A full week of wall to wall action as the B1G has games spread out over several networks over all seven days. Get the popcorn ready!
Game of the Week
Michigan State vs Duke (State Farm Classic, Indianapolis, Indiana)
The 18th ranked Spartans love to schedule tough to get ready for league play and they get a tall task in their second game of the young season against the 4th ranked Blue Devils. Duke has averaged 111 points this season but combines it with some good defense early on, averaging just 51.5. Obviously they haven’t played anyone great but the numbers are staggering, especially compared to MSU’s sleepy 64-59 win over Navy. I’m not sure MSU’s offense is clicking well enough to get into a track race. Their hope for a victory comes from playing solid defense.
Tuesday, 7 / 6, ESPN / WatchESPN app
Monday Slate
Best Game: Bucknell at Michigan, 8 / 7, BTN – The Bison are a perennial Patriot League power with plenty of upsets, including those in the NCAAs, on their resume. They face a tall order against UM but they are well coached and could be a pesky early season foe.
Indiana vs Texas Southern, 6 /5, BTN – The Tigers stunned themselves winning 9 straight, including 3 in the SWAC tournament to make the NCAAs a season ago. Like most SWAC teams they collect paycheck after paycheck to get stomped by big name programs on the road. Sure they get an occasional upset, but hard to see that happening in this cupcake for the Hoosiers.
Iowa vs North Dakota St, 8 / 7, ESPN3 – Despite a shaky performance by the bench in the first half, the starters controlled things for the first 20 and then the whole team got clicking in the second frame for a 34 point win to open the 2k Classic. NDSU lost their 2k opener to Texas by 35. Iowa should enjoy the home cooking over a fairly soft team.
Maryland vs Central Connecticut State, 7:30 / 6:30, no TV – Terps looked good in a 34 point rout of Wagner. CCSU enters 0-1 with a tight loss to Fairfield. Should be a pretty easy walk to 2-0 for Maryland.
Northwestern at Brown, 7 / 6, no TV – NU struggled mightily with a woeful Houston Baptist team. They better be prepared for a decent Brown club who dominated Saint Peter’s in their opener.
Tuesday Slate
Best Game – MSU vs Duke (see above)
Minnesota vs Western Kentucky, 8 / 7, no TV – UM played well against top-10 Louisville but could never really close the gap in the second half. WKU slipped past Austin Peay in their opener. I expect the Gophers to get back on track with an impressive showing.
Nebraska vs Central Arkansas, 8 / 7, no TV – UCA enters with back to back 25 point losses. Nebraska meanwhile picked up right where they left off last season in a 19 point thrashing of Northern Kentucky. Cakewalk to 2-0.
Ohio State vs Marquette, 7:30 / 6:30, ESPN2 / WatchESPN app – Buckeyes dominated Umass Lowell to start the season but they get a much bigger test in game two. Marquette may be in a bit of transition with Buzz Williams taking the Virginia Tech job and former Duke man Steve Wojciechowski getting the job but they are still a Big East team and a proud basketball school. They won’t be walked over by Ohio State. Expect a battle.
Wednesday Slate
Best Game – Wisconsin vs Green Bay, 9 / 8, BTN – Phoenix were a soid team last year going 24-5 (14-2) in the regular season. A stunning loss in the Horizon tournament dropped them to the NIT but they are a good small program. They routinely give Wisconsin fits, including last year which the Badgers only won by three points. Watch the kids from up north keep this competitive for a while before the size and talent of UW finally gets it under control.
Rutgers vs Fairleigh Dickinson, 7:30 / 6:30, no TV – Kadeem Jack missed the George Washington game but even wit him healthy, that was a tough game for RU. The Knights enter 1-0 which is a little surprising since a) they only won 10 games all last season and b) they were playing solid A-10 member Saint Joseph’s. Phil Martelli teams are never easy to beat. Just ask UConn, who needed overtime, to get past them in the NCAA tournament…you know, that UConn team that would go on to win the whole thing.
Thursday Slate
Best Game – Indiana vs SMU, 8 / 7, BTN – One of these teams is ranked, and no it is not Indiana. Fresh off a solid 2013-2014 season, the Ponies are ranked 22nd currently and Larry Brown has experience and talenet all over the court for him to play with. Indiana is sort of an unknown for the league this year. How they fare against a sound SMU club could foreshadow their Big Ten performance.
Iowa vs Texas (New York City, 2K Classic), 7 / 6, ESPN2 / watchESPN app – Hawkeyes get a very early test against #10 Texas in NYC. Much like the SMU game, this is a good benchmark for the Iowa staff to see where they need to improve to be successful in league play. Of course if they win, then it is just a cherry on top.
Maryland vs Fordham, 7:30 / 6:30, no TV – The Rams got blown out by Penn State, expect Maryland to cruise.
Michigan vs Detroit, 6 / 5, BTN – First of all, let me apologize to Michigan fans when I said their game against Hillsdale was an exhibition. I figured it was since, you know, Hillsdale is d2. Anyway, Michigan’s second game of the week is against in-state foe Detroit. They struggled a year ago going just 13-19. UM should feast.
Minnesota vs Franklin Pierce, 8 / 7, no TV – The D2 Ravens should be creamed by the Gophers.
Northwestern vs North Florida, 8 / 7, no TV – If NU can get past that trap game against Brown, they should be able to string a very nice start together. Double-digit non-con games are do able. UNF opened the year with a loss at South Carolina, a team NU should be better than.
Penn State vs Charlotte, 5 / 4, ESPNU / WatchESPN app – PSU looks to keep the strong 2-0 start going against the 1-0 49ers. Charlotte upset Michigan a season ago and played well until they derailed in CUSA league play. 3 of their top 4 scorers are back so this should be a nice test for Penn State.
Purdue vs Grambling St, 7 / 6, no TV – GSU lost by a staggering 52 points to George Washington. Purdue meanwhile has feasted on softies to go 2-0 in the early going. Chalk up 3-0.
Friday Slate
Best Game – Michigan State vs Loyola (IL), 7 / 6, BTN – The Ramblers were very up-and-down last year going 10-22 but they had some tight games and some overtime dates. Plus you never want to root against a team called the Ramblers.
Illinois vs Austin Peay, 8 / 7, no TV – No reason for the Illini to be worried about the Governors, as they look to run the tables until the December 9th showdown with top-15 Villanova.
Saturday Slate
Best Game – Wisconsin vs Boise State, 10 / 9, BTN – Boise is already 2-0 (with Montana before this game) and went 21-13 (9-9) last year from the solid Mountain West. A pair of late overtime losses and missing out on wins over ranked opponents SDSU and New Mexico by a combined 5 points left them not just out of the NCAAs but some how out of the NIT. No one is going to confuse Boise State with a mid major power like SDSU, VCU or Gonzaga but this is a program on the uptick and should give UW a decent game for the first half, maybe more.
Lamar vs Indiana, 8 / 7, BTN – Not sure why IU has back-to-back home games against schools from Texas, unless they are recruiting football players from that state by only showing them basketball games. Lamar was smoked by SMU in their opener before a 3 point win over a division two club. Hoosiers should romp.
Minnesota vs Maryland Baltimore County, 8:30 / 7:30, no TV – UMBC won just nine games a year ago and were smoked in their opener. Kudos to their nickname, the Retrievers, but they won’t be able to hang at the barn.
Nebraska at Rhode Island, 7 / 6, no TV – The Rams are 2-0 but we’ve seen this act before. They started out with a decent mark last year only to flatline and go 5-11 in A-10 play. The nationally ranked Huskers should do well out East.
Northwestern vs Elon, 4 / 3, no TV – The Flames are 1-1 on the season so far but the improved Wildcats shouldn’t lose much sleep worrying about this team.
Sunday Slate
Best Game – Rutgers vs St. Francis (NY), 5 / 4, no TV – The Terriers went a respectable 18-14 last year and knocked off a few teams, including Miami. Shame this isn’t on TV like the other Sunday game.
Ohio State vs Sacred Heart, 7 / 6, BTN – SHU went an awful 5-26 last season but opened this year 1-0…maybe they turned it around?
Big Ten and Counting 