this post.

You may never see a more awkward buzzer-beater than the one Ohio State’s Aaron Craft hit at the end of the first half in Tuesday’s exhibition win over Walsh. Consider the mess that occurred before Craft beat the buzzer: There was a loose ball following an errant 3-pointer, which led to Walsh attempting to save the ball from going out of bounds, which led to Sam Thompson trying to do the same before finding Craft, who dribbled backward, to the left and then to the right before finally getting a shot off that touched seemingly every part of the rim before falling.

BTN.com’s Brent Yarina is in the middle of unveiling his 2012-13 preseason Big Ten Player Rankings one by one. The countdown goes in reverse order, of course, and each installment includes player stats and one video highlight from last season. Once the season starts, Yarina will release a weekly Player Rankings every Monday. Up next: Ohio State’s Aaron Craft.