2018-2019 B1G Basketball Thread

[MichiFan87]

Michigan just finished a dominant weekend over George Washington and Providence. I couldn't find a full replay of the GWU game so I only saw some highlight videos of it, but it looks like it was more of the same, except the offense played better (GW only got to 60 because the non-rotation players saw a fair bit of playing time towards the end).

I did see the Providence game today, though. The defense was strong throughout, though the rebounding was a little underwhelming, but part of that was Michigan had a small 3-guard lineup at times for some reason (Simpson, Poole, and Brooks), which didn't seem to work well. The refs were also bad, but ultimately didn't help either team.

The offense is inconsistent but getting better. The difference with this year's team is that there is no dominant player. Poole, Matthews, Brazdeikis, or Livers could all lead the team in scoring in a game depending on the matchups. Simpson is putting up big assist numbers, so far, too. There's a lot more lineup versatility this year, too, allowing Michigan to big or small depending on the opponent. That said, a 7-man rotation is smaller than usual, which is somewhat concerning. Austin Davis will backup Teske instead of Livers against big centers, and I think that DeJulius or Nunez can break into the back court rotation at some point, but from what I've seen when they finish the blowout wins, they aren't ready yet.

Yes, Villanova is clearly overrated after their loss to Furman (which is a decent mid-major in their own right), so it remains to be seen how they do against better competition (namely North Carolina in 10 days), but I think the team is good enough to beat anyone. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

[ELA]

Watching some of this George Washington game, because former MSU player Maurice Joseph is their coach, and he's an interesting option as next MSU coach, but yikes their offense sucks.  Down 56-18 at half to South Carolina.

[ELA]

If I can find 4 takers, the 5 of us should go play Tennessee Tech.  This has to be the worst body bag team MSU has ever played.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Fargin' longhorn manure from those refs. 

[JerseyTerrapin]

Dang.  Most are 19 and below, but 9 B1G teams in the CBS Top 25 + 1.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/top25/

[TyphonInc]

Dang.  Most are 19 and below, but 9 B1G teams in the CBS Top 25 + 1.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/top25/

The last 6 teams are all big ten. that almost feels to me like SEC football bias. "We don't know what to do so throw in a Big Ten team."

[ELA]

Didn't realize Chaminade had been kicked out of their own tourney.

[Anonymous Coward]

Michigan's defense versus the rest of the country, to date:

[ELA]

Dang.  Most are 19 and below, but 9 B1G teams in the CBS Top 25 + 1.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/top25/

New AP Poll has all 9 in the top 28.  Michigan (#9), MSU (#11), Iowa (#20), OSU (#23), Purdue (#24), Wisconsin (#25), Nebraska (#26), Indiana (#27), Maryland (#28)

[ELA]

Rutgers might hold EMU to single digits.  23-4 at the under 4 first half

[jhetfield99]

Didn't realize Chaminade had been kicked out of their own tourney.

Ha, no kidding.  Was the draw of a bit more cash from the TV people enough to do it?

[jhetfield99]

Was I the only one that stayed up to watch Gonz-IL?  Was pretty entertaining.

Trent Frazier brought em back with an incredible game and blew it with 2 awful pure hero ball possessions.

To top it all off, Bill Walton closed hyping tomorrow's slate and asked his PBP partner what his name is.  I think it's totally plausible he doesn't know or forgot during the telecast.

[ELA]

Ha, no kidding.  Was the draw of a bit more cash from the TV people enough to do it?

Hopefully just a one year thing, MSU is in it next year, and it looks like Chaminade is in the field, unless they make a late switch.  Next year's field is ok on name value at the top, but aside from MSU it's Kansas and UCLA.  We already played Kansas, and play UCLA on Thursday, so it's kind of a bummer that the possible name opponents are ones we just played this year.  Then the rest of the field seems a little down.  Dayton, Georgia, Virginia Tech, BYU.  Meh.