michigan up 25 on michigan state

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wow what a blow out.
 

I just saw that too. Better just beat Iowa and Rutgers this week. Then losing at home to Michigan wouldn't be potentially as devastating. That game will certainly become a bubble conversation starter.
 

Michigan hasn't won a road game all year. Being the superstitious guy that I am, hope they win at Indiana before coming to Williams Arena.
 




Lots of bad loses last night.

Michigan over MSU by 29!

Illinois beats NW on the road. (sounds like they are making a run at the NIT!)

Maryland loses to PSU
 

beavergopher said:
Football and basketball. Good to get some humility.
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Off all the Big Ten schools, MSU seems to me as the least arrogant of any of the successful schools. They're my 2nd favorite Big Ten team. Classy coaches. The school is viewed as the little brother to Michigan constantly.
 

Otis said:
Lots of bad loses last night.

Michigan over MSU by 29!

Illinois beats NW on the road. (sounds like they are making a run at the NIT!)

Maryland loses to PSU
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Strange year in the Big Ten. Up is down, down is up. Don't think there's a national contender in the bunch (Purdue maybe?), but the bottom half is much better. Even Rutgers isn't terrible, they've been competitive in a lot of games, should have beat Badgers. Can't wait to see what happens when these teams match up on a neutral court in Washington, D.C.
 

37score said:
Off all the Big Ten schools, MSU seems to me as the least arrogant of any of the successful schools. They're my 2nd favorite Big Ten team. Classy coaches. The school is viewed as the little brother to Michigan constantly.
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Agreed! I really like Michigan State and I cheer for them in every sport and in every game EXCEPT for when they play Minnesota. When they play Minnesota I want Michigan State to get blown out.
 



Yeah I watched a good chunk of the NW and Illinois game. Pretty good game actually. Illinois man bun guy made some key plays down the stretch.
 

37score said:
Off all the Big Ten schools, MSU seems to me as the least arrogant of any of the successful schools. They're my 2nd favorite Big Ten team. Classy coaches. The school is viewed as the little brother to Michigan constantly.
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Same. Izzo can be a little spaz on the sidelines, but that's part of the game.
 

Some Michigan writer wrote a story that there might only be 3 "three" Big Ten schools in the tournament this year.

I don't know if the guy who wrote that every looked at any bracketology brackets in his life, but it's what he thought. Dan Barrerio was discussing in on his highly rated radio show last night . Of course, he was happy to be critical of the Big Ten, yet at the same time admitting "I'm not an tournament expert". With Gardsie agreeing that he wasn't sure either.

Despite this they felt confident enough to give their opinion on it.

They seemed to agree that the Big Ten didn't have a tournament favorite, and although the conference might have many teams in the middle, the middle is average or below average and not "good or very good".

I wish there was a solid way to define how good the middle of a conference is. It seems in some leagues, you can have a lot of teams with good records, provided you have a couple conference teams who go 1-17 or 2-16 in conference play. Where if your bottom team finishes 5-13 and 4-12, the whole league ends up looking more "average".

That and a mix of un-even scheduling seems to cause a mess of teams with similar records, none of which appear great.
 

37score said:
Some Michigan writer wrote a story that there might only be 3 "three" Big Ten schools in the tournament this year.

I don't know if the guy who wrote that every looked at any bracketology brackets in his life, but it's what he thought. Dan Barrerio was discussing in on his highly rated radio show last night . Of course, he was happy to be critical of the Big Ten, yet at the same time admitting "I'm not an tournament expert". With Gardsie agreeing that he wasn't sure either.

Despite this they felt confident enough to give their opinion on it.

They seemed to agree that the Big Ten didn't have a tournament favorite, and although the conference might have many teams in the middle, the middle is average or below average and not "good or very good".

I wish there was a solid way to define how good the middle of a conference is. It seems in some leagues, you can have a lot of teams with good records, provided you have a couple conference teams who go 1-17 or 2-16 in conference play. Where if your bottom team finishes 5-13 and 4-12, the whole league ends up looking more "average".

That and a mix of un-even scheduling seems to cause a mess of teams with similar records, none of which appear great.
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Very few things bug me more than people who say they don't follow something much, but then opine on it anyways. I would say this about the B1G this season:

1. It's not as strong at the top. After Purdue and Wisconsin, I don't see any other teams that should be "expected" to make it to the second weekend of the tournament. I exclude the Badgers at my own risk, but I think the Boilers are the only B1G team capable of reaching the Final 4.

2. Sparty, Indiana, and Ohio State (3 of the conference's linchpins) are having so-so (or worse) seasons. That hurts the perception of the conference, yes, so the natural inclination is for (neutral) people like Barreiro & Gaardsie to assume (somewhat understandably) everyone else is down, too.

3. Biggest thing for me is the bottom is much better, and not just because some of the traditional powers are struggling. The Gophers, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and even Rutgers are much better than they were last year. On a given night, or (most importantly) on a neutral court, those teams are capable of knocking off the teams at the top, including Boilers, Badgers, and Maryland, as Penn State showed last night (beating Maryland), and as Gophers showed @ Purdue early in the season.

4. I'd set the over-under on B1G teams reaching the Sweet 16 at 1.5. Purdue and the Badgers "should" be able to do that, but with the nature of the tournament I wouldn't bank on both. Will be surprised if any other B1G team reaches the Sweet 16.
 



Brand names being down seems to be what the majority of media clings to.
If MSU, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, and Purdue are at the top all with 14-4 records, the media thinks. Wow. Tough conference. You have MSU, then Indiana, etc... all teams who could go to the final four because in their heads, they've seen these teams make the final four before, so they assume it can happen again.

If however, the conference teams at the top with 14-4 records are Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers, Northwestern, Iowa, and Nebraska, it's undoubtedly a down year.

From what I can tell, the only way you can see if a conference appears strong or not is if the bottom couple teams in the conference win any games or not. If they win many, the rest of the conference will appear to be down. If they are truly horrible and never win, or win very few, all of the teams they player will appear stronger.

It's always funny to me how a conference appears to slide in strength when all they are doing is playing other teams within their own conference.
 

It will be tough for a B1G team to make the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 since the highest current seed the conference is getting is a #4.
 

Michigan can shoot the three. At home, they've have the best rims in the conference. Good and loose.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Strange year in the Big Ten. Up is down, down is up. Don't think there's a national contender in the bunch (Purdue maybe?), but the bottom half is much better. Even Rutgers isn't terrible, they've been competitive in a lot of games, should have beat Badgers. Can't wait to see what happens when these teams match up on a neutral court in Washington, D.C.
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It should be a very competitive tournament at Verizon. Looking forward to it. The most surprising thing to me is that no one has faded yet. I would have expected that by now. Groce deserves a big slap on the back keeping that team together in such a crappy season.

Sparty is playing short-handed again and relying on more young guys than Izzo is used to and likes. Very interesting to see if both Bridges and Ward end up being one and dones. Not out of the question.
 

Holy Man said:
Sparty is playing short-handed again and relying on more young guys than Izzo is used to and likes. Very interesting to see if both Bridges and Ward end up being one and dones. Not out of the question.
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My guess is Ward is back, no way does Bridges return. If Bridges does by some miracle, Schilling & Carter both get healthy and return, Sparty will be more like we're accustomed to seeing next season. I'll be interested to see if Izzo finally tones down the schedule, though I know they're playing in that mega 16-team Nike PK80 (Phil Knight) Tournament next season. It will have 2 separate 8-team tournaments. Not a shabby list of participants:

Arkansas
Butler
Connecticut
Duke
Florida
Georgetown
Gonzaga
Michigan State
North Carolina
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oregon
Portland
Portland State
Stanford
Texas
 

Wow that's quite a tournament.

Because the middle of the conference is better I feel sorry for the other 5,6,7,8 and 9 seeds who have to play big ten teams in the first round. Or if we end up at a ten seed for example, I don't think any two seed would consider us a good draw in the second round. Or the third round, as I guess it's now called. I'd also be afraid of msu, Indiana, etc. But that's why it's called march madness.
 

dex8425 said:
Wow that's quite a tournament.

Because the middle of the conference is better I feel sorry for the other 5,6,7,8 and 9 seeds who have to play big ten teams in the first round. Or if we end up at a ten seed for example, I don't think any two seed would consider us a good draw in the second round. Or the third round, as I guess it's now called. I'd also be afraid of msu, Indiana, etc. But that's why it's called march madness.
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I wouldn't be afraid of either Indiana or Michigan State at this point. Indiana is dysfunctional, banged up, and plays no defense, and Sparty is a young, slightly above average team that turns it over a lot and doesn't force many turnovers. If I were a betting man I'd bet at least one of those two won't make the tournament.
 

More concerned about Rutgers game than Indiana at this point. Michigan scares the hell out of me.
 

No way only 3 B1G teams make the NCAA tourney.

Right now Purdue, Maryland & Wisconsin look like total locks and NW and Minnesota also look like they are heading in the direction of getting into the tourney. Every other team is already out or has a ton of work to do.

So I think 4 is almost guaranteed and 5 is realistically the # that will get in.


Minny only needs to win 5 more games to be a lock, imho. 4 wins could get them in, too, but it wouldn't be a lock.
 

KillmeNow said:
No way only 3 B1G teams make the NCAA tourney.

Right now Purdue, Maryland & Wisconsin look like total locks and NW and Minnesota also look like they are heading in the direction of getting into the tourney. Every other team is already out or has a ton of work to do.

So I think 4 is almost guaranteed and 5 is realistically the # that will get in.


Minny only needs to win 5 more games to be a lock, imho. 4 wins could get them in, too, but it wouldn't be a lock.
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Gophers are a lock with 4 more conference wins. That would put them at 9-9 in conference, 21-10 overall and an RPI in the low 30's.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I wouldn't be afraid of either Indiana or Michigan State at this point. Indiana is dysfunctional, banged up, and plays no defense, and Sparty is a young, slightly above average team that turns it over a lot and doesn't force many turnovers. If I were a betting man I'd bet at least one of those two won't make the tournament.
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With Indiana losing to Purdue yesterday, I guess I'd agree that they are pretty much in a freefall. They probably need to win 5 more games and still wouldn't be a "lock" at that point. If MSU gets in as a 12 or 11 Miles Bridges would not be a player I'd want to face as a 5-6 seed. Izzo always outcoaches teams in March. Granted, MSU is very inconsistent which comes with youth.
 

Sparty

To feel "completely safe" heading to Washington, D.C. (translation: don't need to win a game at BTT), I think Michigan State (14-10, 6-5) needs to finish 11-7 in the B1G, or 10-8 as long as one of Sparty's remaining wins is Purdue, Wisconsin, or Maryland. The resume is just not that impressive, pretty much lost all their marquee games. It's not going to be easy with the schedule they have left:

Iowa
Ohio State
@ Purdue
Nebraska
Wisconsin
@ Illinois
@ Maryland

The Gophers are a key piece to MSU's at-large chances. If the Gophers finish strong, stay in the 25-35ish RPI range, that will help Sparty's resume immensely. If the Gophers fade to black, they may take Sparty down with them.
 

SelectionSunday said:
To feel "completely safe" heading to Washington, D.C. (translation: don't need to win a game at BTT), I think Michigan State (14-10, 6-5) needs to finish 11-7 in the B1G, or 10-8 as long as one of Sparty's remaining wins is Purdue, Wisconsin, or Maryland. The resume is just not that impressive, pretty much lost all their marquee games. It's not going to be easy with the schedule they have left:

Iowa
Ohio State
@ Purdue
Nebraska
Wisconsin
@ Illinois
@ Maryland

The Gophers are a key piece to MSU's at-large chances. If the Gophers finish strong, stay in the 25-35ish RPI range, that will help Sparty's resume immensely. If the Gophers fade to black, they may take Sparty down with them.
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I think Sparty will pull one of those rabbits out of the hat and be given the benefit of the doubt in March.
 

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