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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 23, 2021 10:45:57 GMT -5
Big Ten Notes:
For the second week in a row, the Big Ten has three teams ranked in the top five: Michigan, Ohio State, and Illinois. Michigan has been the class of the league in Coach Howard's second season.
On December 30, Northwestern was ranked #19 in the country and preparing to face #10 Iowa. The Wildcats were on a three game winning streak, having beaten #4 Michigan State, Indiana, and #23 Ohio State. Northwestern lost that game to Iowa, kicking off a THIRTEEN game losing streak. It it wasn't for Nebraska, they'd be in last place. That's a hard and fast fall.
Speaking of falls, Minnesota was ranked #21 and 10-2 after beating #25 Ohio State on January 3. Since then, the Gophers are 3-8.
Penn State is riding a hard luck four game losing streak. Lost to Michigan State by 2, lost to Nebraska by 1, lost to Ohio State by 10 in a game that was closer than that, and lost to Iowa by six.
The Spartans have had a hard fast fall, too, especially when you consider the start they had.
Rutgers got a lot of buzz early, as their coach is a media favorite, but a five game losing streak killed a lot of their momentum. They haven't beat a ranked team since beating then #13 Iowa on December 20. They are 6-9 since that victory.
Ohio State has been consistently good all year and they have been bordering on great lately. Still ranked #4 despite the loss to Michigan this weekend. Iowa and Illinois have also been solid all year. Wisconsin got some early buzz for being so "old" (their starting lineup is older than the Chicago Bulls staring lineup), but they've been hot and cold in Big Ten play. Purdue has been solid, Maryland and IU have been so-so, and Nebraska has just been bad. (I do expect Hoiberg to turn Nebraska around at some point.)
Outside of Northwestern and Nebraska, there are no gimme games in the Big Ten.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 28, 2021 6:49:55 GMT -5
Outside of Northwestern and Nebraska, there are no gimme games in the Big Ten. Apparently, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern all read my comment above, but only Minnesota believed it. The Gophers promptly lost to both Northwestern and Nebraska, the two worst teams in the league. My apologies to the Huskers and the Wildcats. The crazy thing is, Minnesota had a better NET rating than Michigan State yesterday, even after the Northwestern loss. I don't know enough about the formula to know if the loss to Nebraska moves the Spartans ahead, pending the MSU vs Maryland game this afternoon.
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Post by Commissioner on Feb 28, 2021 10:27:19 GMT -5
Outside of Northwestern and Nebraska, there are no gimme games in the Big Ten. Apparently, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern all read my comment above, but only Minnesota believed it. The Gophers promptly lost to both Northwestern and Nebraska, the two worst teams in the league. My apologies to the Huskers and the Wildcats. The crazy thing is, Minnesota had a better NET rating than Michigan State yesterday, even after the Northwestern loss. I don't know enough about the formula to know if the loss to Nebraska moves the Spartans ahead, pending the MSU vs Maryland game this afternoon. And indeed the latest NET rankings, published after your post, have MSU at #68 and Minnesota at #72. Yeah, I don't know the formula either, but you have to think that the Gophers get a huge boost from two wins--18 points over Michigan, and 17 over Ohio State. Margin of victory matters under NET, so beating those two by those scores is probably worth a heckuva lot of NET. They also beat Iowa. Interestingly, they are 0-9 on the road. State didn't have a win over a current top 25 team until they beat Illinois and Ohio State this week. Both were narrow wins and probably didn't give them nearly what Minnesota got for the Michigan/Ohio State wins. And of course, Minnesota walloped the Spartans by 25 points. By quadrant wins, Minnesota is 4-9, 2-1, 4-2, 3-0; MSU is 4-8 2-1, 4-0, 3-0. One thing I have the impression of--I don't know--is that NET rewards big wins a lot, but perhaps doesn't penalize bad losses so much as it should. Still ahead of the Spartans, BTW, are the Indiana Hoosiers, at #59.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 28, 2021 11:41:25 GMT -5
Apparently, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern all read my comment above, but only Minnesota believed it. The Gophers promptly lost to both Northwestern and Nebraska, the two worst teams in the league. My apologies to the Huskers and the Wildcats. The crazy thing is, Minnesota had a better NET rating than Michigan State yesterday, even after the Northwestern loss. I don't know enough about the formula to know if the loss to Nebraska moves the Spartans ahead, pending the MSU vs Maryland game this afternoon. And indeed the latest NET rankings, published after your post, have MSU at #68 and Minnesota at #72. Yeah, I don't know the formula either, but you have to think that the Gophers get a huge boost from two wins--18 points over Michigan, and 17 over Ohio State. Margin of victory matters under NET, so beating those two by those scores is probably worth a heckuva lot of NET. They also beat Iowa. Interestingly, they are 0-9 on the road. State didn't have a win over a current top 25 team until they beat Illinois and Ohio State this week. Both were narrow wins and probably didn't give them nearly what Minnesota got for the Michigan/Ohio State wins. And of course, Minnesota walloped the Spartans by 25 points. By quadrant wins, Minnesota is 4-9, 2-1, 4-2, 3-0; MSU is 4-8 2-1, 4-0, 3-0. One thing I have the impression of--I don't know--is that NET rewards big wins a lot, but perhaps doesn't penalize bad losses so much as it should. Still ahead of the Spartans, BTW, are the Indiana Hoosiers, at #59. Thanks for the info.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Feb 28, 2021 12:51:39 GMT -5
I watched Baylor and Gonzaga yesterday and was unimpressed with both. I have watched the The Zags twice now and I am pretty convinced that Michigan would beat Gonzaga at least 7 of 10. The Zags look like a 5-6 loss team in the big 10. This is why I turn the sound off when I watch basketball on TV the only announcer I listen to is the Twirl. The guy that used to be Knights assistant (Dakich) or Bilas are like a recording. If someone tells them a player is good or a team is great they just keep repeating it. Like Garza I am predicting right now that Garza will be a very average to below average player in the NBA.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 1, 2021 17:10:28 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 13, 2021 11:01:01 GMT -5
The cream rose to the top in the Big Ten tourney, as the semifinal teams are Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, and Illinois. Should be a great doubleheader today.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 15, 2021 13:52:20 GMT -5
Indiana fired head coach Archie Miller. It was not unexpected, but I thought he would get another year.
The Hoosiers are longing for the glory days of Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Mar 15, 2021 14:19:26 GMT -5
Indiana fired head coach Archie Miller. It was not unexpected, but I thought he would get another year. The Hoosiers are longing for the glory days of Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson. Sam they are longing for the glory days of Bobby Knight but no one ever has or ever will replace Knight. They are jinxed for eternity. They couldn't rein him in and they can't replace him. The great ones are very hard to replace. Michigan will never replace Bo. Seems like you can only catch lightning in a bottle once and then they get so powerful you can not control them but someone in the administrative end will always try. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Think about it, it seems to apply to most of the coaching legends.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 15, 2021 18:51:21 GMT -5
Indiana fired head coach Archie Miller. It was not unexpected, but I thought he would get another year. The Hoosiers are longing for the glory days of Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson. Sam they are longing for the glory days of Bobby Knight but no one ever has or ever will replace Knight. They are jinxed for eternity. They couldn't rein him in and they can't replace him. The great ones are very hard to replace. Michigan will never replace Bo. Seems like you can only catch lightning in a bottle once and then they get so powerful you can not control them but someone in the administrative end will always try. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Think about it, it seems to apply to most of the coaching legends. I was kind of kidding with the glory days comment. Of course the height of that program was the Knight era. It is worth noting however, that IU alumni and fans happily ran Mike Davis out of town (with Knight working behind the scenes to sabotage Davis) and the program hasn't reached the level of success he achieved in Bloomington since. Also, I considered Lloyd Carr a more than equal follow up to Bo, given his better bowl record and National championship.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 15, 2021 18:54:22 GMT -5
More Big 14 coaching news.
Minnesota fired Rick Pitino.
Penn State reportedly will hire Purdue assistant Micah Shrewsberry as their next head coach.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Mar 21, 2021 13:47:13 GMT -5
Is there anyone else out there who thinks the big 14 is over rated again and that the seating formula in the NCAA is crooked as usual? Does anyone else watch the games with the sound off to avoid the stupidity of Bilas, Dakich, Johnson or Greenberg. You guys should try it. I find it a lot more enjoyable. Cureton is an aberration in the basketball announcers world. Refreshing to hear someone who is not partial and has an opinion of his own and is right a lot more than he is wrong. Some of these big time guys are worse than the Wright State or Northern KY guys who by the way are really bad.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 22, 2021 13:35:36 GMT -5
Is there anyone else out there who thinks the big 14 is over rated again and that the seating formula in the NCAA is crooked as usual? Does anyone else watch the games with the sound off to avoid the stupidity of Bilas, Dakich, Johnson or Greenberg. You guys should try it. I find it a lot more enjoyable. Cureton is an aberration in the basketball announcers world. Refreshing to hear someone who is not partial and has an opinion of his own and is right a lot more than he is wrong. Some of these big time guys are worse than the Wright State or Northern KY guys who by the way are really bad. And right on cue, 2 seed Iowa is blown out by 7 seed Oregon.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 22, 2021 16:03:40 GMT -5
Is there anyone else out there who thinks the big 14 is over rated again and that the seating formula in the NCAA is crooked as usual? Does anyone else watch the games with the sound off to avoid the stupidity of Bilas, Dakich, Johnson or Greenberg. You guys should try it. I find it a lot more enjoyable. Cureton is an aberration in the basketball announcers world. Refreshing to hear someone who is not partial and has an opinion of his own and is right a lot more than he is wrong. Some of these big time guys are worse than the Wright State or Northern KY guys who by the way are really bad. And right on cue, 2 seed Iowa is blown out by 7 seed Oregon. Wow. I had to be teaching class. I can't recall any conference entering the tournament with such high expectations and doing so poorly. I'll admit, I thought the B10 could have 2-3 final four teams; they'll be lucky to get 2 Sweet 16 teams.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 29, 2021 14:11:10 GMT -5
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