2020-2021 B1G Basketball Thread

[bayareabadger]

Admissions.

Do they hold their athletes to them? I also did not realize those numbers were so good. Interesting. 

Also, looking at the STARZ in Illinois, it always seems like that talent is somewhat overstated. 

[ELA]

Unsurprisingly, Tillman going pro.

Just makes me more mad, he and Winston are probably my two favorite MSU players ever, were seemingly peaking at the right time, and just like that, never seen either again.  This actually hurts more than Middle Tennessee.

[847badgerfan]

Do they hold their athletes to them? I also did not realize those numbers were so good. Interesting.

Also, looking at the STARZ in Illinois, it always seems like that talent is somewhat overstated.

Yes, they do, but to a lesser degree. But not to a lesser degree like some. Their standards are pretty close to the mothership's standards, which are high compared to most of the B1G.

Chicago talent is overrated. There a ton of street ballers, who, when tasked with playing as a teammate, fail. Not all, but so very many. Then you have the handlers and the baggage that comes with them.

It's very tough for the more selective schools to pull anyone out of the Chicago Public League. Of course, exceptions are there, but not very many.

[bayareabadger]

Unsurprisingly, Tillman going pro.

Just makes me more mad, he and Winston are probably my two favorite MSU players ever, were seemingly peaking at the right time, and just like that, never seen either again.  This actually hurts more than Middle Tennessee.

Silver lining, their last tournament game was in a Final Four after gritting past an impossibly talented Duke team. They won't get MTSUed like Valentine and Forbes.

He's going pro and not just water testing?

(I had sort of similar feelings because I REALLY like this UW team, and found myself half angered they didn't get to try to do more, but looking at the fact that they couldn't lose to an Ivy league team in the first round to make the offseason more annoying. Granted, they only lose one senior, and he's a guy who only rounded into someone who I'd really miss the second half of his last year. But man he was fun for that half)

[bayareabadger]

Yes, they do, but to a lesser degree. But not to a lesser degree like some. Their standards are pretty close to the mothership's standards, which are high compared to most of the B1G.

Chicago talent is overrated. There a ton of street ballers, who, when tasked with playing as a teammate, fail. Not all, but so very many. Then you have the handlers and the baggage that comes with them.

It's very tough for the more selective schools to pull anyone out of the Chicago Public League. Of course, exceptions are there, but not very many.

A. I didn't know that. I assumed it was just a school that serviced locals and commuters, which can be uneven in terms of talent they bring in. But those numbers looked very not bad. 

B. I didn't even mean overrated. I meant I looked at the ratings ands surprised how quickly it dropped off into 3-stars or that class of four-star outside the top 125. I thought Illinois as a state would at least rate better, and it doesn't even do that.

(This led to me wondering if Ben Brust, ranked 181st in the country, ended up the most successful Illinois product in college in his class. I think the answer is yes or sort of yes, given that Myers Leonard had one bad year, one good one and then jumped to the NBB)

[ELA]

He's going pro and not just water testing?

Seems like he's gone.  I mean he's married with two kids.  Hard to blame him.

[847badgerfan]

A. I didn't know that. I assumed it was just a school that serviced locals and commuters, which can be uneven in terms of talent they bring in. But those numbers looked very not bad.

B. I didn't even mean overrated. I meant I looked at the ratings ands surprised how quickly it dropped off into 3-stars or that class of four-star outside the top 125. I thought Illinois as a state would at least rate better, and it doesn't even do that.

(This led to me wondering if Ben Brust, ranked 181st in the country, ended up the most successful Illinois product in college in his class. I think the answer is yes or sort of yes, given that Myers Leonard had one bad year, one good one and then jumped to the NBB)

Overrated by their handlers. It's sad. These thugs sell them on a promise, but no prayer. Then.. they are screwed. These kids could be great players, with real coaching. But, handlers.

[847badgerfan]

Where was Ethan Happ ranked?

[NickSmith4Three]

Illinois wings Alan Griffin and Tevian Jones to transfer.  Griffin was a bit of a shock...was a nice piece off of the bench last season.

[bayareabadger]

Where was Ethan Happ ranked?

Tenth in a stacked Illinois class that included, a freshman consensus first All-American, a guy who woulda been good but for taking money at Kansas, a sophomore consensus first All-American, a guy who won Big Ten POY as a junior, a guy who rounded into a very good part of that Oregon team that upset UW last year, then a NW guy and some mid-major or P5 dropout folks. Behind Happ was at a two-time national defensive player of the year.

Happ was an odd one. On one hand, he was just short of a top-150 recruit, which is better than I remembered. I also can't quite pin down how big he was when he committed, but I know he was 6-7 and I think like 175 pounds off a 6-inch growth spurt. So it was some good projecting since he was two inches taller and 60 pounds heavier when he finally played.

He also has a weird career to look back on. His best play was as a sophomore and the first half of his senior season. He closed on a large dud efficiency-wise, which meant he somehow managed to come into a season as a projected conference POY/1st team AA, averaged 17.9/10.3/4.6 with a steal and 1.2 blocks a game at the center of an awesome defense, and not only did he miss both those marks, but there wasn't even much argument about it. Maybe he was always living on the edge in terms of the math of his game, but it slipped just enough to become annoying. 

[ELA]

Ringer NBA podcast was discussing rule changes.  The two I kind of liked was a uniform three point line, which would eliminate corner threes and bring back mid-range game.  Other interesting one was on shooting fouls, you shoot the FTs from where the foul occurred, to eliminate guys just trying to draw fouls on threes

[Abba]

Have we discussed Elam ending on here yet?  I'm a huge fan.

[MichiFan87]

I would also prefer a consistently rounded 3 point line and not just for aesthetic reasons. It seemed like every game there would be at least one turnover for Michigan because someone accidentally stepped out of bounds before shooting a 3pt shot from the side, and I saw that happen fairly often with other teams, too (maybe it will be reduced in the future, but I'm not sure). Making that change would make it more difficult for teams to get open 3 pt shots, but I'm fine with that.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but something should change with the bonus system. That said, the women's basketball rule with their quarters is even worse, and thankfully the men's game didn't adopt that proposed rule.

One idea that comes to mind is that for non-shooting bonus fouls, players get to attempt 3 FTs if they're fouled outside the 3pt line. This would disincentivize excessive fouling until the last minute to 30 seconds of the game.

[ELA]

Have we discussed Elam ending on here yet?  I'm a huge fan.

Yes, and I think we all are.

I think the only downside is the lack of the crazy endings.  Bryce Drew and Jordan Poole never happen.