Weasel Weekly is Meet at Midfield’s weekly look at Big Ten men’s basketball presented by guest contributors Drew Hamm and Stefan Zonia.
You can find Drew on Twitter at his personal account, @drewhamm5, where he talks Philly sports, Wisconsin sports, and other nonsense. You can also subscribe to his Wisconsin basketball/football/volleyball newsletter @BadgersBallKnow where it’s all UW, all the time.
Stefan can be found on Twitter @iamstefanzonia where he discusses Michigan sports (college and pro), sports betting and entertains any and all internet absurdities.
We split up the conference in a fantasy draft format. Here’s a quick recap of who is covering who:
Stefan – Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue and Rutgers
Drew – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin
This week was…not good. Just a couple of decent matchups (which the Big Ten teams lost) and the rest played tomato cans (one of which the B1G also lost!). A 4-bid league soon come.
Illinois
KenPom rank: AdjEM 31, AdjO 47, AdjD 30
Results: (L) vs. Missouri, 93-71 (in St. Louis)
The Week That Was: Illini fans are Going Through It. After starting the season 4-0 and beating UCLA, Illinois has gone 4-4 with an 0-2 start in the Big Ten, and a brutal destruction at the hands of Braggin’ Rights rival Mizzou. There are rumors that the locker room isn’t all on the same page and, from the outside looking in, it appears that Matthew Mayer is at the center of the dysfunction.
Freshman PG Skyy Clark has not proven up to the task of running the show in his first season and Coleman Hawkins hasn’t scored in double-figures since the Dec. 2 loss to Maryland. Hawkins also has more games this season with six turnovers (two) than he does with zero turnovers (one).
The Week Upcoming: I don’t think Brad Underwood is on the hot seat by any means, but this year’s team has been a big miss with the new additions through the transfer portal. Luckily, Illinois will be able to move on from Mayer and Terrence Shannon after this year and can try again next season. It has one final tune-up game against Bethune-Cookman before B1G play restarts.
On the other hand, Bad Underwood.
Indiana
KenPom rank: AdjEM 19, AdjO 34, AdjD 23
Results: (W) vs. Elon, 96-72; (W) vs. Kennesaw State, 69-55
The Week That Was: After seeing how much further they have to go to be one of the top teams in the country via back-to-back losses against Arizona and Kansas, the Hoosiers were back to their winning ways this past week against Elon and Kennesaw State. However, there was bad news for the Hoosiers as starting PG Xavier Johnson underwent foot surgery from an injury suffered against Kansas and will be out “indefinitely.”
The Week Upcoming: Missing XJ last week wasn’t a big deal as the level of competition was low, but next week (the Hoosiers don’t play again until Jan. 5) IU is back in the thick of the Big Ten with a road trip to Iowa and a home tilt against surprisingly feisty Northwestern.
Iowa
KenPom rank: AdjEM 37, AdjO 9, AdjD 102
Results: (L) vs. Eastern Illinois, 92-83
The Week That Was: This is the perfect week to encapsulate the extreme fraudulence of the Iowa men’s basketball program under Fran McCaffery. After being sent into an existential crisis via an overtime home loss to Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes pounded SEMO and then had one final tune-up game against Eastern Illinois – one of the worst teams in the nation – before conference play started again.
Instead of getting an opportunity to rest their starters for most of the second half and getting a head start on the holiday break, the Hawkeyes allowed the Panthers to shoot 72.4 percent (!!!) in the second half and were outscored 55-38 on the way to a disastrous loss. Before the game, you couldn’t even bet on the moneyline because EIU was a 31.5-point underdog!
No men’s college basketball team has lost outright as at least a 30-point favorite in the last 30 years according to ESPN Stats & Info. This game is thought by many to be the biggest upset in college basketball history. The KenPom rankings for the two teams were: No. 21 for Iowa and No. 356 for EIU. Come on.
I really don’t want to hear that the Hawkeyes were still without Kris Murray and whichever of the McCaffery progeny is injured currently. They should’ve been able to beat the Panthers without any of the starters and instead suffered a historic upset that caused their fans to transform into the Somali pirates from Captain Phillips.
The Week Upcoming: This team fucking stinks.
Maryland
KenPom rank: AdjEM 22, AdjO 30, AdjD 36
Results: (W) vs. Saint Peter’s, 75-45
The Week That Was: The Terps ended their three-game losing streak by pummeling last season’s NCAA Tournament darling Saint Peter’s by 30 points. Jahmir Young continued his stupendous season with 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists in only 24 minutes. I like him a lot.
The Week Upcoming: In-state rival (???) UMBC is the only team on Maryland’s schedule this week, in a game the Terps should win handily.
Michigan
KenPom rank: AdjEM 48, AdjO 26, AdjD 94
Results: (L) vs. UNC 80-76
The Week That Was: Michigan again played a big-name non-conference opponent close and, again, fell short. The good news for the Wolverines is that they’ve been right there with Virginia, Kentucky and UNC (losing by a combined 10 points). The bad news is that they’ll head into conference play without anything resembling a marquee/Q1 win. That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on them in conference play.
The defense actually played alright in this one; a break from the usual MO. Unfortunately, Hunter Dickinson had one of his worst games in a Michigan uniform, and Michigan just does not have the depth to maneuver around the big man struggling.
The Week Upcoming: Michigan faces one more non-conference doormat in Central Michigan and then gets underway with the true conference slate when it hosts Maryland on New Year’s Day. I forecast that, regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s CFP semifinal, I will be too hungover to watch this game.
Michigan State
KenPom rank: AdjEM 44, AdjO 48, AdjD 49
Results: (W) vs. Oakland 67-54
The Week That Was: This was, without question, the greatest game of the week (season?). I don’t care at all about the actual basketball parts. This was a wild mismatch against a desolate Horizon League team. State won by 13 despite being a 21.5-point favorite.
The important event from this game is that Tom Izzo was wearing an elf sweater and got T’d up, leading to this truly iconic video:
He’s an angry elf!
The Week Upcoming: MSU will partake in a little holiday MACtion when they host 6-6 Buffalo on a Friday night in a game nobody will watch… except for us, of course. We’ll definitely watch that one, and we would never cover a game we didn’t actually watch.
Minnesota
KenPom rank: AdjEM 197, AdjO 239 AdjD 153
Results: (W) vs. Chicago State, 58-55
The Week That Was: You know that Minnesota has a real rivalry with Iowa because after the Hawkeyes were embarrassed by EIU, the Gophers came out and tried their damnedest to lose to Chicago State at home. Always trying to one-up (one-down?) their neighbors to the south! Despite its best efforts, Minnesota ended up winning by three.
This team is just going to get beaten mercilessly by every Big Ten team they play this year. They are dreadful.
The Week Upcoming: A home matchup with Alcorn State awaits Ben Johnson’s crew on Thursday and, while they’re favored to win, a loss wouldn’t be surprising. Their highest remaining odds to get a B1G win on KenPom remains their home game against Nebraska… which they have a 37 percent chance of winning.
Nebraska
KenPom rank: AdjEM 89, AdjO 140, AdjD 59
Results: (L) vs Kansas St. 71-56
The Week That Was: Nebraska won the Battle In The Vault! Sure it was against The Queens University Royals. Sure, this game had a reported 17% percent attendance. Sure, the Huskers didn’t cover the spread. Sure, Nebraska is really bad. Sure, Creighton’s program should be disbanded for losing to it. Sure, I don’t have a counter to any of this.
The Week Upcoming: Nebraska’s only game on this week’s slate is a home game against Iowa. Iowa also stinks but surely it cannot lose to Nebraska? Right? RIGHT!?
Northwestern
KenPom rank: AdjEM 45, AdjO 163, AdjD 8
Results: (W) vs. UIC 92-54
The Week That Was: Reader, it is nearly the New Year and Northwestern STILL has a top 10 KenPom defense. Please do not bother to look at its AdjO rating. No! I said don’t look!
In all seriousness, we’ve gotten to the point where I think NW will actually be a pain in the ass to play. Especially considering that the B1G stinks out loud. Let’s get purple.
The Week Upcoming: Northwestern takes on the Northwestern of the East (Brown) [ed. note: Jesus], then hosts OSU on New Year’s Day in a game that…might be watchable? OK, probably not. But… maybe?
Ohio State
KenPom rank: AdjEM 15, AdjO 3, AdjD 76
Results: (W) vs. Maine 95-61
The Week That Was: The Bucks have slain the black bears in hand-to-hand combat. Not a lot of import from this one. OSU has a very diverse offense, Brice Sensabaugh continues to impress, I remain a bit surprised at Sean McNeill’s role (or lack thereof) and I think there is still some upward mobility for this group, despite it being ranked third nationally. That’s all good, but none of it is coming from this game alone.
The Week Upcoming: OSU finally gets Bama (A&M, in basketball). It’ll also face a feistier-than-expected Northwestern team in a game that pits a top-10 offense against the Wildcats’ top-10 defense.
Penn State
KenPom rank: AdjEm 34, AdjO 29, AdjD 58
Results: (W) vs. Quinnipiac, 77-68
The Week That Was: PSU beat Quinnipiac last week as Jalen Pickett came one assist short of a triple-double (21/12/9). The Nittany Lions still look like an NCAA Tournament team to me, but we’ll learn a ton about them in the first two weeks of January as they have home games against Iowa and Indiana, a road game against Michigan, and their now-annual Palestra “home game” in Philly against Purdue.
The Week Upcoming: Penn State starts the week with Delaware State on Thursday before getting a big opportunity against Iowa at home on New Year’s Day.
Purdue
KenPom rank: AdjEM 7, AdjO 5, AdjD 26
Results: (W) vs. New Orleans 74-53
The Week That Was: Zach Edey FINALLY was not the KenPom MVP for Purdue for the first time all season. Sure, it’s because he missed this game with illness, but I think it’s fair to wonder if he’s losing it. People are talking!
Without the World’s Tallest Canadian, the Boilermakers were still able to easily dispatch the city of New Orleans. Trey Kaufmann had a 24-point outburst, and if they can get him rolling as a bona fide bench threat then they’ll really be cooking.
The Week Upcoming: Purdue will host FAMU in its final tune-up game. I am looking forward to this team getting back to playing real teams. Given the state of the league, we may have to wait until March.
Wisconsin
KenPom rank: AdjEM 35, AdjO 84, AdjD 17
Results: N/A; game vs. Grambling State canceled due to winter weather
The Week That Was: The Badgers saw what happened to Iowa and thought they were better off just canceling their game against Grambling State! I’m sure the horrific winter storm that decimated most of the country and caused multiple teams to cancel or postpone games had nothing to do with it. That’s just shrewd machinating by Greg Gard, who is always a step ahead of the rest of the conference.
Their plan clearly worked as the new AP Poll released on Monday showed the Badgers moved up two spots, to No. 15, without having played a game since Dec. 15! The haters and losers are sick.
The Week Upcoming: I have decided that Drew not including a week upcoming section for Wisconsin when he sends these to me is a running bit. Wisconsin exists only in the present. Also, it has Western Michigan on Friday… or does it?