HoopsHD at the Big 10 Tourney: Photo essay (Day 3)

HoopsHD is always hovering around the edge of legitimacy (see Puppet, The), but thanks to the good folks at the Big 10 we are kicking it up a notch this week with a media credential to the Big 10 Tourney in DC. From his prime perch in the now-3rd row Jon Teitel will be bringing you daily updates of all the action from the Verizon Center via a series of photo essays. Day 3 finally saw a quartet of games with the top-4 seeds in action, but since we are already a day behind we are going to focus a little more on the “photo” part and a little less on the “essay” part.

Bad news: now that all the best teams are playing I got pushed out of press row and into the “media overflow” seating.

Good news: it was actually in the 1st row of the crowd and there were plenty of seats available so I got to sit at midcourt: not bad eh?!

Directly in front of me was former NBA champ Rick Mahorn, who was doing color commentary on the radio.  I walked by him and he is almost as tall as me even though he was sitting down:

And right in front of Mahorn was Dan Dakich, who was doing color commentary on TV for his son Andrew, who is a member of the Wolverines:

Game 1 featured Boiler Up vs. Go Blue:

Caleb Swanigan had yet another double-double before fouling out, but DJ Wilson was unstoppable with 26 PTS/8 REB/3 BLK in a 74-70 win by Michigan, which made Coach John Beilein very happy:

The Purdue postgame press conference was short and sweet:

I got to ask Michigan SR G/F Zak Irvin if his former teammate Spike Albrecht (who now plays for Purdue) had reached out to him after the airplane incident earlier this week, and he said that he indeed had: kudos to Spike!

Game 2 was Gophers against Spartans:

You know it’s a big game when the best NFL ref in the business is in the house: Gene Steratore!

I went to grab a snack at halftime in the media room and spied Jim Nantz preparing for tomorrow’s CBS broadcast.  It took all my willpower to keep from walking up to him and saying “Hello friends”:

Minnesota was able to hang on for a 63-58 win despite SR SG Akeem Springs going down with a right Achilles injury (not pictured) and JR C Reggie Lynch getting smacked in the mouth and having a tooth bent back before later returning to the game:

In the postgame press conference Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said that he was disappointed in his team’s effort, which as you might imagine is a rather rare occurrence:

Minnesota only won 8 games last year but have looked great since last month as they have won 9 of 10:

Game 3 saw Wisconsin beat Indiana 70-60, and since my  brother-in-law is a Badger alum, here are a bunch of Wisconsin photos:

The nightcap was the least “neutral” site game that I have ever attended, as the Scott Van Pelt-led Maryland crowd was out in force to see their Terps play only a subway ride away from College Park:

…and then it all went horribly wrong as Northwestern overcame a 10-PT 2nd half deficit to win it 72-64.  I got to say hi to Terp alum/NBA veteran Walt Williams, who I had just interviewed on the phone the previous week for an article about Len Bias:

In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Collins why his team has been able to shoot the lights out this week after finishing the regular season 10th in the conference in FG%, and he said the gradual return to health of Scottie Lindsey has made all the difference in the world:

Check back (hopefully) later today for my Day 4 photo essay about the 2 semifinal games!