Around the Big Ten: Week 13 (Basketball)

Story posted February 18, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Adam Sheetz

The Big Ten conference has been one of the top conferences in basketball all year long. The conference has had a lot of teams represented in the rankings, as well as 12 teams with NCAA tournament hopes going into the final weeks of the season.

The Big Ten had its best performance in the rankings this week, having three teams ranked in the top-five in the AP poll.

The best team in the Big Ten at the moment is No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines had to quarantine for three weeks due to a coronavirus outbreak within the program. They returned to action on Sunday against Wisconsin, and were very impressive.

After getting off to a slow start, Michigan had a strong second half to get a huge win on the road against No. 21 Wisconsin. The Wolverines have been an extremely deep team with a lot of talent at every position, making them one of the most dangerous teams in the Big Ten and in all of college basketball.

Michigan is presented with a huge test on Sunday when they travel to Columbus to take on No. 4 Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have been great, winning a lot of games against a lot of great teams. The Buckeyes dominated Indiana on Valentine’s Day, winning 78-59. Ohio State gets contribution from a lot of different players, making them extremely tough to stop.

This matchup is reminiscent of the 2013 matchups between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines, when both teams were competing for a national title. This game has the chance of being the best game in the Big Ten year, and should be a great one on Sunday afternoon.

A team that has really started to play their best basketball has been the Fighting Illini. Illinois is ranked No. 5 in the polls and is really starting to play its best right now.

Star guard Ayo Dosunmu has been great all year, averaging 21.3 points per game. Dosunmu has also been extremely clutch this season, hitting a lot of big shots in close games to push the Illini to wins in big games.

Illini big man Kofi Cockburn has been a double-double machine this season, averaging 17.4 points and 10.6 rebounds this year, making him and Dosunmu the perfect one-two punch. The Illini are playing their best right now, and making them a dangerous team in the Big Ten and in all of college basketball.

The Big Ten has been amazing this year, and every game is huge when trying to build a good resume for the NCAA tournament. There is a lot of great basketball left to be played, and the fans just need to sit back and watch as one of the best conference’s in all of basketball continues to play big games on the biggest stage.

 

Adam Sheetz is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ads360@psu.edu.

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Adam Sheetz

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Adam Sheetz is a third year student from Reedsville, Pennsylvania majoring in broadcast journalism. He has been a broadcaster for WCHX 105.5 FM in Mifflin County covering high school sports. He has also been a member of CommRadio since his first semester at Penn State, being involved in both the Arts and Sports departments. Adam has extensive experience in a play-by-play setting within CommRadio, covering football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball for the station. He has done written content for CommRadio ranging from Penn State football articles all the way to discussing Disney Channel movies. To contact Adam, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).