Illinois junior guard Rich McBride sank a 3-pointer against Penn State at home as time expired last Saturday. Unfortunately for the Illini, after reviewing the play, head referee Gene Crawford ruled that McBride had yet to release the ball as the buzzer sounded. Despite Penn State having won two Big Ten games all year, and Illinois having a 33 game winning streak in Champaign, the Nittany Lions came out victorious 66-65.
That game sums up the Big Ten season. Ohio State destroyed Penn State back in early January, Penn State beat Illinois in Champaign, who also lost to Indiana and Iowa, who beat the Hoosiers, who got destroyed by Minnesota, who got blown out by Michigan. Got it?
The Hawkeyes sit on top of the conference at 7-2 right now, with Illinois and Michigan trailing by a game in second place. Next up, the Spartans, Indiana and Ohio State are locked up at 5-3 and the Badgers bring up the rear of 'contenders' with an above .500 record at 5-4.
Do not even try to tell the Wisconsin players they are out of it, though. With seven games remaining in the conference season, they know the team will have its share of opportunities to make a jump in the standings.
'We've taken some falls, but nobody expected Illinois to lose at home to Penn State going into that game,' junior forward and Badgers' leading scorer Alando Tucker said. 'That just shows, if we get everything together and start clicking from this point on, we can make something happen.'
The Badgers have seven games remaining in the season; four of which are against teams in front of them. While a first place regular season finish does not seem likely, members of the Badger team refuse to lose faith.
'There's a lot of basketball to be played,' UW assistant coach Howard Moore said. 'We got seven conference games left and we got a few of them at home, so we have to take care of that. Also we need to get some confidence back as far as winning some games. You know, get our swagger back a little bit, and that will happen.'
Tonight Iowa will play at Northwestern, Purdue at Michigan State and Minnesota at Penn State, with Ohio State playing at Michigan Thursday. The Badgers chances rest on either or all of the Wildcats, Boilermakers and Nittany Lions providing upset victories to have a chance at winning the conference.
With all the match ups going on, the Badgers are well aware of their situation. The Big Ten standings are posted in the Wisconsin locker room, so the Badgers are constantly conscious of where they rank.
'Sportscenter is my favorite show, so I definitely saw the Penn State players going crazy after they beat Illinois,' freshman forward Joe Krabbenhoft said. 'We know where we're at and we know where we want to be at. We're not there right now.'
With the season winding down, and many Badger fans questioning the Badgers' chances at making the NCAA tournament, let alone winning the Big Ten, Wisconsin has to bare down and get back to playing Wisconsin basketball.
'Anything can happen on any given night,' junior guard Kammron Taylor said. 'We just have to make sure its us coming out with the victory on that night. We can't afford any more losses.'
