It's Not a Big Ten Season Until Michigan State Loses at Iowa

(Incalculable thanks to the historical records at kenpom.com)

There are three teams that Iowa hasn't beaten on the road since 2001. They are Illinois, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. That's fine. Almost nobody beats them on their court, because they're good teams. And good teams win on the road too. Like at Carver.

Right?

Wisco- 4-2
Illinois- 2-4
Michi State- 1-5

They still sore? They should be. They should know there isn't a worse team in CHA--only Purdue matches them at 1-5. And they should know that no matter how hard they try to "run up the score" (the unsportsmanlike practice, not the unsportsmanlike PSU blog), there's no margin of victory that's going to erase the big fat L sitting next to "@Iowa" on their schedule.

Izzo's probably the most sore about Doug Thomas.

If you're wondering about the flexing, that was a direct response to Shannon Brown's similar antics after a dunk back up in East Lansing.

#3 and #5 were Doug's only two field goals of the evening. That may or may not be surprising, depending on if you know who the coach was that year. As usual, we'll not be naming him. Anyway, Thomas's career was about one year too short; given one more season (or a decent coach), he likely would have averaged about 17 and 8 and gotten a better shot at the pros. His career was still influential enough that an old roommate of mine opened up a Doug Thomas State Bank. The "bank" consisted of one empty cigar box (reserved for only Doug's money), guarded with a .44 caliber and a bottle of Jack Daniel's. As of press time, Doug has not invested in his own State Bank, but we're not giving up hope.

As it is, we'll just have to remember him as Iowa's most intimidating dunker since Ed Horton (sorry, Reggie).