There’s no nights off in Big Ten this season

Associated Press

Indiana gets it now.

After a pair of surprising losses — to Minnesota and Nebraska — and a more understandable loss to Ohio State, the Hoosiers snapped their skid with a 73-54 win over Penn State on Sunday.

The Hoosiers, who have tumbled from the Top 10, now realize that they can’t afford to relax in the Big Ten this season. It’s too tough. It’s a lesson that unexpected losses tend to deliver more effectively than words from a coach.

“If we get three more stops combined in the Minnesota and Nebraska games, we likely win two games, and that’s a big deal,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said.

Indiana, now ranked 16th, isn’t the only league team to get a reality check during league play. Among the head scratchers this month: Penn State over Illinois, Northwestern over Michigan State and Iowa over Michigan. In each case, an unranked team in the lower half of the standings defeated a ranked team and jumbled the conference race.

Perhaps the word “upset” shouldn’t apply.

“I’m not sure what’s an upset, if there are upsets,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said a day after losing at home to Wisconsin. “You’ve got a very balanced league, you’ve got to bring your game, you’ve got to play. Your main guys have got to play and be consistent if you’re going to have success, and you can’t have any off days.”

As of Monday, the Big Ten was the only Division I conference in which every team has at least two wins and at least two losses in league play.

You could call it “January Madness.”

“I think we sometimes tend to, especially these days, to jump to March so early,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “Every week the standings change. Every week there are what are perceived to be upsets, but I’m not sure they are. Along the way, you’re going to see some people get knocked off and you’re going to see some people moving up, maybe some surprises, maybe a couple teams sneak into that top tier and then get into the NCAA tournament. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

The balance doesn’t appear to be a case of mediocrity. The league has an .802 non-conference winning percentage, the best in the nation. The Big Ten won the Big Ten/ACC Challenge 8-4, and that was before Indiana shocked No. 1 Kentucky on Dec. 10. Eight Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 45 in Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, and he ranks the league No. 1.

“I think it’s a very well-rounded league, and I think anybody that looks at it and doesn’t see a lot of very talented, tough-minded, well-coached teams in this league is not looking at it from a realistic view,” Crean said.