Wisconsin Gets Well; Will Pittsburgh?

It has been a very interesting start to the conference season in college basketball, and nothing over the first couple of weeks of 2012 has been more surprising than the horrific starts of two perennial power-conference powers: Wisconsin of the Big Ten, and Pittsburgh of the Big East. The Badgers dropped three straight after opening conference play with a win at Nebraska, including losses to Iowa (yuck) and Michigan State on their usually impenetrable home floor. The Panthers have dropped their first four conference games (and five overall), including two defeats at the Petersen Events Center, where they were practically unbeatable before this season (they also dropped non-conference games at home to Long Beach State and Wagner).

Both of these teams are accustomed to being at or near the top of their respective leagues, and both were expected to more or less maintain the status quo this season. So is there any hope for either of them?

Purdue 85, Temple 77

[recap] [box score]

Two stories to this one: Lewis Jackson and some really poor officiating that left Temple without 40 percent of its starting lineup for the closing minutes. I'll start with Jackson, because I want to think positive thoughts today.

The Boilers' diminutive point guard is a great assist man (trailing only Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor among active Big Ten players), but he's never been a big scorer. But with Temple focusing its second half defensive effort on Robbie Hummel and Ryne Smith, Jackson did what you want your point guard to do in that situation: take on some of the scoring load himself.

It started rather simply midway through the second half. Jackson hit a couple of open jumpers when the Owls went under high screens, the way they had all game. But as Jackson showed both a willingness to shoot and an ability to make those shots, the defense intensified, and the degree of difficulty on Jackson's field goal attempts increased.

Purdue 91, Iona 90

[recap] [box score]

I'm certainly not used to seeing a Purdue team give up 90 points -- or score 91, for that matter. And head coach Matt Painter can't be happy about his team's shot selection, its defensive lapses, or its free throw shooting.

But he can be happy with a win over an under-rated opponent. And he can be happy with what he's seen so far in the return to the court of senior Robbie Hummel.

Hummel, of course, wasn't supposed to be in a Purdue uniform this season. He was a classmate of JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, the group that was supposed to lead Purdue to the Final Four. The Boilers have been fantastic the last several seasons, but fell short of that goal -- in part due to Hummel's two ACL tears.