2020-2021 B1G Basketball Thread

[MaximumSam]

Hell of a second half for the Buckeyes, who turned a ten point halftime deficit into a 12 point victory.  They are close to being fully operational, as Seth Towns played more minutes off the bench and scored a couple baskets.  But really, the main reason they won is that Rutgers came in shorthanded, the Buckeyes relentlessly attacked inside and got their bigs in foul trouble, and Rutgers' excellent guard Young got hurt.  That left Rutgers short on bodies and they barely scored in the latter part of the second half.

[Abba]

I'm sure the rotation will be shortened later in the year, but this is the deepest Buckeye team I've ever seen.  Top end talent isn't amazing, but lots of quality players they can throw at you.

[MaximumSam]

I'm sure the rotation will be shortened later in the year, but this is the deepest Buckeye team I've ever seen.  Top end talent isn't amazing, but lots of quality players they can throw at you.

It is something - every guy is pretty good, and no one is great.  Towns has only played about eight minutes, but he's going to be a big part of the rotation by the end of the season if his health holds up.  They were also missing two guys in Diallo and Johnson who won't be regular parts of the rotation but who will play.  Diallo because he's tall, and Johnson because the backup point guard looks unsure of himself and they brought Johnson in early for that role.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[ELA]

Maybe Northwestern is actually good?  Now they are up double digits on Indiana in Bloomington

[medinabuckeye1]

Maybe Northwestern is actually good?  Now they are up double digits on Indiana in Bloomington

I guess we'll find out.  Since Ohio State beat Rutgers, Northwestern is now alone in first place in the B1G and guess who Ohio State plays next?  Northwestern in Evanston.  

Per the BPI rankings that I posted above, the Wildcats are not very good (#11 in B1G, #51 nationally) but who knows.  It is early and they now have a home win over #4 MSU by 15 and a road win over IU by 7 so maybe.  

This Ohio State team "feels" like another borderline-tournament team (ie, barely in or barely out) but I could be wrong.  If they come together nicely and improve they could move up and if they don't they could falter.  The thing is that the last few years the Buckeyes have endured dreadful stretches at about this time of the year:
2019/2020:

• The Buckeyes were 9-0 and undefeated before losing to unranked Minnesota on 12/15.  
• Then they won two more to get to 11-2 and #2 before losing to WVU on 12/29.  
• That WVU loss on 12/29 was the first of four straight and six of seven in between wins over Kentucky on 12/21 and Northwestern on 1/26.  
• That 1-6 stretch accounted for 22.5% of tOSU's games including 5% of the wins and 60% of the losses.  Ie, outside of that the Buckeyes were 20-4.  Additionally, the Buckeyes' other four losses were all understandable (@MN, @UW, @IA, @MSU) but the six losses within that stretch included vs UW, @UMD, @IU, @PSU, and vMN.  At least some of those should have been wins.  

2018/2019:

• The Buckeyes were 12-1 and #14 before hosting #8 MSU on January 5.  
• They lost to MSU which is understandable, MSU was very good but then proceeded to lose their next four for a total of five straight and six out of seven between wins over High Point on 12/29 and Rutgers on 2/2.  
• That 1-6 stretch accounted for 22.5% of tOSU's pre-B1G Tournament games including 3% of the wins and 46% of the losses.  Ie, outside of that the Buckeyes were 17-7 heading into the B1G Tournament.  

So you'll understand if I'm a little nervous heading into late-December and January.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

So today we have the New Mexico Bowl.

Which doesn't involve any team from the state of New Mexico. And will be played in Texas.

An I missing something here?

[bayareabadger]

Tomorrow's UW-MSU matchup will be interesting.

UW never plays well in EL, and they've been starting slow before turning it on. They've only had one game with nut-cutting time, and lost that, though it was kinda a mess everywhere down the stretch. I don't know much about the Spartans at this point, but UW is still figuring out its better lineups. 

Looks like MSU is still playing crazy deep. That's interesting. Rocket Watts at point, also interesting. 

[bayareabadger]

So today we have the New Mexico Bowl.

Which doesn't involve any team from the state of New Mexico. And will be played in Texas.

An I missing something here?

... in the basketball thread, maybe?

[Brutus Buckeye]

The Basket Bowl thread? 

[betarhoalphadelta]

... in the basketball thread, maybe?

Oops

[ELA]

So today we have the New Mexico Bowl.

Which doesn't involve any team from the state of New Mexico. And will be played in Texas.

An I missing something here?

Texas fought explicitly to not be any Mexico, new or old.

[ELA]

Tomorrow's UW-MSU matchup will be interesting.

UW never plays well in EL, and they've been starting slow before turning it on. They've only had one game with nut-cutting time, and lost that, though it was kinda a mess everywhere down the stretch. I don't know much about the Spartans at this point, but UW is still figuring out its better lineups.

Looks like MSU is still playing crazy deep. That's interesting. Rocket Watts at point, also interesting.

Yeah, if I had to give Izzo one criticism it would be his inability to trim his rotation when the players don't make it blatantly obvious for him.  The 2005 Final 4 team is the one major exception that comes to mind.  Kithier and Bingham simply aren't planning out, but he won't close the book on two upperclassmen who do the right thing. I'm actually shocked Bingham didn't transfer.  I think that may have been a win for both sides.

As for things that can improve, the defense.  Watts isn't a true point guard, but he, with Brown, Langford and Henry should be the best set of perimeter defenders in the conference, and they simply are not.  Hall has a long way to be Tillman as a defensive 4, but he's got the raw tools.  And Bingham can at least be a rim protector.  Loyer, Hauser and Kithier are all going to struggle defensively, but you've got 5 of your top 8, who all should be good to great defensive, being sub 50 in KenPim defense is inexcusable

[bayareabadger]

Yeah, if I had to give Izzo one criticism it would be his inability to trim his rotation when the players don't make it blatantly obvious for him.  The 2005 Final 4 team is the one major exception that comes to mind.  Kithier and Bingham simply aren't planning out, but he won't close the book on two upperclassmen who do the right thing. I'm actually shocked Bingham didn't transfer.  I think that may have been a win for both sides.

As for things that can improve, the defense.  Watts isn't a true point guard, but he, with Brown, Langford and Henry should be the best set of perimeter defenders in the conference, and they simply are not.  Hall has a long way to be Tillman as a defensive 4, but he's got the raw tools.  And Bingham can at least be a rim protector.  Loyer, Hauser and Kithier are all going to struggle defensively, but you've got 5 of your top 8, who all should be good to great defensive, being sub 50 in KenPim defense is inexcusable

One thing I will say I love about UW: When it comes to play the best guys 35-39 minutes, they go ahead and just do it. I much prefer the complaint of, they didn't use the bench enough. 

Also, I was watching highlights of the UW upset of MSU in Madison last season. Winston finished out his career, and I still think he's underrated. He was just a straight killer. He might be one of the players I least enjoyed UW playing. Neitzel was also up there.