CHAMPAIGN — Allow college basketball coaches to settle for a couple of years, and what do you find?

The teams take on the characteristics espoused by the sideline leaders. They reflect their coaches' personalities.

This is strikingly true in the Big Ten. We have come to accept certain facts. Yes, it's true that December results provide a good indication of what to expect, but how do you judge when schedules are so weak and the top eight teams have won 99 games and lost 12? We know a great deal more from looking into the recent past.

We know, for example, that Ohio State is the targeted leader of five solid members of the Top 20, and that Illinois and Purdue have the best chance of cracking the upper division.

This is not to say that non-conference games don't provide information. But we know more from simply looking at the coaches. It is amazing how these teams reflect the personalities of their leaders. Examples follow:

How they stack up

— Ever-rugged Michigan State:

Tom Izzo, riding an 11-game win streak after early losses to North Carolina and Duke, has built a stream of success (six Final Four appearances since 1999) via powerhouse rebounding.

The Spartans slipped to third in Big Ten backboard play last year behind Minnesota and Ohio State. That was a blip on the screen. They garnered 50 caroms in Thursday's 90-81 defeat of Lehigh, and are far ahead of conference rivals with a plus-10 margin in rebounds so far. With Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe sidelined, Izzo has the league's strongest rebounder in senior Draymond Green, and has added a young Gary bruiser in forward Branden Dawson.

This latest Spartan team reflects the hard-nosed tradition established by Izzo.

— Hurryin' Hoosiers:

Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers are scoring at a phenomenal rate, averaging nearly 85 points per game and shooting treys in the neighborhood of 45 percent. They're going to run, run, run with a five-pronged attack that is once again meeting the demands of a cage-crazed following.

Don't tell anybody, but the Hoosiers open the conference season against MSU, OSU and Michigan, so they'll need every point they can muster.

— Boring, boring Badgers:

Wisconsin is intentionally listed directly after Indiana because Bo Ryan's teams are so drastically different.

A Grantland article posted Dec. 14 called Ryan's operation "the most boring in the country."

It's also one of the most successful, the Badgers winning by frustrating opponents with a deliberate style — Ryan owns three Big Ten titles — without bringing in Top 25 recruits. If opponents hate it, the Badger fans enjoy going to the NCAA tournament even if they're not as successful there as they'd prefer.

It can safety be said that no team reflects its coach more than Wisconsin, which means we know what to expect regardless of the preseason results.

— Penn State and Nebraska:

Let's be honest. These programs weren't brought into the Big Ten because of their basketball prowess. The sport is merely something to do in the winter months between the annual bowl game and the start of spring practice.

Have you noticed the attendance at PSU? No, not the number they give out, the actual people in the stands. You could count them.

These two schools attract the best in football talent, but not so in basketball. So it really doesn't matter who the coach is. These are teams that can be defeated at home.

— Weak-kneed Wildcats:

Northwestern has two excellent scorers — John Shurna and Drew Crawford — but is annually seen as non-physical and defensively weak, inevitably reflecting the Ivy League background and limited recruiting of coach Bill Carmody.

As we saw in Thursday's 87-79 loss to Creighton, everybody gets high-percentage shots against NU and, if you're hitting at a decent rate, you're likely to defeat the Wildcats. They're the only Big Ten team with a minus (about 3.0)rebound margin.

Coach's game

See what I mean? Almost team by team, you can anticipate what to expect from your Big Ten opponent.

You've come to realize that Ohio State, under Thad Matta, has grown into the Big Ten's version of Kentucky with the ability to bring in super-stars for short stints of success before entering the NBA. Matta has a way of letting his stars excel. He overlooked turnovers with Evan Turner, giving him free rein to earn the National Player of the Year honors in 2010.

Latest to step up is sophomore Deshaun Thomas, rounding out a quartet of Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and William Buford that is unmatched in the conference.

So, you see, more than some of us ever realized, these teams reflect the personalties and qualities that their coaches expound.

Know what would be fun! How about switching Matta to Northwestern for a season, and bring Ryan to Indiana. How would those teams play? And how about Tubby Smith at Wisconsin, and Carmody at Michigan State. Or, slipping outside the conference, imagine a mix of Bruce Weber with Kentucky's free-wheeling talent.

As our national commentators have professed, pro basketball is a player's game, and college basketball is a coach's game. After digesting above, who can disagree?

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.