Big Week for Bucky

This week is what ESPN or some other place would call "Judgment Week" or "Separation Week" or some such thing for the Wisconsin Badgers. I realize that it is the first week of January, but they have two MONSTER games in the next four days (seriously the Badgers got screwed in scheduling them back to back) that will go a long way in deciding if Bucky is a contender for a surprise Big Ten title or merely a pretty good team that will probably get to the tournament.

Tonight/late afternoon, the #13 Badgers head to East Lansing to take on #43 (but WAY more popular) Michigan St. I'm pretty excited for this as it is always a barn burner, and usually Michigan St. has some gigantic white center that gets into foul trouble early and cries on the bench (see Suton. I think he's gone). Also, I always find a way to dislike Izzo. The biggest problem I'm having is: why FIVE THIRTY??? I mean, c'mon Big Ten Network. How am I supposed to take you seriously when you are tipping games at 5:30? You are basically saying that not only do I not want anyone in the Central Time Zone without a DVR to see it, but that you don't care about the EST zone either. Everyone knows the standard tip time for a game in the Eastern Time Zone is 6:00. Just odd.

Saturday, Bucky hosts #5 and undefeated Purdue. This is a classic game for Bucky to win. Bo Ryan is something like 35-2 at home in games against teams he has no business beating. Talent-wise, Purdue is probably better, but so is just about every other team. This and the Creighton-Wichita St game are great appetizers for the beginning of Wild Card Bukkake (which I will get to later in the week).