Within the past week, IU's 2014 Big Ten basketball schedule was announced. As is common each year, IU will play certain teams only once. Unfortunately, one of those teams this year is one of our biggest rivals, Purdue. As stated in this article by Alex Bozich, IU will play Ohio State and Iowa once at home, and Minnesota and Purdue once on the road. With the exception of playing Purdue only once, I think this schedule will benefit the Hoosiers. I think that OSU and Iowa have the ability to win the conference next year, with Iowa being a bit more of a dark horse. Playing these two only once in the friendly confines of Assembly Hall will only help a young Hoosier team. With first year coach Richard Pitino (I'm still wondering how he got that job), I don't see Minnesota being all that great. As far as the game at Purdue goes, winning a road game against your rival is never easy (except for last season). I expect the Boilers to be much improved this year. I think this game is a toss up at this point; both teams will be pretty young, so it all depends on how the new guys mesh.
The Big Ten also announced their 2014 football schedule yesterday. In some news that really shocked me, IU will play Purdue again in Bloomington in 2014. So, the Bucket Game will be at Memorial Stadium two years in a row. I tried to do a little research on when this previously happened, and the best I could come up with was this Wikipedia article. While Wikipedia isn't the most credible source, it states that this last happened over 110 years ago! Apparently my disbelief was fairly justified. If you can correct me or find a better source, please do so. Playing Purdue two years in a row in Bloomington is a positive for IU football, considering that Purdue has dominated the series historically. Hopefully this can swing a little momentum in the Hoosiers favor. Also of note, IU will be Maryland's first Big Ten opponent when the Terps travel to Bloomington on September 27th, 2014. This will be a fun game merely because these two teams will be very unfamiliar with each other.