This was rumored during the Big Ten Tourney, and now it seems official: According to Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports, Iowa is parting ways with Todd Lickliter after three seasons.

There are two sides to this one:

Half-full: Anyone else think he got a bit of a raw deal? Sure, Iowa hasn’t done much under his watch. But like the Hoosiers, the Hawkeyes are a very young squad with some promise. They also have a decent recruiting class coming in. The man needs more time.

Half-empty: In three years, Lickliter hasn’t done much to show he can build a winning program there. He didn’t inherit a program in disarray. He just hasn’t gotten it done. Time to move on.

Which side do you fall on?

We’ve reached out to Paul Klee, the Illinois basketball beat writer for The Champaign News-Gazette, to answer five questions for the Illinois edition of Know Thy Opponent. You can follow Paul on Twitter here. The transcript of our Q & A, conducted via e-mail, is below:

It’s been an up-and-down start to this season for the Illini. They’re 10-5, including a solid come from behind win at Clemson in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and then a few disappointing losses: Utah, Bradley and Georgia. Preseason, Illinois was a top 25 team in the AP Poll. What’s been the reaction in Champaign of how this team has performed thus far?

The fans have been hugely supportive of this team. The crowd for the Gonzaga game was the biggest United Center crowd for an Illinois game since the Final Four season in ‘04-05. It was loud, too, despite a
21-point deficit. The Big Ten opener was a sellout and played a big part in Illinois beating Northwestern. Illinois fans are a resilient group.

There is disappointment, and there should be. Illinois hasn’t played up to expectations and the preseason ranking you talked about. Expectations for the freshmen were way too high. But I think the fans see it’s their most talented team since Dee Brown and James Augustine, and they recognize this group has promise. Truth is, this team is going to be defined by what it does in the postseason – if it gets there.

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We’ve reached out to Bob Baptist, the Ohio State basketball beat writer for The Columbus Dispatch, to answer five questions for the Ohio State edition of Know Thy Opponent. You can read the Dispatch’s OSU basketball blog, Hoops & Scoops, here and follow Bob on Twitter here. The transcript of our Q & A, conducted via e-mail, is below:

Tough start in the Big Ten for the Buckeyes. A 65-43 blowout at Wisconsin and then a 73-64 loss in Ann Arbor to Michigan. What’s the quick synopsis of why Ohio State has struggled in their first two conference games?

Very quick synopsis: They don’t have Evan Turner making plays for every other player on the team, and every other player on the team save for William Buford needs Turner to do that for him.

The loss of Turner (18.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.9 apg) has obviously been a major blow. When does Ohio State expect to get him back into the lineup?

The team’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Grant Jones, told me Sunday at Michigan that Turner was scheduled for an X-ray Monday and that, if all looked good, his activity would be increased this week. If his back tolerates the increase in activity, he could return to the lineup within the next two weeks.

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Around the league is recommended reading from around the Big Ten from the Inside the Hall crew. Enjoy.

+ Jeff Goodman writes that Purdue is a much different team than it was a season ago when he watched the Boilermakers get crushed by Duke. (Fox Sports)

+ Andy Katz writes that Purdue can thank its upperclassmen for the big win over West Virginia. (ESPN)

+ Rick Bozich writes that the Michigan Wolverines are falling far below expectations. (Fox Sports)

+ KJ breaks down Michigan State and Northwestern. (The Only Colors)

+ Michigan State opens its defense of Big Ten championship against pesky Northwestern. (Grand Rapids Press)

+ Illinois steps out of conference on Saturday for a matchup with Gonzaga at the United Center. (The News Gazette)

+ The latest on Evan Turner of Ohio State is that he’s yet to be cleared for contact in practice. (Columbus Dispatch Hoops and Scoops)

+ Myron Medcalf writes that Minnesota freshman Royce White is back. Sort of. (Star Tribune Gold in the Barn)

+ Medcalf also writes that the loss of Ralph Sampson will stretch Minnesota’s bench even thinner today at Iowa. (Star Tribune)

Rather than the traditional Know Thy Opponent format, where I attempt to sound intelligent discussing a team besides Indiana, today we’ve reached out to Dylan over at the excellent Michigan hoops blog, UMHoops, for the scoop on the Wolverines. Our e-mail Q & A exchange is posted below for your reading pleasure. (I answered questions over at UMHoops at this link.)

Michigan was ranked No. 15 in the preseason in both the AP and Coaches’ Poll. Looking back on that, was the ranking too high or has this team just not lived up to its capabilities?

It sounds like a cop out, but it’s almost certainly a mix of both. Michigan wasn’t the 15th best team in the country. They were a 2nd round NCAA tournament team that finished .500 in conference play and snuck into the NCAA tournament. However, their youth last year coupled with John Beilein’s coaching pedigree gave folks reason to overestimate their abilities.

That being said, this team wasn’t supposed to be this bad. The biggest problem is that they just can’t hit shots. They are shooting 28.3 percent from three-point range which ranks last among all major-conference teams. It’s tough to win with any offense when you can’t hit shots but when you are undersized and running John Beilein’s offense, it’s almost impossible.

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You may or may not know the name Royce White. If you follow recruiting around the Big Ten, you’d know him as the top incoming freshman in the conference.

If not, you’ll now know him as the kid who pleaded guilty to shoplifting at Mall of America, reportedly stole a laptop and in perhaps the most bizarre development of this young college basketball season, announced he was leaving Minnesota via YouTube:

I’m pretty sure this isn’t what Tubby Smith envisioned when he signed the No. 19 recruit in the country, but White clearly has problems beyond basketball that need to be addressed. So, what’s next for White? Most likely a program willing to give him a second chance (where have you gone, Jerry Tarkanian?) or if he tries to go pro, presumably the NBDL.

Some freshmen live up to the hype while others struggle to adjust to the speed and rigors of college basketball. And every so often, a special talent comes along who not only meets expectations, but shatters them. Through eight games of what is sure to be his only season in Lexington, John Wall is that special talent.

His numbers are remarkable: 19.0 ppg (56% FG), 7.0 apg, 3.8 rpg and 3 spg. But more importantly, Wall is the primary reason that Kentucky basketball has transformed from an N.I.T. team last season to 9-0 and No. 4 in the nation this season.

After the Billy Gillispie experiment failed miserably, UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart needed a hire that would instantly put the program back at the forefront nationally. Recruits were no longer viewing Kentucky as a top tier destination. Fans were restless with the lack of NCAA Tournament success since the program’s last championship in 1998 under Tubby Smith. So Barnhart, with his job likely on the line if he didn’t make the right hire, went to Memphis and hired John Calipari.

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Based on its final AP ranking — No. 4 — and NCAA Tournament seeding — No. 1 in the East region — you can argue that the 2008-2009 version of the Pittsburgh Panthers failed to reach its own expectations. Jamie Dixon had the horses to reach Detroit, but a brilliant regional final performance by Villanova sent Dixon, DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Sam Young back to Pittsburgh a weekend early.

Dixon’s nine tournament wins in the past six seasons are tops for any coach who’s yet to reach a Final Four. His ability to teach defense and rebounding makes him one of the more respected coaches in the country. And until he landed freshman Dante Taylor in the 2009 class, all of his success at Pitt has come without the help of a single McDonald’s All-American.

So it should be no surprise that despite the losses of Blair (2nd round pick by the Spurs), Young (2nd round pick by the Grizzlies), Fields and Tyrell Biggs, Dixon is having early season success with this year’s team. Pitt is 7-1, with its only loss coming to No. 2 Texas back on November 24. Even more impressive is that they’ve done it without the services of senior guard Jermaine Dixon, the team’s lone returning starter who is recovering from a foot injury and Gilbert Brown, who was suspended for the fall semester for academic reasons.

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