Big Ten Opener: Ohio State @ Wisconsin LIVE

Pre-Game Thoughts
The last day of the decade brings a brand new season of Big Ten basketball to Wisconsin, as the Badgers welcome the Ohio State Buckeyes to town. Join us for the live blogging event that will begin about 15 minutes before the 1 p.m. CST tip time.

Since Evan Turner's injury, OSU junior David Lighty has been needed to pick up the slack offensively. As the team's best defender, it will be interesting to see how that affects the other half of his game. I assume Lighty would be charged with checking Hughes or Bohannon, since "locking up" Tim Jarmusz would kind of waste his skills.

Thad Matta has kept his rotation very shallow even after losing Turner. He only seems to be playing six guys regularly in the last four games. Jon Diebler has missed Turner the most, since he is primarily a spot-up shooter that benefits from someone like Turner breaking down an opponent's defense. Conversely,sophomore William Buford has picked up the slack in many areas. Either way, Matta's key players are playing a ton of minutes.

Jon Leuer will face an imposing interior defender in Dallas Lauderdale. But I am already having visions of Leuer dumping the ball off to a lurking Keaton Nankivil for a dunk. At the very least, one of the two Badger big men should be able to corral a few second-chance opportunities in this contest.

While Leuer and Jordan Taylor continued to excel in the final tune-ups against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Illinois-Chicago, Trevon Hughes faded to the background somewhat. Against the Buckeyes, Hughes will need to turn the switch back on. As I mentioned earlier, Lighty is a plus defender, but I'm not sure P.J. Hill and Jeremie Simmons are going to stop a locked-in Hughes.