As college basketball officially starts its 2011-12 season, teams from the Big Ten place themselves right in the middle of the action.
As I am writing this, I am anxiously awaiting tip-off of the North Carolina vs. Michigan State game being played on the bow of the USS Carl Vinson in homage of Veterans Day. Regardless of the outcome, this is a very important game for college basketball and its relativity to America.
With the impending lack of an NBA season, it is important that the nation stay tuned into men’s basketball during the months that don’t end in –arch. The game will be a spectacle on display to the whole world — with US troops tuned in across the world — that could set the stage for an upset by the Michigan State Spartans. Coaches Roy Williams and Tom Izzo have been planning the game for some time, and both will have their teams ready to impress in the bright lights.
If MSU manages the upset, the Spartans have Duke waiting just down the road for them. This brutal nonconference schedule should help State’s freshmen develop big game calluses and get them ready for their conference schedule in the months that follow.
The biggest story in sports right now comes out of the Big Ten and has nothing to do with basketball at all. Or does it?
The Penn State football program’s child molestation scandal will be felt for more than just this weekend’s game against Nebraska. The Nittany Lions will have to deal with this stigma for at least the next year every time they garner national attention, including basketball. I know the school has already begun to lose football recruits, and it remains be seen if the scandal affects their recruiting in other sports. First-year basketball coach Patrick Chambers will have his work cut out for him as he tries to attain success in distraction-laden “Happy” Valley.
Other Big Ten News:
- Michigan coach John Beilein announced that he’s going to start freshman Trey Burke over senior Stu Douglass at point guard this year for the Wolverines, writes Chantel Jennings for ESPN.com and WolverineNation. Burke is the reigning Ohio Mr. Basketball. Douglass will come off the bench as a sixth man.
- The class of 2012 No. 1 overall shooting guard prospect Gary Harris commits to Coach Tom Izzo and Michigan State, reports ESPN.com’s Dave Telep.
