2021-2022 B1G Basketball thread

[847badgerfan]

That was weird. Wisconsin came in on fire, blew a 21-point lead, survive a dogfight.

Start of January conference play is rough for UW, so a 3-0 start is very good. As long as they hold up and win one of the next three, they're in good shape. If they go 2-1, VERY good shape.

Road win. I'll take it.

[medinabuckeye1]

A defense free first half in Columbus

It was sure strange to see the Buckeyes put up 50 in the first half, score nearly a hundred and win a close game.  

[medinabuckeye1]

That was weird. Wisconsin came in on fire, blew a 21-point lead, survive a dogfight.

Start of January conference play is rough for UW, so a 3-0 start is very good. As long as they hold up and win one of the next three, they're in good shape. If they go 2-1, VERY good shape.

I actually watched this game because it came on right after the tOSU/NU track meet and I thought weird also.  Early on it looked like UW was going to run UMD out of the gym and then it ended up as a one point win.  But I agree with this:

Road win. I'll take it.

Take any road win you can get, even UNL.  

[medinabuckeye1]

The only "upset" this weekend vis-a-vis the tiers was Wisconsin's win at Maryland and that ended up as a close game so maybe no changes needed.  At this point the only teams outside of +/-1 are:

• +2 Wisconsin
• -2 Purdue
• -2 Maryland

Wisconsin has upset road wins at PU and at UMD.  The Purdue win would be an upset no matter what but the Maryland win wouldn't be if we moved UW up.  

Maryland has upset losses at home to Northwestern and Wisconsin.  Northwestern would be an upset even if we moved UMD down but UW wouldn't be if we moved UMD down or UW up.  

Purdue has an upset loss at RU and an upset loss at home to UW.  The UW loss would be an upset no matter what.  Moving them down doesn't make much sense though because I think most of us think they are pretty good and because their road win at PSU would be an upset if we moved them down.  

I don't think there will be any objections if I move UW up and that will get all teams except PU within +/-1.  

[847badgerfan]

I'd leave UW for now.

[MaximumSam]

Good to see Branham have another good game scoring the ball. Getting consistent scoring from him would be pretty helpful to the cause.

[medinabuckeye1]

Current tiers:

• IL+1, UW+1, tOSU, MSU, PU-2
• IU, IA-1
• PSU+1, MN+1, RU+1, NU(even +1, -1), UMD-1, M-1
• blank
• UNL

Projected final standings* and BTT seeds:

• 17-3 Illinois
• 16-4 Ohio State (wins tie with UW based on record against MSU, no game in E. Lansing)
• 16-4 Wisconsin
• 15-4* Michigan State
• 12-7* Purdue
• 11-9 Indiana
• 10-1 Iowa
• 8-12 Penn State
• 7-13 Northwestern (wins tie with MN based on record against IU, no game in Bloomington)
• 7-13 Minnesota
• 7-13 Rutgers (loses tie with NU an MN based on H2H2H, no home games against either)
• 6-12* Michigan
• 6-14 Maryland
• 0-20 Nebraska

Thus, the BTT match-ups in Indianapolis would be:
Wednesday, March 9, 2022:

• #11 Rutgers vs #14 Nebraska, 8:30pm, BTN
• #12 Michigan vs #13 Maryland, 6pm, BTN

Thursday, March 10, 2022:

• #5 Purdue vs M/UMD, 230pm, BTN
• #6 Indiana vs RU/UNL, 9pm, BTN
• #7 Iowa vs #10 Minnesota, 630pm, BTN
• #8 Penn State vs #9 Northwestern noon, BTN

Friday, March 11, 2022:

• #1 Illinois vs PSU/NU, noon, BTN
• #2 Ohio State vs IA/MN, 630pm, BTN
• #3 Wisconsin vs IU/RU/UNL, 9pm, BTN
• #4 Michigan State vs PU/M/UMD, 230pm, BTN

Saturday, March 12, 2022:

• IL/PSU/NU vs MSU/PU/M/UMD, 1pm, CBS
• tOSU/IA/MN vs UW/IU/RU/UNL, 330pm, CBS

Sunday, March 13, 2022:

• IL/PSU/NU/MSU/PU/M/UMD vs tOSU/IA/MN/UW/IU/RU/UNL, 330pm, CBS

*I have not projected results for the cancelled Michigan games against MSU and PU because I don't know if those will ultimately be rescheduled or not so for now I am just treating those as "not played".  

[medinabuckeye1]

I'd leave UW for now.

Sandbagger!

In all seriousness I don't even really consider it much of a choice at this point because the UMD win is an upset if we leave them.  I'm the same way, I'd rather have my team in tier-2 but the PSU win is an upset if they aren't in tier-1.  

The difference between tier-1 and tier-2 is the projected result in road games against tier-3.  For Wisconsin those are:

• @M, not scheduled
• @PSU, not scheduled
• @UMD, W
• @NU 1/18
• @MN 2/23
• @RU 2/26

At this point the Badgers are 1-0 in these games with three to be played AND another positive upset (@PU) so they need to be in tier-1.  

[medinabuckeye1]

This week (Tuesday-Thursday because I'm treating the Friday games as part of the weekend) all teams are in action except PU and M due to the COVID issues in Ann Arbor.  The games are:

• RU @ PSU Tuesday at 630 on BTN, we project a PSU win.  
• IL @ UNL Tuesday at 830 on BTN, we project an IL win.  
• MN @ MSU Wednesday at 7pm on BTN, we project an MSU win.  
• UMD @ NU Wednesday at 9pm on BTN, we project a NU win.  
• tOSU @ UW Thursday at 7pm on ESPN3, we project a UW win.  
• IU @ IA Thursday at 9pm on FS2, we project an IA win.  

The following teams could move outside of +/-1:

• RU would be +2 if they win at PSU
• MN would be +2 if the win at MSU
• IA would be -2 if they lose at home to IU

[847badgerfan]

OSU and UW on ESecPN THREE??? 

WTF?

[medinabuckeye1]

OSU and UW on ESecPN THREE???

WTF?

I don't get that either.  When the new poll comes out this could well be a top-15 match-up.  

[847badgerfan]

UW site says it's on ESecPN TWO, not three.

[medinabuckeye1]

UW site says it's on ESecPN TWO, not three.

If you look at either tOSU's or UW's schedule on ESPN's site it says ESPN3.  It might change so if you are recording it, maybe record both or check back in a few days.  

[ELA]

I think they sometimes leave those open to slot the better game into ESPN, so maybe it's just there until they decide where to move it?