Throughout the month of April the Big Ten will spend a Friday night and a lot of Saturday afternoon's in front of crowds going through spring football games. As things wind down we will bring you the thoughts of those plugged in to the programs - fellow bloggers and beat writers. 

Last week we put a bow on the Nebraska Cornhuskers' spring game and today it's all about the Fighting Illini. Here to help us sift through last Friday night's game and spring as a whole is Robert from A Lion Eye. His insight is very well thought out, so make sure to check out ALionEye.com and follow them on twitter @ALionEye.

Coming off a horrid start to his time in Champaign there was plenty of change in store for Tim Beckman's crew, so what went down this spring and where are things heading for the basement dwellers from 2012? Let's take a look at what was an interesting spring for the Illini. 

A lot of teams can be left wondering what might have been, especially those 67 teams that made the NCAA tournament and weren't named Louisville. One of those teams that has a lot of soul searching to do is the Indiana Hoosiers - a team with all the potential and yet not the desired outcome. 

That may seem harsh, after all, we are talking about the Big Ten regular season champions and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and all. However, that serves to prove my point. 

For many Hoosiers fans and surely the players and staff that will be the question they'll work through this offseason before focusing in the summer to next year. It's also the question we'll attempt to answer as we take a look back at the 2012-13 season compared to how we thought it would play out (hint: we pretty much nailed this one).

How We Predicted Things:

Regular Season Record: 27-4
B1G Record/Finish: 15-3 (1st place)

How it Actually Went Down:

Regular Season Record: 26-5
B1G Record/Finish: 14-4 (1st place)
Postseason: NCAA Sweet 16, L to Syracuse

- Well that's what we call getting it as close as humanly possible. One game off the actual record for the Big Ten and full regular season records, all while nailing their outright 1st place finish in conference play - um ya... Sorry, I'm going to pat myself on the back a little for that one. 

What Went Right?

What didn't go right... just about everything went the way the Hoosiers wanted in the regular season, they won the Big Ten regular season crown and won 26 games in the regular season. Just about everything went right for them as they played the best statistical defense in quite some time too. 

They led the conference in points scored, scoring margin, free throw shooting, and 3 point shooting and ranked in the top half of the conference in about every statistical category you could dream up. I'd say a ton went right for this team.

Hell, they had our Big Ten Player of the Year in Victor Oladipo (who also won Defensive Player of the Year), along with our 1st team All-Big Ten forward Cody Zeller and All-Freshman team member Yogi Ferrell. Things were about as good as you could get for a team in the Big Ten. They survived the hellacious conference gauntlet and came away as sole survivors at the top.

What Went Wrong?

If there was one thing that went wrong it was a head scratching ability to drop games to Wisconsin - it's the one team they seem to not be able to beat - having never beat them in the Tom Crean era and all. 

Additionally that meant Indiana didn't win the Big Ten double of the regular season and tournament championships. 

One of the biggest things that went wrong inside the team was that it seemed as if Cody Zeller hadn't really progressed from his freshman to sophomore seasons - his stats were pretty similar across the board - and he seemed to come up small in the biggest games and at the biggest times. If you need reference try the 2nd half of the Wisconsin game in the regular season or the entire game against Syracuse in the Sweet 16.

Biggest Surprise:

Victor Oladipo was my biggest surprise. We all knew coming in that he'd be their defensive stopper, but he was vastly improved offensively as well - averaging 3 points per game more than last season, shooting 59.9% from the field (nearly 212% better than last year), and a ridiculous improvement of 24% better from beyond the arc. All of that combined with his stellar defensive effort (improving his rebounding, steals, and blocks from a season ago). 

Biggest Disappointment:

We've already hit on it, but for me this team had national champions written all over them and not making a run to the Final Four at the least has to be considered a big time disappointment. 

Quick Look Forward:

This will be a vastly different (not worse) team heading into next season as both Zeller and Oladipo are off early to the NBA and gone are Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls as graduating seniors. That's a lot of the heart and soul of this team. However Tom Crean has brought in six highly touted recruits for this class and things may not even miss a beat if the youngsters can become major contributors along with the rest of the class that included Yogi Ferrell. 

Previous Reviews:

Illinois Fighting Illini

Welcome to the offseason, you know the time of year when crazy stories and hyperbole along with reflection all take center stage - oh and the annual debate about what is wrong with college basketball rages on too. How could one forget about that? Well, the state of Michigan is certainly awash in the latter part of the debate as both Michigan's John Beilein and Michigan State's Tom Izzo have made their feelings known as to what they'd like to see change. 

The elder statesmen of the Big Ten, Izzo, would like to see changes to the shot clock in the game. It's a proposal that a lot of people, myself included, think would help the game of college basketball become just a smidge better. The basic gist for change is that the pro shot clock is less, so to are the international and women's shot clocks. 

Moving it from 35 to 24 like the NBA is not going to happen, that just doesn't make sense. The 99% of college basketball players aren't pro-level players and the games should be different. But, many of those in favor of a change see moving the shot clock to 30 seconds allows the game to speed up a bit while also keeping the unique nature of college basketball in tact. Frankly, adding a more possessions to the game can't be a negative thing. 

If you've been following along with us all season long then you know that we tend to do things that aren't always done by other outlets and one of those things is taking a look back - back to what they said when previewing a season - and frankly we find that a bit odd. 

I mean, you are brazen enough to go out on a limb and predict the season, but aren't willing to tell your viewers just how good, bad, or mediocre you were in your predictions? Well, that doesn't fly here at The B1G Time. So, strap yourself in as we bring you a look back at each team and how their season faired and give you the lowdown on how we did in predicting things for each team. 

Up first is a team that saw transition in 2012-13 as John Groce came from Ohio to the Land of Lincoln in hopes of getting the program back to elite status and stop with the "sleeping giant" moniker that's hung around the program for so long.  How did Groce and his players do in his 1st year at the helm? Let's explore an interesting year in the life of the Illini program, shall we? 

From the this is freaking awesome files - Upper Deck has announced they are honoring the 7 year old cancer patient, Jack Hoffman, that ran for a 69 yard touchdown in the Nebraska spring game two weekends ago. 

UD created a special card for @huskers future star Jack Hoffman. Take a look at Jack's Star Rookie card: facebook.com/notes/upper-de… #Collect

— Upper Deck (@UpperDeckSports) April 16, 2013

There hasn't been a more touching moment in all of college football this spring and in quite some time frankly and this is just icing on the cake. Pure class by both Nebraska and Upper Deck, but let's just hope this doesn't hurt his NCAA eligibility in the future! One can only hope that Jack can get healthy again and perhaps one day enter the halls of the University of Nebraska as a student! 

Here is the picture of the card: 

On Monday the hammer came down on Mark Osiecki as the head coach of the Ohio State hockey program after just three years at the helm. It also comes just as the Buckeyes enter a brand new era in their history as a hockey program with the first ever season of Big Ten hockey coming in 2013-14. 

It appears that this was more about the future direction of the program and how it was going to be run than about Osiecki's record of results. 

"We are making a change in our head hockey coaching position," OSU athletics director Gene Smith said. "There was a difference of opinion over the management of the program that could not be resolved."

The Buckeyes finised the 2012-13 season with a 16-17-7 overall record and were 13-10-5 in their final year as a member of the now defunct CCHA. 

Osiecki was 46-50-16 in his three years at the helm in Columbus. The ties between the Big Ten and Osiecki are deep, having played four years at Wisconsin and being an assistant coach under Mike Eaves from 2004-2010, when he was appointed the head coach of the Buckeyes.

According to reports, associate head coach Steve Rohlik will be taking over the day-to-day operations of the program while a national search for a new head coach gets under way. 

Braxton Miller scored three touchdowns, two of them passing and he threw for 217 yards while completing 16 of 25 attempts. That's not a bad outing for the junior signal caller. Problem was, those numbers were rather deceiving as he was sacked a whopping SEVEN times in front of a decent crowd of 37,643 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. 

All in all Miller's team won 31-14 and won't have to clean and landscape Buckeye Grove next Friday and that's all that matters. 

However, for us the biggest story of this "game" was the fact that the defense, despite having to replace five of the seven starters upfront ate alive the offensive line and made the day a living hell for Miller and backup Kenny Guiton (9-14 for 116 yards and a TD). 

Anytime you give up 11 sacks it's a bit worrisome on the offensive line and Meyer was quick to praise the defensive effort while also chastising the offensive line as well.