Five Big Ten underclassmen declared for the NBA Draft this spring, and all five were featured prominently on episodes of BTN’s “The Journey 2013.” Indiana’s Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo, Michigan’s Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas all have their eyes on the June 27 draft happens at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.. So look into your crystal ball and tell us which one you think will have the most successful pro career.

Deshaun Thomas will  forgo his senior season of eligibility at Ohio State to enter the NBA Draft. He finishes his career No. 9 in all-time scoring at Ohio State with 1,630 points, and he led the Big Ten in scoring this seasonr with 19.8 points per game. His total of 733 points last season is third most in Ohio State history.

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.

On Saturday night’s “The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2013,” we put the spotlight on Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas, Purdue’s Johnson brothers and Wisconsin’s new point guards. In this clip, you get a taste for all three of the latest episode’s storylines. Best of all: We have family video of Terone and Ronnie Johnson as youngsters, and it’s nothing short of cute. Check out the Johnson’s family footage from 1993 in this video.

Last week ”The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2013″ took you inside the Iowa Hawkeyes moving remembrance of former player Chris Street (watch the moment in this post). This week, the show explores how Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, has matured on and off the court. The show debuts Saturday at 9 p.m. ET after the Ohio State-Nebraska game.

On Saturday, Iowa defended its home court with a win over Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes raced out to a 30-10 lead before the Badgers finally got something going on offense, though I think that early start for Wisconsin overshadows what kind of game this really was.

This weekend featured a lot of games where the home team came out of the gate strong, though there were some second half scares as well. Indiana ran all over Minnesota in the first half on Saturday, opening up a 23-point lead after the first 20 minutes.

It seems ludicrous that a Geek would pose such a question concerning the No. 11-ranked team according to Ken Pomeroy, but it’s fair. While the Buckeyes still look good in the computer’s eyes, but the computer’s eyes aren’t going to determine things like whether Ohio State will be invited to the Dance and how it will be seeded. So far on the season, OSU has faced three quality opponents (Duke, Kansas, and Illinois), and they’ve lost them all.

Illinois’ weaknesses were exposed in a road loss against a mediocre Purdue team last night. The concerning thing isn’t so much that Illinois lost—Purdue isn’t a terrible team, just a terrible offensive team—it’s that it lost to Purdue despite hitting 10 three-pointers (38% from three on the night). Thus, it appears the “Illinois wins when it shoots well” maxim is incorrect. This team can shoot well, and still lose.

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.

If Ohio State is going to return to the Final Four, Deshaun Thomas knows he must carry a big load. And he embraces that responsibility playing in a loaded Big Ten that most feel is the best conference in America.

Continuing the discussion of what each team could use this holiday season. Part one here.

BTN.com’s Brent Yarina continues to unveil 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 Deshaun Thomas.