2018-2019 B1G Basketball Thread

[ELA]

No, it's been twice.  But their next loss, Rutgers can get credit for?  I never remember how it works.

[medinabuckeye1]

Something is seriously wrong with the Buckeyes, losing to Rutgers is inexcusable.  Matta lost to Rutgers, that was his last game as coach.  Actually, in thinking about that, let me ask a question:

In the time that Rutgers has been in the B1G, has any B1G BB team lost to Rutgers and retained their coach the next year?  

The Buckeyes are now -2 in upsets so I'll be moving them down to tier-3 with the next update.  I've re-calibrated my expectations so now I am hoping for an NIT bid.  

[bayareabadger]

Something is seriously wrong with the Buckeyes, losing to Rutgers is inexcusable.  Matta lost to Rutgers, that was his last game as coach.  Actually, in thinking about that, let me ask a question:

In the time that Rutgers has been in the B1G, has any B1G BB team lost to Rutgers and retained their coach the next year?  

The Buckeyes are now -2 in upsets so I'll be moving them down to tier-3 with the next update.  I've re-calibrated my expectations so now I am hoping for an NIT bid.  

The 2015 Wisconsin team that went 36-4 had two losses to Duke, one to Maryland, one to Rutgers. 
Bo coaches another half year and then quit to get his friend a job.

[medinabuckeye1]

Both results last night were "upsets" according to our tiers so the projections are going to change.  Northwestern's upset loss moves them down to a projected 4-16 while Rutger's upset win moves them up to a projected 4-16 so we now project a four way tie for 11-14th between those two, Penn State, and Illinois.  

Iowa's upset win doesn't change much but Ohio State's upset loss moves them down into a projected tie with Maryland at 11-9 for 7th/8th and Ohio State would lose that tiebreaker.  All of that is without actually moving the Buckeyes down a tier as I believe is now warranted.  

[medinabuckeye1]

The 2015 Wisconsin team that went 36-4 had two losses to Duke, one to Maryland, one to Rutgers.
Bo coaches another half year and then quit to get his friend a job.

So they retained him part of the next year but not all of it

[JerseyTerrapin]

 
In the time that Rutgers has been in the B1G, has any B1G BB team lost to Rutgers and retained their coach the next year?  
 

Ouch!

[MaximumSam]

I'm not going to knock around the Buckeyes.  I have a pretty good idea of what they are, which is a solid team that doesn't really have any guys on the perimeter who are difference makers.  Kaleb Wesson is very solid, but had two fouls in the first couple minutes last night, which limited his minutes and gave the Buckeyes very few options for scoring.  Rutgers is legit good defensively, and they attacked the basket and made some shots last night (which is out of character for them).  But any team that plays strong defense and makes shots can win a game.  They'll have to forget about it quickly, because they go to Iowa Saturday.  

[ELA]

Langford out again Sunday, and Ahrens might be too.  Very, very thin on the wing now.

It's also concerning that he is ruling Langford out earlier and earlier each game.  We didn't know until Friday night that he'd be out Saturday against OSU, similar timeline against Purdue.  Now Izzo is confident 3 days prior he won't be able to go Sunday?  That part seems concerning.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Evan Boudreaux out for Purdue tomorrow against Wisconsin, I'm hearing.

Time for Tre Williams to get some more minutes. 

[MichiFan87]

As I kind of expected, it was closer than it should've been, but I was encouraged by the scoring balance with all the starters scoring 10+ and Livers at 9 in his return. Northwestern is next, which should be another win but will probably still be close given how the first game went and that Michigan only plays its best against other top teams. I'd like to be wrong, though.

[medinabuckeye1]

FWIW:
Both results last night were as projected so no changes.  I think we'll plan to update tiers on Mondays.  Please submit your thoughts over the weekend and/or on Monday and we'll go from there.  

[ELA]

As I kind of expected, it was closer than it should've been, but I was encouraged by the scoring balance with all the starters scoring 10+ and Livers at 9 in his return. Northwestern is next, which should be another win but will probably still be close given how the first game went and that Michigan only plays its best against other top teams. I'd like to be wrong, though.

No such thing as closer than it should be in conference road games.

[medinabuckeye1]

Re the tiers:
For review they currently are:

• Michigan, Michigan State
• Indiana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue, Ohio State
• Maryland, Iowa
• Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State
• Illinois, Rutgers

+/- Upsets:

• +1:  Michigan State, Maryland, Minnesota (+2,-1), Rutgers
• EVEN:  Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin (+1,-1), Purdue, Iowa (+1,-1), Penn State, Illinois
• -1:  Nebraska, Northwestern
• -2:  Ohio State

At this point I definitely plan to move Ohio State to tier-3.  That will move tOSU to -1 and MSU to even.  

Pending this weekend's game all other teams are within +/-1 so that might be the only move.  There was talk of moving Minnesota up but then they lost at home to Maryland.  Maybe we should move Maryland up?  Other suggestions?  

[medinabuckeye1]

This weekend's games:

• Indiana at Maryland Fri at 7 on FS1
• Purdue at Wisconsin Fri at 9 on FS1
• Rutgers at Minnesota Sat at 12:30 on BTN
• Ohio State at Iowa Sat at 2:30 on BTN
• Michigan State at Penn State Sun at 4:30 on CBS
• Northwestern at Michigan Sun at 7:30 on BTN

With the exception of MSU@PSU where we expect the Spartans to get a road win, we project the home team to win all games.