Feb. 25, 2008

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The Big Ten title is up for grabs in the final week of conference action. Ohio State looks to capture its fourth consecutive crown, while Iowa and Purdue are right on the Buckeyes' heels. Three games will be televised by the Big Ten Network this week, including Sunday's wildcard matchup between Purdue and Illinois.

Big Ten on TV
Three Big Ten women's basketball games will reach a national television audience on the Big Ten Network this week. On Monday, conference-leading Ohio State travels to Bloomington, Ind., to take on Indiana live at 7 p.m. ET. On Thursday, Michigan plays host to a surging Wisconsin team at 8 p.m. ET. Purdue and Illinois will play in the final televised game of the regular season on Sunday as the Big Ten Network elected to pick up the matchup as its wildcard selection. Tip is set for 3 p.m. CT. The Big Ten Network will also broadcast the first nine games of the 2008 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Xbox 360 Live, while the network's studio cast will be on-hand for the duration of the tournament to provide in-depth coverage and analysis.

Big Ten Title Up for Grabs
The Big Ten Conference title is up for grabs this week. Three teams mathematically remain in the hunt as Ohio State is one-half game up on Iowa and 1.5 games up on Purdue. Ohio State has three games remaining on its schedule, including Monday's matchup at Indiana, while Iowa has two and Purdue has one remaining. A Buckeye win on Monday would put Ohio State one more win away from clinching at least a share of the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State looks to become the first team to win four consecutive conference crowns since Iowa accomplished the feat from 1987-1990.

Big Ten Celebrates Black History Month
The Big Ten Conference continues to commemorate the achievements of its African-American student-athletes as it launched its Black History Month website on Feb. 1.  The site features stories on male and female student-athletes from each conference institution and can be found at www.bigten.org.  Seven former Big Ten women's basketball players will be highlighted throughout the month. A list of former women's basketball players and the dates on which they will be featured can be found below. Players highlighted this week are in bold.
 - Linda Roberts, Minnesota (Feb. 4)
 - Michelle Edwards, Iowa (Feb. 8)
 - Jessica Davenport, Ohio State (Feb. 12)
 - Stacey Thomas, Michigan (Feb. 14)
 - Ukari Figgs, Purdue (Feb. 16-17)
 - Michele Savage, Northwestern (Feb. 21)
 - Kahadeejah Herbert, Penn State (Feb. 28)

Big Ten Pays Tribute to PSU's Herbert
On Thursday, the Big Ten will recognize former Penn State standout Kahadeejah Herbert, featuring her in a story on the conference's Black History Month website. Herbert led the Lady Lions to four NCAA Championship appearances and was the first in program history to eclipse the 2,000 career points milestone. She also remains Penn State's leading career rebounder. Herbert's story can be found at www.bigten.org on Thursday.

Closer Than Ever
Currently, the first through seventh place teams in the conference are all within three games of each other in Big Ten play. If the trend remains until the end of the season, it would mark the first time in Big Ten history that the top seven teams remained that close in the final standings. This season also marks the first since 1996-97 that the conference champion is guaranteed to finish with at least four losses. That season, Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue all shared the Big Ten crown with 12-4 records. No team has won the regular season title with more than four losses.

Lavender Among Nation's Top Freshmen
Ohio State's Jantel Lavender is second among all NCAA Division I freshmen in scoring with 17.5 points per game, and fourth among her peers in rebounding with 9.6 boards per contest. Lavender is the only player to be ranked in the top four among the nation's freshmen in those two categories. In Big Ten play, the Buckeye is third in scoring (17.5 ppg) and first in rebounding (9.3 ppg). Lavender is the first Big Ten freshman to earn three Player of the Week honors since Penn State's Kelly Mazzante in the 2000-01 season. Mazzante is the Big Ten's all-time scoring leader

No Ordinary Jo
With 53 combined points against Northwestern, Indiana and Minnesota last week, Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson became the Badgers' all-time leading scorer, male or female.  Anderson owns 2,243 points in her career, surpassing Alando Tucker's record of 2,217 set last season. The Port Wing, Wis., native is the Big Ten's leading scorer with 20.3 points per game, placing her ninth in the nation in scoring and eighth on the Big Ten's all-time points list.

Borton Seeks Milestone Win
Minnesota head coach Pam Borton is one win shy of 200 for her career. Borton is in her 10th season as a head coach and her sixth year at Minnesota. Borton looks to become the sixth active Big Ten coach with 200 or more career victories, and would join Iowa's Lisa Bluder, Michigan's Kevin Borseth, Michigan State's Suzy Merchant, Ohio State's Jim Foster and Wisconsin's Lisa Stone. Earlier this season, Foster became the 13th coach in Division I history to reach the 650-career-wins mark, while Bluder became the third active Big Ten mentor to reach 500 career victories.

Big Ten Draws Big Crowds
The Big Ten continues to rank among the nation's leaders in attendance, currently with five school's in the top 20 in average per-game crowds. According to a weekly unofficial report compiled by the University of Wisconsin, Purdue leads the Big Ten and is fourth in the country, drawing 9,434 people per game. Michigan State is 10th in the nation (6,897), Minnesota is 13th (6,585), Wisconsin is 15th (5,896) and Penn State is 20th (5,208). The Big Ten and the Big 12 are the only conferences in the nation to rank four teams in the top 15 and five teams in the top 20.

Down to the Wire
Of the 300 overall games played this season, a total of 68 have been decided by five points or fewer, accounting for 23 percent of the total schedule. Of the 88 Big Ten games played so far this season, 23 have been decided by fewer than five points, accounting for 26 percent of the conference slate. Illinois has played in the most five-point games, having participated in 10 overall and nine in Big Ten action. On average, Big Ten teams have played in four five-point conference games. Fifty-six percent of the Illini's conference schedule has come down to a margin of five points or fewer.