2024-2025 B1G Basketball Thread

[medinabuckeye1]

Everyone may have missed it due to football but, Ohio State won a big BB game today.

[medinabuckeye1]

Lunardi's latest, Christmas Eve update, B1G teams:

• #3 seed Oregon
• #4 seed UCLA
• #5 seeds Michigan State, Purdue
• #6 seed Illinois
• #7 seeds Michigan, Maryland
• #8 seed Wisconsin
• #10 seed Penn State
• #11 seed Ohio State

B1G on the bubble:

• Ohio State is one of the last four to avoid a play-in game
• Nebraska is the first team out
• Iowa is the fourth team out
• Northwestern is the seventh team out

I honestly don't know what to think of my Buckeyes.  At their best they are REALLY good.  They opened the year with a win over Texas in Vegas.  That Texas team is now 10-2 and their only other loss was to UCONN.  Very solid win.  

Nobody seemed to notice because it happened the same day as the CFP win over Tennessee but on Saturday Ohio State had a dominant win over Kentucky.  This is a Kentucky team that has wins over Dook and Gonzaga and was ranked #4 when Ohio State beat them in NYC at MSG.  

Those are good.  The road loss to aTm isn't bad.  The rest of the wins are blah.  

The bad is:

• They got obliterated by Maryland in college park
• They got obliterated by Auburn in Atlanta

Auburn may well be the #1 team in the country and playing them in Atlanta is more-or-less a road game so losing isn't bad but failing to compete is problematic.  

Maryland isn't as good as Auburn but they do appear to be a tournament team so losing to them on the road isn't bad but failing to be competitive is problematic.  

[ELA]

Maryland isn't as good as Auburn but they do appear to be a tournament team so losing to them on the road isn't bad but failing to be competitive is problematic. 

#10 in KenPom.  Highest ranked team in the Big Ten

[medinabuckeye1]

#10 in KenPom.  Highest ranked team in the Big Ten

#14 in BPI, second in the B1G behind only #12 Illinois so maybe.  

I'm just not sure that I trust any of these rankings this early.  

[medinabuckeye1]

All teams have played two B1G games.  Two-thirds (12 of 18) went 1-1 with the bulk of those winning at home and losing on the road.  

Won both:

• MSU, beat UNL at home and MN on the road
• UCLA, beat UWash at home and Oregon on the road
• Mich, beat IA at home and UWisc on the road

Won at home, lost on the road:

• Maryland, beat tOSU and lost to PU
• PSU, beat PU and lost to RU
• Nebraska, beat IU and lost to MSU
• Iowa, beat NU and lost to M
• Northwestern, beat IL and lost to Iowa
• Indiana, beat MN and lost to UNL
• Illinois, beat UWisc and lost to NU
• Ohio State, beat RU and lost to UMD
• Purdue, beat UMD and lost to PSU
• Rutgers, beat PSU and lost to tOSU

Won on the road, lost at home:

• Oregon, beat USC, lost to UCLA
• USC, beat UWash and lost to Oregon

Lost both:

• Wisconsin, lost at IL and to M
• Washington, lost at UCLA and to USC
• Minnesota, lost at IU and to MSU

[ELA]

#14 in BPI, second in the B1G behind only #12 Illinois so maybe. 

I'm just not sure that I trust any of these rankings this early. 

BPI is even worse this early, because it factors in ESPN's recruiting rankings for the players

[medinabuckeye1]

#10 in KenPom.  Highest ranked team in the Big Ten

Since it came up, B1G KenPom and BPI rankings (sorted by KenPom):

• 11 Maryland, 14
• 14 Oregon, 31
• 16 Michigan State, 21
• 17 UCLA, 25
• 22 Michigan, 27
• 23 Illinois, 12
• 27 Purdue, 26
• 29 Ohio State, 32
• 33 Wisconsin, 36
• 34 Penn State, 40
• 39 Nebraska, 38
• 44 Iowa, 48
• 49 Northwestern, 45
• 55 Indiana, 59
• 82 USC, 65
• 84 Rutgers, 74
• 103 Washington, 103
• 115 Minnesota, 98

So tiers?

What about:

• UMD, MSU, UCLA, IL
• Ore, M, PU
• tOSU, UWisc, PSU, UNL
• IA, NU, IU
• USC, RU
• UWash, MN

The projection is going to be weird.  A double-round-robin would be 34 games and we are going to be playing 20 so there will be seven missed home games and seven missed road games.  

[847badgerfan]

Wisconsin = UW
Washington = UDub

Ask @GopherRock about it. He knows, having lived out there.

[medinabuckeye1]

Wisconsin = UW
Washington = UDub

Ask @GopherRock about it. He knows, having lived out there.

I'll try to remember that going forward.  

Back when Nebraska joined I think that @FearlessF and @nuwildcat decided they'd use the first football game to determine who got "NU" and:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/313090158/northwestern-nebraska

[medinabuckeye1]

#10 in KenPom.  Highest ranked team in the Big Ten

#14 in BPI, second in the B1G behind only #12 Illinois so maybe. 

I'm just not sure that I trust any of these rankings this early. 

BPI is even worse this early, because it factors in ESPN's recruiting rankings for the players

Per BPI, Maryland has played the 182nd SoS.  Within the B1G that trails:

• 3 PU
• 17 M
• 24 Oregon
• 25 tOSU
• 28 MSU
• 29 RU
• 34 NU
• 37 UW
• 44 IL
• 52 IU
• 68 UNL
• 90 IA
• 102 UDub (hey @847badgerfan )
• 137 USC
• 137 MN
• 163 UCLA
• 180 PSU

So their SoS is arguably dead last in the B1G. They've played two ranked teams and lost both games (Marquette and Purdue).  Granted, both losses were close and they've dominated a lot of teams (including Ohio State) but that SoS makes it hard to evaluate them just yet.  

From my tOSU fan perspective I HOPE they really are a top-10ish team because then getting obliterated by them isn't all that bad.  

[bayareabadger]

My hope for Wisconsin team is to go at least 10-8 Through the rest of the regular season. I hate to say it with a good coach, but it is not very well put together, albeit with a number of interesting pieces.

Feels like a year with a lot of tossups across the conference, so just have to grit their teeth and win enough of them.

[847badgerfan]

My hope for Wisconsin team is to go at least 10-8 Through the rest of the regular season. I hate to say it with a good coach, but it is not very well put together, albeit with a number of interesting pieces.

Feels like a year with a lot of tossups across the conference, so just have to grit their teeth and win enough of them.

I like the team, I think. Would have been nice to see them finish against Michigan though.

[MrNubbz]

Them getting to the games would be like "Scared Strait"

[bayareabadger]

I like the team, I think. Would have been nice to see them finish against Michigan though.

I enjoy them and think they can be interesting, but I think the ceiling is on the lower end and I think it’s just going to be hard in a lot of games.

They lack a very good player at point guard in a way that’s almost never the case. They are iffy at center, though the building process there was pretty logical (it just hasn’t worked out). They haven’t been able to get the kind of guy they want at power forward, and are kind of slapping things together there.

if one of the starting wings was a better ball handler, I would feel better. But those guys aren’t quite at that level.

It’s basically just on the coach to keep designing stuff to minimize the weaknesses, and while I think he will do a good job, you can’t fully erase those issues