FanHouse Todd Lickliter

In 2008, the Big Ten sent only four teams to the NCAA tournament. None reached the Elite Eight The Big Ten toiled down with mid-majors in conference RPI and were nationally maligned as the "Average 11." This past season, however, the league enjoyed a resurgence. It ranked only behind the ACC in conference RPI. Seven schools earned a berth into the NCAA tournament, and Penn State won the NIT. Michigan State toppled the defending national champions and two number one seeds en route to a national runner-up finish.

On March 14, 2006, No. 14-seed Northwestern State stunned third-seeded Iowa on a last-second shot in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It's been all downhill for the Hawkeyes since then.

They've missed postseason play completely for the past three seasons, and now Iowa will enter the 2009-10 season minus several key contributors from this year's team.

Just when I was ready to start tooting the Big Ten's horn, again, for being on their way back to a powerhouse conference, Ohio State gets embarrassed by West Virginia and Iowa gets trounced at Drake. Those were quality opponents, sure, but it was a good time to capitalize on the impressive Michigan State and Purdue wins during the weekend prior to Christmas.

Regardless, I have to root for the conference as a whole this year to maintain some level of sanity, as my alma mater has now lost consecutive games to Northeastern and Lipscomb. What a way to build momentum heading into January, huh?

Conference season for the Big Ten kicks off Tuesday night in Mackey Arena, as Purdue hosts Illinois in what is shaping up to be quite the contest. On paper, the Boilers are easily the favorite and should handle Illinois. They very well could. The Fighting Illini, however, have only lost one game all season -- a two-pointer to undefeated and 16th ranked Clemson. Sophomore seven-footer Mike Tisdale has really come into his own in the past four games, and he'll pose a major problem for the Boilers down low. I like Purdue here, but it's gonna be a doozy.

It's becoming an annual tradition to hate on the Big Ten these days, and in recent years it's been hard to argue. The results haven't been great for the once mighty conference as a whole, even if there was a standout team -- Ohio State as national runner-up, for example.

As we inch closer to the conference season this year, however, it may be a bit lazy -- and even arrogant -- to start slapping the moniker "Average 11," or titles far more disrespectful, on these teams. In this non-conference season, they have proven their worth on several different occasions. This past weekend presented a coming out party for two teams.

We've already covered Michigan's resurgence, as they've now taken down both UCLA and Duke. I was actually surprised to not see them get more love in the rankings, but that loss at Maryland kept them out.

Ohio State should be quickly climbing the polls as well, after taking down two ranked opponents in the past week, neither of which was a home game (they played at Miami and against Notre Dame in Indianapolis). Gary Parrish has them ninth, but they didn't see any action in the official polls.

Adding these two to the expected upper-echelon trio of Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Purdue; the Big Ten appears to have a very strong top five.

The injuries just keep piling up at the University of Iowa.

Freshman Jarryd Cole, who went down with a leg injury in Saturday night's 57-50 home win over Southeastern Louisiana, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the team announced Sunday.

"I feel badly for Jarryd," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said in a news release. "Injuries such as this are something you don't anticipate or prepare for. I know he will attack his rehabilitation as aggressively as he has basketball and academics through the first semester of his college career."

Obviously, Cole's season is over. This latest injury is added to an ever growing list that includes Tony Freeman, who's recovering from a broken foot, and the injured thumb on Jeff Peterson's shooting hand.

It's a good thing that Iowa's offensive attack is centered around their guards, because now that Cole is done for the year, the Hawkeyes only have four frontcourt players left on their entire roster. Cole was also the leading scorer of Iowa's frontcourt players, as he was averaging 6.6 points per game and led the team with a shooting percentage of 66.7%.

The Hawkeyes begin their conference schedule on Wednesday against Indiana, assuming the team bus doesn't get hit by a missile on it's way to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

For a week that featured very little college basketball, it was a pretty good one for the mid majors. Binghamton and New Orleans pulled off nice upsets while the A-10 grew in stature thanks to wins from Xavier and Massachusetts. The weekend brings a bit more action although you wouldn't know it from tonight's slate. Eight games are on tap, but only two of them match D-I schools against each other. Hartford figures to be a sacrificial lambs at Villanova but Drake's got more than an outside chance in Iowa City. Their MVC cohorts from Bradley already beat the Hawkeyes at Carver Hawkeye Arena and so did Louisiana-Monroe.

The Bulldogs have another edge over the Hawkeyes. Their coach, Keno Davis, has probably seen more games at Iowa's home than their coach Todd Lickliter. Davis is the son of Dr. Tom Davis, and graduated from Iowa in 1995, so he should feel right at home this evening. If Josh Young and Leonard Houston continue to nail almost 50% of their three point tries, Drake has a good chance to make them Iowa's biggest winner. Until January 3rd anyway.

Tony Freeman had missed Iowa's first nine games of the season with a fractured left foot, but his return to the Hawkeye lineup on Wednesday night helped Iowa pick up it's first road victory of the season.

Freeman played 24 minutes and scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including making all three of his three-point attempts. He also hit two key free throws late to keep Northern Iowa at bay, as the Hawkeyes held on to win 62-55.

Freeman played a lot more than he was supposed to, but he was just happy to return to the court, and will just deal with the consequences today.

"I told coach [Todd Lickliter] with me it's either all or nothing," Freeman said. "I think I went over my limit tonight. I was supposed to go like maybe 12 minutes.

"It was painful, I kept taking pain medicine. Tomorrow, it will probably be real sore, but I'm just glad I could help my team win."

Freeman wasn't alone in leading the Hawkeyes, as freshman guard Jake Kelly led both teams in scoring with 19 points, fourteen of which came in the second half.