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The Big Ten enters the final month of the regular season with eight of the 14 teams still in realistic contention for a spot in the conference championship game Dec. 3. Heres a look at the road each team must face as it tries to make it to Indianapolis:No. 2 MICHIGAN (No. 2 CFP)Record: 8-0, 5-0, 1st place in East.Remaining schedule: Maryland, at Iowa, Indiana, at No. 6 Ohio State.Why the Wolverines make it to Indy: They have the best defense in the country, the games most dynamic player in Jabrill Peppers and a quarterback in Wilton Speight who keeps the offense on schedule and takes care of the ball. They end their four-game skid against Ohio State and win in Columbus for the first time since 2000.Why the Wolverines stay home: Ohio State beats them for a fifth year in a row or they slip up in a tricky game at Iowa.---No. 6 OHIO STATE (No. 6 CFP)Record: 7-1, 4-1, T-2nd place in East.Remaining schedule: Nebraska, at Maryland, at Michigan State, Michigan.Why the Buckeyes make it to Indy: Their top-10-in-the-nation defense recaptures the dominance it showed in September. J.T. Barrett keeps willing them to wins. They win their biggest home games of the year against Nebraska and Michigan.Why the Buckeyes stay home: Special teams foibles, such as the ones that cropped up late against Penn State, or defensive letdowns like the ones that happened against Northwestern. Offense continues to be inconsistent. They lose to Michigan for the first time in five years.---No. 20 PENN STATE (No. 12 CFP)Record: 6-2, 4-1, T-2nd place in East.Remaining schedule: Iowa, at Indiana, at Rutgers, Michigan State.Why the Nittany Lions make it to Indy: They have the easiest remaining schedule among the three East contenders. Big Ten rushing leader Saquon Barkley shreds defenses that all rank seventh and lower in the conference against the run. QB Trace McSorley continues his streak of four straight turnover-free games.Why the Nittany Lions stay home: The dam breaks on a defense that has gone from middling to above average in recent weeks. The injury bug that bit them hard early returns.---No. 9 NEBRASKA (No. 10 CFP)Record: 7-1, 4-1, 1st place in West.Remaining schedule: at Ohio State, Minnesota, Maryland, at Iowa.Why the Cornhuskers make it to Indy: They win at Ohio State to break a 19-year drought in road games against top-10 opponents. Tommy Armstrong Jr. makes plays with his legs and avoids bad decisions in the passing game. The defense continues to limit big plays and intercept passes.Why the Cornhuskers stay home: They lose to Ohio State, and Wisconsin, which owns the tiebreaker against them, wins out. Armstrong throws bad interceptions. The offensive line cant hold up because of injuries. Their dominance in fourth quarters wanes in close games.---No. 8 WISCONSIN (No. 8 CFP)Record: 6-2, 3-2, T-2nd in West.Remaining schedule: at Northwestern, Illinois, at Purdue, Minnesota.Why the Badgers make it to Indy: They end a five-game road losing streak against Northwestern and win out. They get sharper performances from QBs Alex Hornibrook and Bart Houston. RB Dare Ogunbowale complements Corey Clement the way he did against Nebraska. The defense keeps doing what its been doing.Why the Badgers stay home: The defense sustains another major injury to a starter. Hornibrook and Houston cant get out of their own way and continue a pattern thats seen them throw nine TD passes against 10 interceptions.---MINNESOTARecord: 6-2, 3-2, T-2nd in West.Remaining schedule: Purdue, at Nebraska, Northwestern, at Wisconsin.Why the Gophers make it to Indy: They successfully navigate an extremely difficult stretch of three games after hosting Purdue. Rodney Smith continues his streak of 100-yard games. The defense suddenly becomes better than average.Why the Gophers stay home: QB Mitch Leidner and his teammates dont play the best football of their careers. Theres slippage in their high red-zone efficiency and their league-best 1.25 turnover margin.---IOWARecord: 5-3, 3-2, T-2nd in West.Remaining schedule: at Penn State, Michigan, at Illinois, Nebraska.Why the Hawkeyes make it to Indy: They find a way to win at home, where theyre 2-3, and get through the second-toughest finishing schedule in the league besides Marylands. Their middle-of-the-pack offense suddenly gets a jolt and keeps taking care of the ball.Why the Hawkeyes stay home: The last four games are too taxing for a team thats underperformed all season. A bland offense stays that way against the tough defenses coming up. The defense drops off at all.---NORTHWESTERNRecord: 4-4, 3-2, T-2nd in West.Remaining schedule: Wisconsin, at Purdue, at Minnesota, Illinois.Why the Wildcats make it to Indy: They dont let a close loss at Ohio State trip them up during a mostly positive second half of the season. Clayton Thorson maintains the form thats seen him throw 10 TDs against two interceptions the past four games. Austin Carr remains the best receiver in the Big Ten.Why the Wildcats stay home: They cant find a way to move the ball on the ground beyond Justin Jackson. Opponents have a 64-percent completion rate and throw for 275 yards a game.---More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org Cheap Ecco Shoes Online . 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Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. TUCSON, Ariz. -- Two games in and Arizona freshman Lauri Markkanen is already drawing high praise from his coach.Lauris one of the best players in college basketball, Sean Miller said. He is. Hes a monster.The 18-year-old 7-footer from Finland scored 26 points and the 10th-ranked Wildcats held off a furious second-half rally by Cal State Bakersfield for a 78-66 victory on Tuesday night.Jaylin Airington scored 31 for the Roadrunners (1-1) and led a 17-0 run that cut Arizonas lead to four with 9:04 to play. But Markkanen sank a 3-pointer, converted a three-point play and made a short jumper to lead the Wildcats out of trouble.Markkanen is accustomed to such moments.I am used to it, he said. Pretty much my whole life, in big moments, I have the ball in my hands.The already short-handed Wildcats (2-0) were without starting senior guard Kadeem Allen, who sprained a knee in Arizonas 65-63 victory over Michigan State last Friday in Honolulu.Rawle Alkins was 4 for 6 on 3-pointers and scored 15 for the Wildcats and Kobi Simmons added 13. Both also are freshmen.Dedrick Basile added 14 for BakersfieldHaving the opportunity to play a top 10 team is going to give us an opportunity to have some confidence coming out of this game, Roadrunners coach Rod Barnes said.Airington was 10 for 25 from the field, and Miller said its hard to get 25 shots in a college game. It wasnt enough.It was a good individual effort, Airington said, but I wanted to win more than anything.Arizona was up 44-26 at the half and was cruising along when a tip-in by yet another freshman, Keanu Pinder, gave the Wildcats a 53-32 lead with 14:45 to play. Arizona didnt score for the next 6:46.The McKale Center crowd fell into an uncomfortable silence when Damine Durhams basket cut the lead to 53-49 with 9:04 to play.A ruckus under the Arizona basket finally woke the Wildcats up.Chance Comanche went up for a layup and was hit hard by a pair of Bakersfield defenders. Some shoving occurreed with Comanche lying on the court and officials called time out to review the incident on video.ddddddddddddTaze Moore was called for a flagrant foul one and Comanche ended the long drought by making one of two free throws with 7:59 left. Arizona got the ball out of bounds on the play and Markkanen sank his only 3 of the night to boost the lead to 57-49.Playing small forward on Arizonas big front line, he drove hard down the lane, was fouled and converted a three-point play with 5:51 left and made a short jumper with 5:17 to go, giving the Wildcats a 64-54 lead and they held on from there.Lauris strong, Miller said. Hes not skinny, hes not thin. Hes 18 years old buy physically he can take a pounding and I think that really shows. He doesnt appear to be 7 foot because hes not a rail-thin 7-footer.His pull-ups that he made tonight, watching him go to the free throw line under pressure, hes a special, special player.Hes also a great team player and a good student.I dont think hes got a B at Arizona, Miller said. And practice-wise hes consumed with becoming a great player. Hes one of our teams hardest workers. ... Im so glad we have him.BIG PICTURECal State Bakersfield: The Roadrunners were not cowed by the atmosphere and look like WAC contenders.Arizona: After the opener against a big name school, the young Wildcats fell into a lull with a big lead. That might not have happened if Allen had been available.PLAYER SHORTAGEThe absence of Allen left Arizona with only seven scholarship players with a particular shortage at guard. It got even worse when Jackson-Cartwright got into foul trouble.UP NEXTCal State Bakersfield: returns home to face UC Santa Barbara Saturday night.Arizona: Plays the second of three straight home nonconference game against teams from lesser conferences, facing Sacred Heart on Friday night. ' ' '