2019-2020 B1G Basketball Thread

[medinabuckeye1]

For the five-way tie between RU, tOSU, PU, MN, and IU at 10-10 for 7th/8th/9th/10th/11th:
The first tiebreaker is H2H2H2H2H:

• 3-2 Rutgers:  Does not visit Bloomington or Minneapolis, does not host tOSU
• 3-3 Ohio State:  Does not visit West Lafayette or Picastaway, lost at home to MN
• 3-3 Purdue:  Does not visit Minneapolis, does not host tOSU
• 3-3 Minnesota:  Does not host PU or RU, won in Columbus
• 3-4 Indiana:  Does not host RU

Rutgers wins that and gets the #7 seed.  Indiana loses and gets the #11 seed.  The other three proceed to record against the best team(s) in the league, then the next, then the next, etc:
15-5 Maryland:

• All three are projected to go 0-season against Maryland. 

14-6 Illinois:

• 1-0 Ohio State, does not visit Champaign. 
• 0-2 Purdue, lost at home to the Illini. 
• 0-1 Minnesota, does not host Illinois. 

Thus, Ohio State gets the #8 seed and the other two move on to the next best team(s):
13-7 MSU and PSU:

• 2-0 Purdue, they do not visit either East Lansing or State College. 
• 1-3 Minnesota, plays both twice, projected to lose twice to MSU and split with PSU. 

FWIW:
If this plays out as listed above, I think Indiana would be helped by losing the tie.  The other four teams become the #7-#10 seeds and have to play each other on Thursday in Indianapolis.  Indiana loses the tie and gets what should be an easy game against the worst team in the league on Wednesday then a winnable game against #6 Iowa on Thursday.  

If you remember, back when we had an 11-team tournament the #6 seed beat the #11 every year except one and almost always took out the #3 seed on the second day.  I see this as analogous to that.  Iowa is projected to get the #6 seed but they are only projected to be one game better than projected #11 Indiana.  Ie, it is pretty much an even match-up.  In that case, I think the set-up for Indiana is perfect.  They have a warm-up game on Wednesday but it shoudn't wear them down much.  

Then, if the Hoosiers do beat Iowa, that gets them into a winnable game on Friday against #3 Penn State.  The bunching is important here.  Usually the #3 seed is SUBSTANTIALLY better than the #11 seed but in this case we are projecting PSU to get the #3 seed with a record of 13-7, only three games better than #11 Indiana's 10-10.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

Updated Sagarin:



I haven't compiled every team's performance to prediction, but Purdue is already -3 here with road losses to Nebraska and Rutgers, and a home loss to Illinois. In Sagarin, HCA is 3.21 points, so Purdue's loss @Michigan is only "expected" by 0.12 points in his prediction. So slight movement either way could turn that into a negative upset. Likewise, though, the road loss to Rutgers is only an "upset" by 0.03 points, so that one could shift easily too. 

Purdue's remaining schedule and projections:

@IU - W
vPSU - W
@OSU - L
@UW - W
vUM - W
vIU - W
@IA - L
vRU - W

I'd be pretty happy with that!

[847badgerfan]

So, we have this:


https://twitter.com/MadisonSport/status/1225476018741186563

But, we also have this:

(note who is thanked here)

[847badgerfan]

Erik Helland worked as the strength trainer for the Chicago Bulls from 1988 through 2013. 25 years in the NBA, and 7 in Madison. He can't possibly be a racist. Did he use a wrong word? Perhaps. I guess we'll find out.

[FearlessF]

maybe Helland was on the kid's side and bumped up against Coach Gard

[medinabuckeye1]

December 23:

Here are the changes to the projection since December 23:

• 15-5 Maryland, was 16-4, down one game.  This is because Wisconsin moved up to tier-2.  
• 14-6 Illinois, was 8-12, up six games.  Well, what can I say, Illinois didn't look very good early but they have improved a LOT.  
• 13-7 Penn State, was 12-8, up one game.  
• 13-7 Michigan State, was 16-4, down three games.  
• 12-8 Wisconsin, was 8-12, up four games.  
• 11-9 Iowa, was 12-8, down one game.  
• 10-10 Rutgers, was 9-11, up one game.  
• 10-10 Ohio State, was 15-5, down five games.  The Buckeyes had an unexpected awful January after their hot start.  
• 10-10 Purdue, was 12-8, down two games.  
• 10-10 Minnesota, was 7-13, up three games.  
• 10-10 Indiana, was 8-12, up two games.  
• 8-12 Michigan, was 15-5, down seven games.  The biggest move in the league.  They just haven't improved as other teams around them have.  
• 3-17 Nebraska, was 1-19, up two games.  
• 1-19 Northwestern, was 1-19, even.  

By difference:

• Even:  NU
• +/-1:  UMD, PSU, IA, RU
• +/-2:  PU, IU, UNL
• +/-3:  MSU, MN
• +/-4:  UW
• +/-5:  tOSU
• +/-6:  IL
• +/-7:  M

Eight teams, more than half of the conference are still within +/-2 of their December 23 projection.  

[847badgerfan]

https://twitter.com/JimPolzinWSJ/status/1225527651756060682


Statement from UW:


Erik Helland, director of strength and conditioning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, resigned his position Thursday afternoon. Helland had been the strength and conditioning coach for the Wisconsin men’s basketball program since 2013.

UW Athletics administration was informed last weekend that Helland, while recounting a story from earlier in his NBA career, had used a racial epithet in the presence of multiple Wisconsin men’s basketball student-athletes. UW Athletics confirmed that assertion on Sunday. UW Athletics works to promote a safe and welcoming environment for its student-athletes and staff and the aforementioned language used does not align with the values of the athletic department, men’s basketball program or the university.

Helland was placed on administrative leave on Monday and did not travel with the Badger men’s basketball team to Minnesota for the team’s game Wednesday.

Multiple public reports have indicated that UW Athletics has been investigating the alleged use of racially insensitive language directed at one student-athlete. That allegation is inaccurate. UW Athletics has no evidence -- nor has it been alleged to the athletic department -- that Helland directed racially insensitive language toward any member of the men’s basketball team.

[847badgerfan]

So, Kobe King was not present when the "word" was said, as part of a story being told by the trainer, about what an NBA player (probably Jordan) said in practice, many moons ago. The story was told to 3 walk-on players. Again, King was not there.

Kobe King essentially ruined a man's career, so he could attempt to get a waiver to play next season.

[MaximumSam]

Zavier Simpson apparently suspended for crashing the AD's car and then lying about his name. 

[JerseyTerrapin]

So, Kobe King was not present when the "word" was said, as part of a story being told by the trainer, about what an NBA player (probably Jordan) said in practice, many moons ago. The story was told to 3 walk-on players. Again, King was not there.

Kobe King essentially ruined a man's career, so he could attempt to get a waiver to play next season.

This seems really horrible, although I didn't realize until now that King was involved.  

 

[bayareabadger]

So, Kobe King was not present when the "word" was said, as part of a story being told by the trainer, about what an NBA player (probably Jordan) said in practice, many moons ago. The story was told to 3 walk-on players. Again, King was not there.

Kobe King essentially ruined a man's career, so he could attempt to get a waiver to play next season.

At times, I think we overuse that phrase. He altered a man's career. He set it back. He changed it's course and certianly hurt his family in the short term (maybe long term). But it likely is not ruined.

It's also worth noting, he did some things to put himself in a bad situation. Some things you say in a role that is in part educator could land you in hot water. The same way you can often drive after four beers and not face consequences does not make it anyone's fault when you do. That said, Kobe was also reckless with his actions. I don't know how thought out any of it was (did someone suggest the waiver? Was he just feeling highly open to an open-ended question?) and it's one of those unfortunate instances that happens.

I don't think it's all that fair, but I don't think a lot of things are fair, and alas the world keeps spinning.

[ELA]

Zavier Simpson apparently suspended for crashing the AD's car and then lying about his name.

Worth a shot.  Any cop willing to let you crash a car into a pole at 3 am, stumble around, and not breathalyze you, is probably willing to take your word that you are Jeff Jackson, and definitely not the starting PG of the basketball team.

[847badgerfan]

Why was Simpson driving the AD's car?

[847badgerfan]

From the Milwaukee paper:

"From the beginning I owned what I said and made apologies to the student-athletes affected. I made a mistake in a moment of inattentiveness. For that, I have the deepest regret."

Helland said rather than sharing the story with head coach Greg Gard, he apologized to the players involved and thought the matter was closed. 

"I specifically addressed the student-athletes and we handled it as a group," he said. "Everything was fine. ... Apologies were accepted and everyone was doing just fine. ...

"It really didn’t come back up until Kobe decided that he wanted to leave."

Everything changed in the days between UW's loss Jan. 27 at Iowa and the Badgers' victory Feb. 1 over Michigan State.

Redshirt sophomore guard Kobe King informed the coaching staff two days before the Iowa game he was leaving the team. King eventually announced on Jan. 29 he planned to transfer.

Helland noted he heard rumors that week the incident he felt had been handled would be shared publicly. He declined to say who might share the incident.

"You start to hear little whispers, rumors that something was going on," he said.

Helland informed Gard and UW administrators a day or two before the Michigan Sate game what had transpired in Columbus.

"It was the right thing to do," he said. "At some point it has to go up the chain."



Although sources with access to the program told the Journal Sentinel that King had been present when Helland used the epithet, UW said in its statement and Helland reiterated that he was not.