2020-2021 B1G Basketball Thread

[FearlessF]

1st half Baylor was very impressive, got the feeling they weren't as focused, especially on offense after halftime

seemed they were toying with Kansas, and Kansas is pretty good

[medinabuckeye1]

Standings and each team's games through this weekend with lines where posted on the Worldwide Leader's site:

• 6-1 Michigan:  -10.5vsUMD, @PU
• 6-1 Iowa:  vsIU, 
• 5-2 Wisconsin:  vsNU, vstOSU
• 5-3 Ohio State:  -4.5vsPU, @UW
• 5-3 Illinois:  -8.5vsPSU, @MSU
• 5-3 Purdue:  +4.5@tOSU, vsM
• 4-4 Minnesota:  vsUMD
• 3-4 Indiana:  @IA, vsRU
• 3-5 Rutgers:  @PSU, @IU
• 3-5 Northwestern:  @UW, @PSU
• 2-4 Michigan State:  vsIL
• 2-5 Maryland:  +10.5@M, @MN
• 0-4 Penn State:  +8.5@IL, vs RU, vsNU
• 0-5 Nebraska:  

Co-leaders Michigan and Iowa will be easily favored so it will be hard for anyone to make up any ground. 

The Badgers have two home games so that should help them keep on the pace.  They will be a heavy favorite against the Wildcats and a favorite against the Buckeyes.   

The Purdue/tOSU winner has a tough next game (vsM or @UW) but can really move up with a second win.  The loser is in danger of falling out of the league title race for all practical purposes.  

Illinois should win easily over PSU at home and if they can also win in East Lansing they can keep on the pace as well.  

Minnesota should win at home to stay within three games of the leaders.  

Indiana probably needs a win to have any prayer of staying in the league title chase.  They are already three games behind the leaders and with a loss that would likely grow to 4.5 games out of first place.  

Rutgers has fallen a long ways since they were 2-0 and in first place.  Since then they are 1-5 and only their home loss to Iowa was close.  PSU should be a good "get-right" game but after that the trip to Bloomington will be tough.  

Northwestern started out 3-0 but since then they are 0-5 and now they have two road games coming up.  

The Spartans have a bit of an unscheduled break due to COVID-19 and they need to use it to figure things out because right now they are in serious danger of seeing their tournament streak end this year.  

Maryland is a bit of an enigma.  Their two wins were in Madison and in Urbana so they can play at a high level.  Their five losses were @PU, vsM, @IU, and vsIA so this team may be a lot better than their record.  The schedule has to get easier, right?  

Penn State has a chance to get off the mat with home games against Rutgers and Northwestern coming up.  If they don't win either of those then they might not win this season outside of their games against:

Nebraska is winless and most of the games haven't even been close.  Like the Spartans they are on an unscheduled COVID-19 break and when they come out of it they'll be hosting Penn State.  

[MaximumSam]

Definitely more optimistic about OSU basketball than after the time they played Purdue.  I remember thinking this team has no big people, and can't score.  They still have no big people but they seem to have worked out the scoring.  I have to think a team will try to put a bunch of pressure on them when they play with no point guard - we'll see if Purdue tries it.  

[Abba]

Definitely more optimistic about OSU basketball than after the time they played Purdue.  I remember thinking this team has no big people, and can't score.  They still have no big people but they seem to have worked out the scoring.  I have to think a team will try to put a bunch of pressure on them when they play with no point guard - we'll see if Purdue tries it. 

I thought Illinois did that and we handled it ok.  Having Ahrens out there makes pressing a little scary as he can get a wide open 3 if you break it.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Purdue has never really been a pressing team. Stifling halfcourt defense has always been their calling card. 

If they wanted to pressure more, this might be the year to do it, because guard depth is stronger than most years. But I still haven't seen them press any more than one defender hassling the PG up the floor a bit... Never a full court trapping press. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Purdue has never really been a pressing team. Stifling halfcourt defense has always been their calling card.

If they wanted to pressure more, this might be the year to do it, because guard depth is stronger than most years. But I still haven't seen them press any more than one defender hassling the PG up the floor a bit... Never a full court trapping press.

And the thing is, I don't think it works well to try it once in a while.  There are teams that press all the time and they are really good at it because they practice it all the time.  If you aren't one of those then doing it takes you out of your element and will probably backfire.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

And the thing is, I don't think it works well to try it once in a while.  There are teams that press all the time and they are really good at it because they practice it all the time.  If you aren't one of those then doing it takes you out of your element and will probably backfire. 

Agreed 100%. Painter is NOT a coach that's just going to throw something out there that the team hasn't practiced extensively. It's one reason Purdue really never runs zone defense even when we're facing a team where it might match up better than man. He'd rather have his team perfect man defense to the point where they're stifling, than halfway practice man and halfway practice zone and be merely good at both.

[bayareabadger]

Reuvers is neck and neck with Rocket Watts for biggest underachiever this year.

Sometimes going from Robin to Batman is hard

They're both weird cases. 

Watts strikes me as being a very good shooting guard who is just out of place running the show. BUT his assist to TO rate is not bad and his shooting has been abysmal. 

Reuvers was gonna see his production drop this year no matter what because of rotation structures. But his 2-point shooting has fallen off a damn cliff, and his FT rate slipped a little. His rebounding has slipped a bit and even his shot blocking is down. And he's playing less. 

It's annoying. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Agreed 100%. Painter is NOT a coach that's just going to throw something out there that the team hasn't practiced extensively. It's one reason Purdue really never runs zone defense even when we're facing a team where it might match up better than man. He'd rather have his team perfect man defense to the point where they're stifling, than halfway practice man and halfway practice zone and be merely good at both.

And I completely agree with that approach.  It is extremely rare for a team to be REALLY good at a lot of different things.  It is much more practical to get to where you are REALLY good at a few things and then stick to those things.  It will burn you from time to time, but I think your overall record will be much better that way.  

[Abba]

Hot shooting from deep continuing so far for the Buckeyes as they have 4 made threes and no other FGs so far.  Purdue is getting what they want on the inside, though Williams just got his 2nd foul.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Williams' propensity to foul is about the only thing really holding back his game.

He seems to spend a lot of the 1st half on the bench in a lot of games.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Stories of the game so far...

• Purdue committing stupid fouls (fouling a 3pt shooter, Wheeler with an over the back followed by a bad charge the next possession, Williams taking himself out of the game with two early fouls).
• OSU splashing damn near everything from deep (and the opposite from Purdue).

[Abba]

Fun first half.  Buckeyes will need to make some adjustments to get some easier baskets, because I doubt the 3s will keep falling at this rate.  Purdue may have found something with slashing guards and early offense there at the end of the half.  They will have to be careful inside though with both bigs in foul trouble.

[betarhoalphadelta]

At the half. 

Purdue:

• 2pt FG: 10-14, for  71.4%
• 3pt FG: 2-12, for 16.7%
• Overall FG: 46.2%

OSU: 

• 2pt FG: 2-7, for 28.6%
• 3pt FG: 9-22, for 42.9%
• Overall FG: 39.3%

It's not usually the case that you see a team's 3pt FG% higher than their overall FG% or higher than their 2pt FG%, but I guess if you're making them at 42.9%, might as well keep shooting them, right?