FanHouse Evan Turner

For the third straight year, Ohio State has lost a 7-footer to the NBA draft after only enjoying him for one season. Like Greg Oden and Kosta Koufos before him, B.J. Mullens is out the door after his freshman year. The 19-year-old from Canal Winchester, Ohio won the Big Ten sixth-man of the year in his freshman season, but didn't really flash NBA-ready skills consistently.

Mullens averaged 8.8 points and 4.7 boards a game, and he never appeared dominant. His best game against worthy competition was a 17-point, 8 rebound outing against Purdue. He only had double-digit rebounds once all season. This could cause some question as to whether or not he's ready.

The Purdue Boilermakers are finding their stride at the right time. After losing three of their last four regular season games, they steamrolled their way through their first two opponents of the Big Ten Tournament. Sunday, they took down a tenacious Ohio State team that was on quite a roll of its own -- having won four straight, including Saturday's win over Michigan State.

The Boilers shot a pretty lousy 34.9 percent from the floor, but E'Twaun Moore picked up the slack for his teammates with his long range stroke. He hit five of 10 from behind the arc en route to his team-high 17 points.

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When Tom Izzo told CBS he didn't believe his Spartans were worthy of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, he apparently knew what he was talking about. Though they headed into the game with a realistic shot at a top seed, Michigan State was worked over, especially in the second half, by Ohio State in Indianapolis Saturday.

In fact, the Spartans looked bad enough that their previous hold on a No. 2 seed could now be in danger. They came into the game with a lofty RPI (fourth), but you could easily argue there are eight better teams right now.

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Both Wisconsin and Ohio State should be in the NCAA Tourney, but it never hurts to put that one last stamp on the resume. Today was an opportunity for both to accrue another top-50 RPI victory, when they faced off against each other. The Buckeyes prevailed in a hard-fought battle which included several lead changes and a seven-point Badger lead with only five minutes left.

The victory deadlocks the case for Ohio State, who is now 21-9. On the other hand, we've been assuming Wisconsin was safe. Can we still do so?

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With just over a month in the books and most teams having played about half their conference schedule, let's check out the big boys of the Midwest. We're seeing a slight upheaval when it comes to traditional powers, as Indiana and Wisconsin sit in the bottom third of the standings, Northwestern is respectable, and Penn State is in the mix toward the top.

At this point, the conference is very balanced, and much stronger than it has been in recent years. They have a shot at seven bids for the Big Dance, but six is the more likely number.

If you haven't noticed ... and judging by ESPN's ratings you haven't ... the N.I.T. crowned their champion last night. Ohio State beat UMass, 92-85.

While is was a nice win for the Buckeyes, not all of them seemed to be impressed. Especially Jamar Butler:

"That's what happens when you put an NCAA Tournament team in the NIT. They walk through it," senior Jamar Butler said with a smile. "Write that."

Maybe. While I'm not one to dismiss the N.I.T.'s value as others do, you still need to know your role. With the way the NCAA tournament panned out, it wasn't a given that Ohio State would have done anything in the NCAAs. Maybe they would have (Villanova beat them out for that final spot and advanced to the Sweet 16).

Either way, it was a nice ending to Butler's career ... which saw him playing in the NCAA title game a year ago.

Freshman Evan Turner put it in an interesting context:

"It feels good to go out with a win," said Turner, a freshman. "I don't know if this is what a Big Ten championship feels like or a national championship feels like. Hopefully my teammates and I are fortunate enough to experience that some day. But right now, this is good enough."

All hail the NIT champs!