2019-2020 B1G Basketball Thread

[medinabuckeye1]

Oddly, there are no Thursday games this week.  All teams except the two Michigan Schools, Purdue, and Illinois play either tonight or tomorrow night.  The five games:

Nebraska at Ohio State, tonight at 6:30 on FS1:  The Buckeyes need a "get right" game in the worst way.  After looking like probably the best team in the country for much of the early part of the season the Buckeyes have now lost four in a row and five of the last seven to drop into a tie for last in the B1G.  The Cornhuskers haven't won a true road game yet this year but they did give Indiana  a scare in Bloomington.  

Iowa at Northwestern, tonight at 8 on BTN:  Iowa was ranked a few weeks ago but then they lost back-to-back games to PSU at home and Nebraska on the road and looked listless.  They responded in style, however, with a big win over #12 Maryland in Iowa City.  This game is big for Iowa because they already lost in Lincoln.  If they can't win in Evanston or Lincoln then I'm not sure that they'll be able to find a B1G road win this season.  The Cats won their last game (vsUNL) but prior to that they lost five straight.  

Maryland at Wisconsin, tonight at 9 on ESPN2:  For all that looks good about Maryland BB right now, there is a bit of a catch.  Despite being 13-3/3-2 and highly ranked they have yet to win a true road game.  In three attempts so far they lost at PSU, lost at Seton Hall, and got drilled in Iowa City.  Madison probably isn't the best place to try to end a losing streak like that.  The Badgers are a bit of an enigma.  They have won five of their last six including road wins over Tennessee, Ohio State, and Penn State but the lone loss was a rare home loss.  

Indiana at Rutgers, Wednesday at 7 on BTN:  The Hoosiers are another of the B1G's enigmas.  In their last four games they are 2-2 with a nice home win over (then) #11 Ohio State.  Unfortunately, their other three games are a home loss to Arkansas, a way-too-close home win over Northwestern, and a blowout at Maryland.  Rutgers was on a serious tear with six straight wins including over Wisconsin, Seton Hall, and (then) #20 PSU but then they lost in Champaign.  

Penn State at Minnesota, Wednesday at 9 on BTN:  The Nittany Lions have lost two straight to fall out of the rankings after being #20 last week.  They have not looked good in their last three games.  In those three they barely survived Iowa at home, lost at Rutgers, and lost at home to Wisconsin.  The Gophers are 3-3 in the league with road losses in Iowa City, West Lafayette, and East Lansing and home wins over Ohio State, Northwestern, and Michigan.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Vis-a-vis the tiers:

• UNL+2 @ tOSU-1:  The Buckeyes are projected to win.  If Nebraska wins they'll be +3 and tOSU will be -2 but all three of UNL's positive upsets and both of tOSU's upsets would remain upsets even if we moved them so no changes there.  
• IA-1 @ NU:  The Hawkeyes are projected to win.  If Northwestern wins it would move Iowa to -2 but both upsets would be upsets even if we moved them down so no changes there.  
• UMD @ UW+1:  The Terps are projected to win.  If Wisconsin wins I will move them up to tier-2 which will eliminate the upset thus leaving UMD even at UW+1.  
• IU @ RU:  The Scarlet Knights are projected to win.  Since both teams are even there will be no changes.  
• PSU-1 @ MN:  The Gophers are projected to win.  If Penn State wins it would move them to even and MN to -1 so no changes there.  

Thus, the only potential change this week is that Wisconsin will move up to tier-2 if they beat Maryland.  

[ELA]

Kyle Ahrens out a couple weeks.  With Langford obviously out for the year, lack of wing play has been the biggest issue.  Gabe Brown has been better than expected, but inconsistent, but Aaron Henry has been a massive disappointment offensively

[ELA]

Updated weekly Massey composite rankings (49 rankings)

• Duke (1)
• Kansas (2)
• Baylor (11)
• Butler (4)
• Auburn (3)
• Gonzaga (7)
• West Virginia (13)
• Dayton (8)
• MICHIGAN STATE (5)
• San Diego State (6)
• Oregon (12)
• Florida State (14)
• MARYLAND (9)
• Louisville (16)
• Seton Hall (20)
• Wichita State (19)
• OHIO STATE (10)
• Colorado (25)
• Villanova (21)
• Kentucky (-)
• Arizona (15)
• MICHIGAN (18)
• Arkansas (22)
• IOWA (24)
• LSU (-)

• 28. Wisconsin (29)
• 31. Indiana (41)
• 32. Rutgers (39)
• 33. Purdue (43)
• 34. Illinois (47)
• 35. Penn State (17)
• 39. Minnesota (40)
• 127. Northwestern (147)
• 141. Nebraska (163)

[ELA]

OSU has suspended Luther Muhammad and Duane Washington Jr. for "failure to meet program standards"

[Brutus Buckeye]

He hasn't minced words about their lackluster"effort"

[MaximumSam]

Holtmann not afraid to suspend guys. He's done it every season

[Abba]

Really needed a get right game.  Also the suspensions were well timed.  Not sure if those two guys were just slacking off in practice, or what the deal is, but the team is playing a lot better without them.  Unfortunately, I think we need them to have a shot against Penn State on Saturday though.  

[Brutus Buckeye]

[FearlessF]

down goes Duke

[mcwterps1]

Went to bed early. Didn't see the game. Stats look like a normal Maryland game. 

Fans blasting the refs, and a play late inbounded that reeks of Turgeon Stupidity.

Guess I'll watch it in a bit.

[medinabuckeye1]

I'll do a full update to the tiers tomorrow to take tonight's results into account.  I did move Wisconsin up to tier-2 from tier-3 so the updated tiers are:

• MSU, UMD
• M, UW, tOSU, PSU, IA, PU
• RU, IL, IU, MN
• blank
• UNL, NU

All teams are within +/-1 on upsets except Nebraska (+2).  Here is where they all stand:

• +2:  UNL
• +1:  IL, UW (+2, -1)
• even:  UMD, MSU, RU, IU, MN, NU
• -1:  tOSU, PSU, IA, PU
• Note:  Unless otherwise noted, each team got there the quickest way possible.  Ie, +2 means two positive upsets, +1 means one positive upset, even means no upsets, etc.  

Wisconsin's win and their move up to tier-2 improves their projected finish to 12-8/19-12 and tied with Michigan for 3rd/4th.  The middle (from 3rd to 12th) is EXTREMELY fluid as we project ten teams to finish within three games of each other at 12-8 (two teams), 11-9 (four teams), 10-10 (two teams), or 9-11 (two teams).  

[mcwterps1]

Went to bed early. Didn't see the game. Stats look like a normal Maryland game.

Fans blasting the refs, and a play late inbounded that reeks of Turgeon Stupidity.

Guess I'll watch it in a bit.

Oh yeah. 
Holy sheet. 

What a crock. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'll do a full update to the tiers tomorrow to take tonight's results into account.  I did move Wisconsin up to tier-2 from tier-3 so the updated tiers are:

• MSU, UMD
• M, UW, tOSU, PSU, IA, PU
• RU, IL, IU, MN
• blank
• UNL, NU

All teams are within +/-1 on upsets except Nebraska (+2).  Here is where they all stand:

• +2:  UNL
• +1:  IL, UW (+2, -1)
• even:  UMD, MSU, RU, IU, MN, NU
• -1:  tOSU, PSU, IA, PU
• Note:  Unless otherwise noted, each team got there the quickest way possible.  Ie, +2 means two positive upsets, +1 means one positive upset, even means no upsets, etc. 

Wisconsin's win and their move up to tier-2 improves their projected finish to 12-8/19-12 and tied with Michigan for 3rd/4th.  The middle (from 3rd to 12th) is EXTREMELY fluid as we project ten teams to finish within three games of each other at 12-8 (two teams), 11-9 (four teams), 10-10 (two teams), or 9-11 (two teams). 

This year is a crapshoot. There's just not enough differentiation that the tier system works the way it should, IMHO. We have maybe a few teams that are bordering on excellent [not elite], and then a huge middle group that's very, very good.

I don't know what to think.