2022-2023 B1G Basketball Thread

[847badgerfan]

Looks like UW at NU is not going to happen this Saturday. Coach Gard said as much in his presser.

[rolltidefan]

Strictly on the bball front, not to worry....pretty sure the beatdown they gave us the other day counts for several Ws. 

We are so terrible I have no choice but to close my eyes and wait for beisbol season.

Our wimminz basketball team is kicking butt and taking names, tho. 

this first game went about as good as can be expected, i guess. got a solid road win, but had struggles. vandy is a tough place for bama under normal circumstances, just one of those places that seems cursed for us. so hard to tell if struggles were normal, or because the players were still working through the mess. post game interview, you could tell it was working on the coaches and players.

[ELA]

My first resume only Bracket of the year (2/3 SOR, 1/3 KenPom), for now using SOR to determine regular season champ, and KenPom for tourney champ

1/18 Update

NCAA
SOUTH

• #1 Alabama vs. #16 Southern/Texas A&M-CC
• #8 Saint Mary's vs. #9 MICHIGAN STATE
• #5 Florida Atlantic vs. #12 Sam Houston State
• #4 Baylor vs. #13 Liberty
• #3 Iowa State vs. #14 Yale
• #6 Providence vs. #11 Clemson
• #7 Duke vs. #10 WISCONSIN
• #2 Gonzaga vs. #15 Furman

MIDWEST

• #1 Kansas vs. #16 Vermont/Fairleight Dickinson
• #8 ILLINOIS vs. #9 Charleston
• #5 Auburn vs. #12 Oral Roberts
• #4 Marquette vs. #13 Dayton
• #3 Xavier vs. #14 Bradley
• #6 NC State vs. #11 MARYLAND
• #7 Arizona State vs. #10 Kent State
• #2 Tennessee vs. #15 Youngstown State

WEST

• #1 Houston vs. #16 Montana State
• #8 San Diego State vs. #9 Arkansas
• #5 TCU vs. #12 INDIANA/Utah State
• #4 Arizona vs. #13 UC Santa Barbara
• #3 Texas vs. #14 SIU Edwardsville
• #6 Boise State vs. #11 Creighton
• #7 North Carolina vs. #10 IOWA
• #2 UCLA vs. #15 Longwood

EAST

• #1 PURDUE vs. #16 Norfolk State
• #8 Memphis vs. #9 Missouri
• #5 Miami vs. #12 Kentucky/NORTHWESTERN
• #4 Kansas State vs. #13 Marshall
• #3 Virginia vs. #14 Iona
• #6 RUTGERS vs. #11 Nevada
• #7 New Mexico vs. #10 Oklahoma
• #2 Connecticut vs. #15 Colgate

NIT
STATE COLLEGE

• #1 PENN STATE vs. #8 Northwestern State
• #4 LSU vs. #5 Virginia Tech
• #3 North Texas vs. #6 Saint Louis
• #2 Central Florida vs. #7 Cornell

MORGANTOWN

• #1 West Virginia vs. #8 Grambling
• #4 Georgia vs. #5 VCU
• #3 St. John's vs. #6 Southern Miss
• #2 Pittsburgh vs. #7 Quinnipiac

LOS ANGELES

• #1 USC vs. #8 Eastern Washington
• #4 MICHIGAN vs. #5 Florida
• #3 Seton Hall vs. #6 Drake
• #2 Wake Forest vs. #7 UM Lowell

COLUMBUS

• #1 OHIO STATE vs. #8 American
• #4 Texas A&M vs. #5 Santa Clara
• #3 Oklahoma State vs. #6 Utah Valley
• #2 Mississippi State vs. #7 UNC Asheville

Other Big Ten teams

• Nebraska - #4 team out
• Minnesota - n/a

[MikeDeTiger]

I'd be ecstatic if we made the NIT

[medinabuckeye1]

1/18 Update
NIT
COLUMBUS

• #1 OHIO STATE vs. #8 American

Yay!

[847badgerfan]

Yay!

I know you are really sour. What coach out there would you like to see in Columbus?

[ELA]

MSU was projected into the NIT on here 2 weeks ago, and not as a 1 seed.  Even still, MSU is a 9 seed, so these things are very fluid.  UM is an NIT 4 seed.  Wisconsin has gone from a 4 seed to a 10 seed in a couple weeks.  OSU is a couple wins away from being solidly back in.  And while you say that's not likely, that also looked to be the case with MSU and Wisconsin recently.  And hell, if MSU can't beat Rutgers (the 2nd best team in the Big Ten) tomorrow night, they need to win in Bloomington to avoid a 4 game losing streak of their own...coming off a win in Madison.  Lots of ebb and flow

[847badgerfan]

I think UW ends up at about a 7 or 8 this year. The ceiling is lower than normal with this team.

[ELA]

I think UW ends up at about a 7 or 8 this year. The ceiling is lower than normal with this team.

I didn't get this up quite in time yesterday, so I waited a day, and things moved a bit.  But when I had it set through the Monday night games, the Big Ten had 8 of the last 9 teams in, and OSU was the #2 team out.

[medinabuckeye1]

MSU was projected into the NIT on here 2 weeks ago, and not as a 1 seed.  Even still, MSU is a 9 seed, so these things are very fluid.  UM is an NIT 4 seed.  Wisconsin has gone from a 4 seed to a 10 seed in a couple weeks.  OSU is a couple wins away from being solidly back in.  And while you say that's not likely, that also looked to be the case with MSU and Wisconsin recently.  And hell, if MSU can't beat Rutgers (the 2nd best team in the Big Ten) tomorrow night, they need to win in Bloomington to avoid a 4 game losing streak of their own...coming off a win in Madison.  Lots of ebb and flow

I understand all of that. Ohio State is at Nebraska tonight and hosts Iowa this weekend. Two wins and the projection will have them easily in. Things are fluid this early.

[medinabuckeye1]

I know you are really sour. What coach out there would you like to see in Columbus?

I don't have an answer for three reasons:

• I don't really follow CBB Nationally closely enough to be able to say "I want (name) from (school)."
• The nature of BB assistants is not the same as football. In football I can look at a team with a good offense or defense and, if my school needed a coach, say "I want the OC/DC from (school)." In BB my impression is that the overall coaching duties are shared more generally so I think it is harder to look at say Izzo's staff and, as an outsider, identify the stronger and weaker links.
• I really don't care. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that picking a HC is more art than science. For every rule of thumb you can recite, I can find a counter example. When you are a large and wealthy program from which a successful coach is fairly unlikely to be poached (other than perhaps a true CBB Blue Blood - which can be counted on one hand - or to go back home to their Alma mater) the key is simply to identify whether or not a change is needed and take a stab at it. If your attempt fails, try again until you get it right then pay that guy silly money to keep him.

Ohio State's HC is 9th in the league at a little over $3M/yr but note that #2 through #10 all make between $3M and $3.5M. Ohio State's athletic department would have no problem bumping that up to #2 in the league if the program was winning league titles and/or making it beyond the first weekend of the Tournament. 

[ELA]

Youngstown State is primed to make their first ever D1 NCAA Tourney.

Their head coach (Jerrod Calhoun) is from East Liverpool, and played at Cleveland State.

He was a GA under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, and then was an assistant coach under him at WVU for 5 years.

He took over a D2 school in WV, and made the 2nd round of the D2 tourney.  He stayed there 5 years, culminating in a D2 national championship appearance.

He then took over a trash YSU program, and by Year 3 (2019-20) had their best record since 2001.  He followed that with two more winning seasons.  They are now the KenPom favorite in the conference, and on the verge of their 4th straight winning season.  Youngstown State hasn't accomplished that since the mid-70s, as a D2 team.

But OSU wouldn't be interested in the best coach in Youngstown State history.  Maybe Jon Gruden is available

[ELA]

I think it is harder to look at say Izzo's staff and, as an outsider, identify the stronger and weaker links.

I think you can very much look at Izzo's coaching "tree" and say I want nothing to do with that.  It's increasingly obvious he has won in spite of his assistant choices, not because of them.  Which is why I'm very scared that he has (rightfully) earned the right to name his successor.

It's curious that he grabbed Thomas Kelley, out of nowhere (aside from being a former Izzo player) as his newest assistant hire.  I almost think he was the compromise.  Izzo wants one of his guys, but not one of "his guys", so they nabbed a young offensive mind, who played for him.  I could see him getting the job, and being the face of the program/recruiter, willing to go outside the program to hire his assistants

[medinabuckeye1]

But OSU wouldn't be interested in the best coach in Youngstown State history.

I can't remember which sport, but I vaguely recollect that hiring "the best coach in YSU history" worked out pretty well for the Buckeyes.  LoL