Indiana Overrated, Purdue Underrated

If you've been watching Big Ten college basketball this season, you're either a college basketball fan and have nothing better to do, or you went to one of the schools and you're going to ardently root for them.

Illinois and Michigan are a complete joke, and OSU is mediocre, but there is a nice dance at the top of the conference between Wisconsin (ranked #8 in CNN/USA Today poll), Purdue (unranked), Indiana (#13), and Michigan State (#10).

Purdue handled Illinois twice already this year, which were close but which Purdue controlled the tempo and outcome of each game. They've lost 4 of their 5 losses this year by exactly 3 points each time (including to Michigan State), and have been a well rounded team, with nice play from their guards. Indiana is ranked #13, even though they got blown out by Xavier and Wisconsin, and needed double overtime to put away the sorry Illini last night, and pretty much all of their wins have come at the hands of soft teams on their early season schedule. It is baffling to seem them ranked #13, while Purdue, who has been consistently better the last couple of weeks (including a win against #10 Wisconsin), is unranked and going largely unnoticed nationally (which is most likely due to the fact that their basketball team usually sucks). Also interesting is the fact that Wiconsin in ranked #10, even though they are 1-2 in the only tough games they have scheduled so far (a 24 point loss at Duke, a 4 point loss at Purdue, and a 15 point win against Indiana).

The next couple of weeks are going to be very interesting and pivotal for the Big Ten, with the following big games coming up:
02/09/08 - PUR @ WIS
02/12/08 - MSU @ PUR
02/13/08 - WIS @ IU
02/16/08 - MSU @ IU
02/19/08 - PUR @ IU
02/28/08 - MSU @ WIS
03/02/08 - IU @ MSU

These will be the deal breakers for the conference, so make sure you catch all the action at your local university bar(s), because you know you ain't paying extra for the Big Ten Network.