2020-2021 B1G Basketball Thread

[Brutus Buckeye]

[ELA]

I'd like to beat Maryland, to secure being safely out of the First Four, and then I'd be good to be done after that, and get rested up

[medinabuckeye1]

@ELA , I miss the BTT game that you used to run.  If you were running it this year I think I'd be leaning toward Northwestern's and Penn State's leading scorers.  

My theory for Northwestern is that Minnesota seems to be in melt-down mode so they should get at least two games and Ohio State has lost four straight while Northwestern has been pretty good lately so it is entirely possible that Northwestern could play three games (MN, tOSU, PU) and who knows, with that momentum they just might knock off the Boilermakers and get four games.  

My theory for Penn State is that they have an easy first game so, IMHO, they have the greatest likelihood to play at least two games and a single upset (UW) would get them three (UNL, UW, IA).  Anything after that would just be gravy.  

[ELA]

Top seeded mid majors dropping like flies. Not sure if that's just a continuation of a chaotic year, or a bunch of flukey results that are going to lead to some really bad lower seeds in the tournament.

Would have also led to a very mid major heavy NIT had they not abandoned the regular season champ AQ rule for this year

[Kris60]

Am I the only one who didn’t realize the NCAA Tournament schedule this year was different?  Instead of the first four days being Thursday-Sunday this year they are Friday-Monday.  Then, the Sweet 16/Elite 8 games are being played Saturday-Tuesday.

I had already set my schedule around Thursday and Friday of next week.  I might have to call an audible.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, I mentioned that last week. I have no idea why it has changed for this year. 

I'm not what you'd call a traditionalist, but it seems to me there was a certain perfection in the old schedule. The goal for teams is to make it to the S16 and then to the F4. Making it into the R32 or E8 are both great, because you've won a game, of course. But the two biggies are S16 and F4. 

On Thursday/Friday you were fighting to make it to the weekend and then Sat/Sun you were fighting to make it to the next weekend. R64 is to be honest supposed to weed out the pretenders while giving you the occasional "WTF?!" upset, but R32 being on the weekend when people are off work was perfect to see who makes it to the S16. 

I'm just hoping Purdue will be in the Fri/Sun schedule for the first rounds. Something would just be weird about them [hopefully] making it to the R32 and then watching it on a Monday. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

It throws off the whole Thirsty 32. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Yeah, I mentioned that last week. I have no idea why it has changed for this year.

I'm not what you'd call a traditionalist, but it seems to me there was a certain perfection in the old schedule. The goal for teams is to make it to the S16 and then to the F4. Making it into the R32 or E8 are both great, because you've won a game, of course. But the two biggies are S16 and F4.

On Thursday/Friday you were fighting to make it to the weekend and then Sat/Sun you were fighting to make it to the next weekend. R64 is to be honest supposed to weed out the pretenders while giving you the occasional "WTF?!" upset, but R32 being on the weekend when people are off work was perfect to see who makes it to the S16.

I'm just hoping Purdue will be in the Fri/Sun schedule for the first rounds. Something would just be weird about them [hopefully] making it to the R32 and then watching it on a Monday.

I'm of the opposite opinion just for watchability reasons:

• R64 is 32 games, 16 per day, 4 per site.  
• R32 is 16 games, 8 per day, 2 per site.  
• S16 is 8 games, 4 per day, 2 per site.  
• E8 is 4 games, 2 per day, 1 per site.  
• F4 is 2 games, 2 per day, 2 per site.  
• NC is 1 game, 1 per day, 1 per site.  

The busiest two days are the first two (R64) with 16 games per day.  By playing that on Thursday/Friday I think they lose a lot of viewers.  I'm at work.  I usually watch a bunch in the evenings but that is in.  If that were Saturday/Sunday I would probably spend all day watching BB.  

Even the second weekend, the S16 is four games per day, they can't get those all in prime-time.  Some are necessarily during the workday.  Again, if that were Sat/Sun, I'd probably watch all eight games but with it being during the week I usually only see the four that are after work.  

It would be better for me as a fan but also I think they would make more cash because they'd have more viewers.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

I get that, but to me the R32 and E8 games are more meaningful and interesting than the R64 and S16 games... They deserve more of a showcase, and it's harder to showcase on the weekday.

For the R64, I think you may underestimate the number of people who turn those two days into a "long weekend", either officially or not. Businesses say that productivity on those two days hits the floor. I don't know that you'll see those same people taking Monday off [officially or unofficially] at the start of a new week to watch R32 games. I know I'll be working, but since I WFH the TV will certainly be on while I am. 

I could maybe understand the S16 being on the weekend and the E8 being Mon/Tues, because you can play the entire E8 in prime time. But it certainly seems less special than being on the weekend, to me.

[Kris60]

I’m much more likely to take a Thursday-Sunday 4 day weekend than Friday-Monday.  I can’t really even pinpoint a reason why.  There’s just something about a new week and hitting the ground running, blah, blah, blah.  Idk.  Typically, not even with just  the NCAA Tournament, if I’m going to extend a weekend I get it started early as opposed to keeping it going on the back end.

[MaximumSam]

I can't figure out if the move is related to logistics from every game being in Indiana, or their obsession with putting things on Mondays. I hate it. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I still don't understand why anyone would have put the damn CFB NCG on a Monday?!

[Brutus Buckeye]

I’m much more likely to take a Thursday-Sunday 4 day weekend than Friday-Monday.  I can’t really even pinpoint a reason why.  There’s just something about a new week and hitting the ground running, blah, blah, blah.  Idk.  Typically, not even with just  the NCAA Tournament, if I’m going to extend a weekend I get it started early as opposed to keeping it going on the back end.

No way. The Friday-Monday combo is a veteran move. That way you have a short week, followed by a four day weekend, then another short week. Stretches the benefits of two vacation days to like half a month. 

[Kris60]

No way. The Friday-Monday combo is a veteran move. That way you have a short week, followed by a four day weekend, then another short week. Stretches the benefits of two vacation days to like half a month.

Nah, I get that logic and I’ve done it a few times but Monday just has a different feel to it.  If it’s a holiday weekend like Memorial Day or Labor Day I’ll gladly take Friday off and stretch it into a 4 day weekend, but I hate burning a vacation day on a Monday.  If you go somewhere Monday is the travel day back.  So, it’s not like you are doing anything enjoyable and then you know you have the rest of the work week still in front of you.

The times I’ve taken a Monday off for a long weekend I always kinda wished I just went ahead and worked.