In the Big Ten, there are two centers 0f attention that have separated themselves from the pack. And that makes sense as there are just fewer and fewer true centers these days; especially at the NBA level. And where would the NBA get such beings? When college basketball is seeing the decline of the big man too.

The two main big men in the Big Ten are Cody Zeller at Indiana, and Meyers Leonard at Illinois. And as we saw Thursday night in the way the Hoosiers handled the Illini, (not to mention the individual matchup) you can see which one is the highly rated recruit, and which one is the McDonald’s All-American.

Illini Coach Bruce Weber gave a very candid description of Leonard, and described what Zeller has, Leonard lacks.

[Read more…]

Overshadowed this week by UNC-Duke, the best rivalry in college basketball and Syracuse-Georgetown, the greatest in the Big East, is Illini vs. Hoosiers, a great rivalry in itself.

The all time series was tied at 83 entering tonight. However, Illinois was 5-1 in their last 6 versus IU. And that one loss in Bloomington last year was extremely fluky to say the least. After tonight, with Indiana winning 84-71, you can see the rivalry going more the way of #23 Indiana.

“Indiana just kicked our butts tonight,” said Illini guard D.J. Richardson who led the Illini with 19 points.

The Illini haven’t beaten a ranked team on the road since 2010.

[Read more…]