2022-2023 B1G Basketball Thread

[medinabuckeye1]

All 14 teams were scheduled to play this week (Tues-Thurs) but MN@IL got postponed. This week feels like it should be pretty uneventful because at least six of the seven scheduled games involved the better (IMHO) team hosting:

• MN @ IL, postponed. IL is the better team.
• RU+4.5 @ IU, Tuesday 630, BTN: I feel that IU, at least lately, is the better team and they are at home.
• UMD+3 @ MSU, Tuesday 9, ESPN2: I feel that MSU is the better team and they are hosting.
• UNL @ M, Wednesday 630, BTN: I feel that M is the better team and they are at home. 
• UW @ PSU, Wednesday 830, BTN: I feel that PSU, right now, is the better team and they are hosting. 
• Iowa @ PU, Thursday 7, ESPN2: Purdue is the better team and they are at home. 
• NU @ tOSU, Thursday 8, FS1: Who knows?

The Northwestern/ Ohio State game is, IMHO, a complete crapshoot. 

First off, Northwestern games in general are unpredictable. They have four road wins (MSU, IU, UNL, UW) and I'm fairly certain that is second only to Purdue and one of Purdue's was in Minneapolis. Thus, looking at their road games, Northwestern is arguably the best team in the league. On the flip side, they are atrocious at home. They have home losses to Rutgers, Michigan, and Ohio State. 

Then there is Ohio State. A little over a month ago the Buckeyes obliterated Northwestern in Evanston and looked like one of the top teams in the league. In the time since the Buckeyes are 1-9 and look like they might be worse than Minnesota. 

December Ohio State vs home Northwestern, the Buckeyes win in a laugher.

Recent Ohio State vs road Northwestern, the Wildcats win in a laugher.

Nothing would surprise me. 

[ELA]

I think MSU probably needs 6 more wins.  The easiest path is to win the 4 home games, starting tonight with Maryland (plus Minnesota, Indiana, OSU), then getting 2 more out of @Minnesota, @OSU, BTT.

Maryland has won 4 in a row, but 3 of the 4 were at home, plus @Minnesota.  On the season the Terps are 2-7 away from home (with the two wins being against 2 of the worst P5 teams, Louisville and Minnesota), but 14-0 in College Park

[medinabuckeye1]

I think MSU probably needs 6 more wins.  The easiest path is to win the 4 home games, starting tonight with Maryland (plus Minnesota, Indiana, OSU), then getting 2 more out of @Minnesota, @OSU, BTT.

?

[grillrat]

Guessing he meant @ Nebraska.

[ELA]

Correct

[FearlessF]

that doesn't happen often on this thread

[ELA]

that doesn't happen often on this thread

That I make a mistake?   Incorrect

[FearlessF]

that anyone is mistaken for Nebraska

[ELA]

Well that was a must win, but the number of multi-score leads. This team has blown this year, even though they have wound up winning a couple of them, is extremely concerning

[medinabuckeye1]

I think MSU probably needs 6 more wins.  The easiest path is to win the 4 home games, starting tonight with Maryland (plus Minnesota, Indiana, OSU), then getting 2 more out of @Minnesota, @OSU, BTT.

I also tend to use 20 wins as a benchmark that generally means a B1G team is safely in.

There are, of course, adjustments for particularly bad losses or unusually weak schedules but neither of those things apply to MSU so I concur: If/when MSU gets win #20, they are a lock.

Thus, with the home win over the Terps in the books, the Spartans now need five more.

Where I slightly disagree with you is that I DO NOT think that Indiana is one of MSU's five easiest remaining games. IMHO, at this point the Hoosiers are pretty much playing like the team we thought they could be back when they were preseason favorites.

Ignoring the BTT (which I think will be a complete crapshoot given how many teams we have that are less than great but more than terrible), I would rank MSU's remaining games by likelihood of MSU winning as:

• Vs MN
• Vs tOSU
• At tOSU
• At UNL
• Vs IU
• At M
• At Iowa

I would put "random BTT opponent" in between #4 At UNL and #5 Vs IU so IMHO MSU's easiest path is:

• Beat MN
• Beat tOSU twice
• Beat UNL in Lincoln
• Win BTT opener.

[grillrat]

I think that you will be able to tell alot from IU's game this weekend @ Michigan.  IU has left Assembly Hall 10 times and lost 6 of them.

They have 4 of their next 5 games on the road (@Mich, @NW, Illini, @MSU, @PU), so this is the part of the schedule that will determine if IU is vying for 2nd place in the Big Ten or dropping three of those and ending up in the morass of 6th thru 11th place.

So if IU has improved to the level we had thought that they were capable of, then yes, that is definitely one of MSU's toughest games.  The Maryland game kinda keeps me from thinking that though.  They looked fairly putrid in that game.

[medinabuckeye1]

Minnesota at Illinois game postponed due to COVID within Minnesota's team

If you see anything about a reschedule for this, please share here.

[medinabuckeye1]

I think that you will be able to tell alot from IU's game this weekend @ Michigan.  IU has left Assembly Hall 10 times and lost 6 of them.

They have 4 of their next 5 games on the road (@Mich, @NW, Illini, @MSU, @PU), so this is the part of the schedule that will determine if IU is vying for 2nd place in the Big Ten or dropping three of those and ending up in the morass of 6th thru 11th place.

So if IU has improved to the level we had thought that they were capable of, then yes, that is definitely one of MSU's toughest games.  The Maryland game kinda keeps me from thinking that though.  They looked fairly putrid in that game.

They didn't look great in College Park but at the end of the day it was a single-digit road loss to a team that is nearly perfect at home on the season.

Indiana definitely has a challenging remaining schedule:

• Minnesota, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin do not appear on their remaining schedule. 
• Four of their remaining seven games are on the road.

[NickSmith4Three]

If you see anything about a reschedule for this, please share here.

Illinois vs Minnesota rescheduled for Feb 20th