0-2 yesterday as Ohio State came up a basket short of covering and Illinois stunk it up for the first 30 minutes and dug themselves too deep a hole. I could potentially fall below .500 today for the first time the entire season, so for the sake of my psyche and wallet, let's turn things around.
Michigan State at Purdue (-4), 3 PM central, CBS
I figured given the injury to Hummel that this line would be about a pick 'em, and I was all set to take Purdue at home. But the bookies were thinking along the same lines as me and have Purdue as a favorite. Still, I have seen nothing from Michigan State over the last few weeks to indicate they can win this game. If this were a dunk contest, the Spartans would be heavy favorites, unfortunately they are not a great jump shooting team and are too small on the front line to score against JaJuan Johnson, who absolutely abused Draymond Green in the first meeting between these two. Green probably needed weeks of therapy to recover, it was downright ugly. Of course if Johnson gets in foul trouble, Purdue is totally screwed, as that will mean lots of minutes for the completely over-matched Patrick Bade, but as long as Johnson is in for 35+ minutes, the Boilers pull away late. A win here would all but guarantee the Boilers the #1 seed in the Big Ten tournament, and the Mackey Arena crowd should will them to victory.
Indiana at Iowa (-6), 5 PM central, BTN
I can't believe I'm about to type this, but I am happily taking Iowa and giving 6 points in a Big Ten game. Indiana has been absolutely awful for the last month, and Iowa will be coming out angry after a poor effort at Northwestern. Look for the Hawkeyes to win big, and for the anti Tom Crean movement to start gathering momentum.
Overall Record: 40-38-2
Northwestern games: 15-4