MSU secures Big Ten crown, possible top seed in NCAAs

By VITO FORLENZA
Collegian Staff Writer

It seems like tradition at Iowa -- longtime winning coaches leaving Iowa City, Iowa, after illustrious careers and garnering the love and respect for which all strive but few actually attain.

Within the last year, the Hawkeyes were left mourning the losses of legendary wrestling coach Dan Gable and football coach Hayden Fry.

After this season, one of their most successful ever, the No. 18 Hawkeyes basketball team will be searching for a new floor general following the departure of coach Tom Davis after 13 years of Hawkeye service.

Unlike Gable and Fry, however, Davis will not be leaving Carver-Hawkeye Arena on his own terms.

And with 3:40 remaining in Davis' final game in the building last night -- a 65-48 celebrated triumph over Northwestern -- the Hawkeyes' fans voiced their disapproval of Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby's decision not to extend the coach's contract, which expires at the end of the season.

Chants of "Fire Bowlsby" were cried from the student section with Bowlsby in attendance.

Davis is Iowa's winningest coach with a 267-137 record heading into the Hawkeyes' regular-season finale Saturday at Indiana. He has a 541-287 overall record in 28 years of coaching.

True to the honor?

In finalizing the last of its 14 straight wins -- a 56-51 win over No. 13 Wisconsin -- Michigan State not only won the conference crown outright this season but looks to have secured the top seed in the Midwest bracket of the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 3 Spartans avenged their one Big Ten disappointment this season with the win over the Badgers, who upended the Spartans, 66-51, in the Spartans' conference opener.

Even after the 14 consecutive victories, however, the strength of the Spartans still remains in question.

Michigan State dropped early season games to the nation's big guns of No. 1 Duke (73-68) and No. 4 Connecticut (82-68) after a 60-59 Temple upset.

And the questions remain: When it goes against the nation's top teams, will a more-polished Michigan State team dominate in the way it had in the Big Ten? Or will the Spartans once again make an early exit, proving that the conference was not as strong as the college basketball world was led to believe?

Player of the Week

James "Scoonie" Penn was tabbed the Big Ten Player of the Week after he averaged 19.1 points and shot over 58 percent (14 for 24) from the field, pacing No. 10 Ohio State in wins over then-No. 19 Indiana and then-No. 17 Purdue last week.

Penn tallied 18 second-half points on the way to a game-high 20 in leading the Buckeyes to just their third win ever at the Hoosiers' Assembly Hall. The victory was the Buckeyes' seventh over ranked opponents this season.

In the win over Northwestern, Penn finished with a game-high 19 points to secure his third Big Ten Player of the Week honor and second in a row.