2021-2022 B1G Basketball thread

[847badgerfan]

After looking through the brackets, I like the Badgers to make the deepest run of Big Ten teams this year.

All depends on if Davis is OK. Sprained ankles are tough.

[betarhoalphadelta]

After looking through the brackets, I like the Badgers to make the deepest run of Big Ten teams this year.

Yeah, I think that's fair. They're a tough team, and their draw doesn't look too bad.

I'd say that Purdue has the highest ceiling of any B1G team--their ceiling is winning the whole damn thing. Unfortunately they've come up short every time they've played with something on the line; lost to Rutgers when they got their first #1 AP rank in school history, lost to Wisconsin when a win would basically seal a share of the B1G regular season (and then lost @MSU to follow it up and lose a shot at a shared title), and lost in the BTTCG to salvage the conference slate with a Big Ten Tournament championship.

I just don't have any trust that Purdue can play to their ceiling when the brightest of bright lights come on.

[bayareabadger]

After looking through the brackets, I like the Badgers to make the deepest run of Big Ten teams this year.

Quit puttin’ that hex on them. 

They’re taking a first weekend upset. Lucky to get to losing to Auburn/Miami. 

[MaximumSam]

Hmm, ranking teams by whether they can win the whole thing:

• Illinois: Maybe the most complete team in the B1G. Bad defense is a weight on Iowa and Purdue - Illinois is better here. Plus they have good guards. But man, Houston in the second round is a bad beat.
• Purdue: Have everything you want. The defensive numbers are bad, though. Tough to get around that, and tough not to look hard at Kentucky, one of the rare teams with a better big guy and equal talent.
• Wisconsin: Competent defensively and they have a star guard who can win games. But if he has a bad game, do they have anything else?
• Iowa: Iowa has been the best B1G team in the latter half of the season, and the best by the FancyStats. Two NBA caliber 6'8 guys who can score and guard is a tough matchup for anyone. But with their defense never being great, it always makes me gunshy.
• Indiana: Definitely a top four and everyone else. Indiana has to do the playin game, but they play defense at least.
• MSU: Can't doubt Izzo in March, but this team doesn't inspire a ton of confidence.
• Michigan: Ridiculously inconsistent, but they have a winning formula in theory if they can just hit shots.
• OSU: Healthwise think they get Key and Johnson back, still no word on Kyle Young. Tough draw and not finishing the season that well. Plus their defense limits them anyway.
• Rutgers: Playin game - they play hard but overall talent not wonderful.

[Abba]

I think I'd rank like this:

1) Purdue - No one will care that they underachieved all year if they make a Final Four
2) Illinois - Lots of pieces, but not sure they fit together well all the time
3) Wisconsin - Connected and good blend of talent and senior leadership
4) Iowa - Hot right now and good talent.  Lack of defense moves them down
5/6) Michigan / Ohio State - Just putting them both here.  Both have lots of talent, but highly inconsistent
7) Indiana - Great frontcourt.  If the back court can settle down, they can make a run
8) Rutgers - They have a nice trio of players who could elevate their play and be a problem. 
9) Michigan State - I just don't see the talent here, but Izzo gives them some chance

But Wisconsin has a great draw, and actually so do Ohio State and Michigan.  Illinois just has a brutal draw, and I don't like them to do much.

[medinabuckeye1]

This is underrated. The tourney can be loads of fun, but having a great team going in is more or less a lesson in disappointment. I still have mental scars on Matta's best team, which got dropped by Kentucky in the Sweet 16.

Oh man, me too.  They were the #1 seed that year (2010/11) and got their first weekend games in Cleveland so I bought the NCAA Package ticket and went.  They obliterated #16 UTSA on Friday.  On Sunday they got #8 George Mason and George Mason had made a run to the F4 a few years prior as a #11 seed so their fans were wearing "We are this year's George Mason" t-shirts.  That was cute and then the game started.  Ohio State doubled them up 52-26 in the first half and coasted to an easy win by 30+.  

I really thought that Kentucky was an underseeded #4 that year and they backed that up by getting to the F4 where they lost their semi-final by a single point to the eventual NC, UCONN.  

That was definitely the best Ohio State team I've ever seen.  They had good defense and they had a slew of scoring options.  Sullinger was a presence inside, Diebler (Threebler) at the time (might still be) was the B1G's all-time leading three point shooter, and the leading scorer (IIRC) was Buford.  

In that Kentucky game the Buckeyes had a just terrible night.  Craft was never much of a shooter and was mainly on the court for his defense and to run the offense but he played 36 minutes and scored two points (on two-of-three FT) while going 0-5 from the field.  That is a lot of minutes for two points.  Sullinger and Diebler were ok, but didn't have great nights, not enough to make up for what is next:

Buford, the team's leading scorer, had a just dreadful night.  He played 37 minutes and was 2-16 (including 1-3 from behind the line).  He had nine points including 4-4 FT's.  

Despite that bad of a night from the team's leading scorer the Buckeyes actually had a shot in the air to win at the buzzer.  Unfortunately that shot was Buford's 14th and final miss of the evening.  Honestly, I will always believe that if that team had made one more shot against Kentucky they'd have won the NC but it was not to be.  

[Abba]

For every one of those stories, Purdue fans probably have 5 more.  That one year where they lost the ridiculous ending to Virginia seems way worse than this.

[bayareabadger]

MSU is too low on the preceding lists. Izzo hot swapped out a star starting point guard for a 5-11 underclassman in the midst of a Final Four run. 

He’s got nine blue chippers on the roster, six in the rotation. I’m not counting that cagy bastard out until the exact moment that team is done. 

[bayareabadger]

That OSU team delivered hands down the worst ass beating I’ve ever seen UW take. The Badgers were a 25-win Sweet 16 team. They put up a very solid 1.12 points per possession. 

And Ohio State made it feel like a 2-15 game. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Despite that bad of a night from the team's leading scorer the Buckeyes actually had a shot in the air to win at the buzzer.  Unfortunately that shot was Buford's 14th and final miss of the evening.  Honestly, I will always believe that if that team had made one more shot against Kentucky they'd have won the NC but it was not to be. 

For every one of those stories, Purdue fans probably have 5 more.  That one year where they lost the ridiculous ending to Virginia seems way worse than this.

Yeah, it many ways that ending was similar, except Virginia made the shot...

Purdue had the lead when the clock hit 00:00, but the tying shot was in the air and it dropped, forcing OT. 

There were two key differences between that game and the Kentucky/OSU game...

• Kentucky fans don't have a feeling that their entire history is snakebit, and that when it comes to the Tournament, anything that can go wrong, will. They were the blueblood of bluebloods. Likewise OSU had been in the championship game only 4 years before, and had two Final Four finishes since Purdue's last in 1980, so they weren't quite as starved. 
• Both teams in that game (Purdue & UVA) were seen as snakebit tournament teams that were unable to "get over the hump" and make the Final Four. Bennett and Painter both were on the list of "best coaches who haven't made F4 / won championship / etc" going into that game. There is mutual respect between those programs. As heartbreaking as that loss was, at least it wasn't to Duke, UNC, Kentucky, or Kansas.  

[grillrat]

I will be very curious to see how the refs call the games in the tournament.  The amount of physicality that the Big Ten refs allowed might have been a detriment to some teams.  

[ELA]

I will be very curious to see how the refs call the games in the tournament.  The amount of physicality that the Big Ten refs allowed might have been a detriment to some teams. 

[bayareabadger]

I will be very curious to see how the refs call the games in the tournament.  The amount of physicality that the Big Ten refs allowed might have been a detriment to some teams. 

Mom-B1G refs when they see and have to figure out Edey. 

“what the f$@& is that”

[betarhoalphadelta]

Mom-B1G refs when they see and have to figure out Edey.

“what the f$@& is that”

Yep. Edey can stand perfectly still, a guard runs into him and bounces off of him, and Edey gets the foul for knocking him down...