2024-2025 B1G Basketball Thread

[ELA]

Flu running through the locker room.  No Fears or Booker today, sounds like Richardson is well under 100%

[ELA]

Richardson looks healthy to me

[bayareabadger]

Nice workmanlike win for UW. They were down a lot of the game, but closed really well. 

Maybe it’s because Freeman wasn’t there, but even when it was close late, it just felt like “Wisconsin is the better team, and they’re probably gonna put up a run to finish this thing. That’s a nice feeling.

[847badgerfan]

Nice workmanlike win for UW. They were down a lot of the game, but closed really well.

Maybe it’s because Freeman wasn’t there, but even when it was close late, it just felt like “Wisconsin is the better team, and they’re probably gonna put up a run to finish this thing. That’s a nice feeling.

Big game next weekend. A win at Purdue would be huge, but doubtful.

[bayareabadger]

Big game next weekend. A win at Purdue would be huge, but doubtful.

Never easy to win up there.

schedule breaks down in an interesting way. Three opportunities for blue chip wins, three games where they should be heavy favorites, and at Minnesota, where they should be a pretty decent favorite. (Even with Illinois‘s struggles, hosting them, plus trips to Michigan State in Purdue is a spicy little trio of big games late)

anything worse than 4-3 and I’m in a modestly bad mood. 4-3 would wrap what I consider to be a decidedly good regular season. If they can go any kind of 5-2, hell yeah.

[847badgerfan]

Never easy to win up there.

The House of Boo has to be worth 10 points.

[medinabuckeye1]

With the loss to Nebraska, the Buckeyes fall to 14-10/6-7. The game was in Lincoln and Nebraska is a borderline Tournament team like Ohio State so it certainly isn't a "bad loss" but, IMHO, Ohio State's margin for error is now gone.

As I see it, the Buckeyes will (barely) make the Big Dance if they win the games they should win:

They have four home games (UDub, M, NU, UNL) and three road games (UCLA, USC, IU) remaining. If they win the home games and lose the road games (or trade home losses for road wins 1:1) they'll hit the BTT at 18-13/10-10 with a respectable SoS. At that point, IMHO, they wouldn't need any miracles in Indianapolis, just to win the game or two that they should win. 

I said that their margin for error is gone because just one more loss sends them to Indianapolis at 17-14/9-11 and in that case I think they'd need a DEEP run to get serious consideration at something like 20-15.

[medinabuckeye1]

Please share your thoughts on my above assessment of Ohio State's situation. 

I'll add this:
Good wins:
Ohio State is set here with a neutral site blowout win over Kentucky and a road win over Purdue.

Bad losses:
Ohio State is in pretty good shape here. They got blown out by Maryland and Auburn but Auburn is a (possibility the) #1 seed and they avenged the Maryland loss with a home win. Their worst loss in terms of quality of opponent was to Indiana. That loss has NOT aged well. With the win the Hoosiers were 14-5/5-3 and looked like a solid Tournament team. However, that win is Indiana's only win in their last eight games. That still isn't all that bad for a bubble team's worst loss.

[847badgerfan]

I love it when the Badgers are picked to finish 12th in the league.

[ELA]

My 2/10 SOR/KenPom bracket update

NCAA TOURNAMENT
SOUTH

• #1 Auburn vs. #16 Merrimack/Little Rock
• #8 New Mexico vs. #9 Connecticut
• #5 MICHIGAN vs. #12 Liberty
• #4 Kansas vs. #13 McNeese
• #3 Iowa State vs. #14 Jacksonville State
• #6 UCLA vs. #11 Georgia/North Carolina
• #7 Louisville vs. #10 NEBRASKA
• #2 Tennessee vs. #15 Lipscomb

MIDWEST

• #1 Alabama vs. #16 Southern/American
• #8 Oklahoma vs. #9 Utah State
• #5 Marquette vs. #12 VCU
• #4 MICHIGAN STATE vs. #13 Akron
• #3 Texas A&M vs. #14 High Point
• #6 Memphis vs. #11 Texas/SMU
• #7 Clemson vs. #10 West Virginia
• #2 PURDUE vs. #15 South Dakota State

EAST

• #1 Duke vs. #16 Central Connecticut
• #8 Baylor vs. #9 OREGON
• #5 Creighton vs. #12 Yale
• #4 Ole Miss vs. #13 Samford
• #3 Texas Tech vs. #14 UNC Wilmington
• #6 Mississippi State vs. #11 Wake Forest
• #7 MARYLAND vs. #10 Vanderbilt
• #2 St. John’s vs. #15 Fort Wayne

WEST

• #1 Florida vs. #16 Norfolk State
• #8 ILLINOIS vs. #9 Gonzaga
• #5 Kentucky vs. #12 UC San Diego
• #4 Arizona vs. #13 Arkansas State
• #3 WISCONSIN vs. #14 Grand Canyon
• #6 Missouri vs. #11 Drake
• #7 Saint Mary’s vs. #10 OHIO STATE
• #2 Houston vs. #15 Northern Colorado

NIT
PROVO

• #1 BYU vs. #8 Omaha
• #4 USC vs. #5 Georgetown
• #3 Boise State vs. #6 TCU
• #2 San Francisco vs. #7 Utah Valley

FAYETTEVILLE

• #1 Arkansas vs. #8 Florida Gulf Coast
• #4 Villanova vs. #5 NORTHWESTERN
• #3 George Mason vs. #6 RUTGERS
• #2 Central Florida vs. #7 Montana

SAN DIEGO STATE

• #1 San Diego State vs. #8 Bryant
• #4 Villanova vs. #5 Stanford
• #3 INDIANA vs. #6 Dayton
• #2 Cincinnati vs. #7 Cleveland State

PITTSBURGH

• #1 Pittsburgh vs. #8 Towson
• #4 North Texas vs. #5 Kansas State
• #3 UC Irvine vs. #6 IOWA
• #2 Xavier vs. #7 Utah

All Big Ten Teams

• Purdue - #2 seed
• Wisconsin - moved up from #4 seed to #3 seed
• Michigan State - dropped from #3 seed to #4 seed
• Michigan - #5 seed
• UCLA - moved up from #8 seed to #6 seed
• Maryland - dropped from #6 seed to #7 seed
• Illinois - #8 seed
• Oregon - dropped from #7 seed to #9 seed
• Ohio State - moved up from #11 seed to #10 seed
• Nebraska - moved up from #11 seed (Play-In) to #10 seed
• Indiana - dropped from NIT #1 seed to NIT #3 seed
• USC - dropped from NIT #3 seed to NIT #4 seed
• Northwestern - dropped from NIT #4 seed to NIT #5 seed
• Iowa - dropped from NIT #3 seed to NIT #6 seed
• Rutgers - moved up to NIT #6 seed
• Penn State - dropped to #4 team out of NIT
• Washington - moved up to #7 team out of NIT
• Minnesota - moved up to #11 team out of NIT

[ELA]

So we have a massive doubleheader tonight, featuring all 3 teams tied for first...

First, Purdue travels to Michigan, then Indiana travels to MSU where Izzo tries to break Knight's record for Big Ten coaching wins.

...and both games are on Peacock 

[bayareabadger]

So we have a massive doubleheader tonight, featuring all 3 teams tied for first...

First, Purdue travels to Michigan, then Indiana travels to MSU where Izzo tries to break Knight's record for Big Ten coaching wins.

...and both games are on Peacock

The plan is maybe working?

[medinabuckeye1]

The plan is maybe working?

Not for me it isn't.  If I could watch these games I would and then they'd get my eyeballs counted in their ratings and get more ad revenue but I'm not buying Peacock to watch these games.  

So we have a massive doubleheader tonight, featuring all 3 teams tied for first...

First, Purdue travels to Michigan, then Indiana travels to MSU where Izzo tries to break Knight's record for Big Ten coaching wins.

Some fascinating dynamics at play here, first Purdue at Michigan:

The computers pretty much all say that Purdue is the better team and I think most of us here would agree but this game isn't in Mackey, it is in Crisler and that isn't nothing.  If Michigan wins they get at least a share of first place.  If Purdue wins they retain their grip on #1, pull farther ahead of Michigan, and will be at least 0.5 games ahead of Michigan State.  

Indiana at Michigan State:
How fitting that Izzo has a chance to break Knight's record against Knight's old team and with a Knight protégée coaching.  

Indiana is in absolute free-fall although some of that is schedule.  On January 8 they beat USC to move to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the league.  Their only losses were a couple neutral site losses to respectable opponents in the Battle for Atlantis (Louisville, Gonzaga) and a road loss in Lincoln to a Nebraska team that looked better then than they do now.  Since January 8 USC's only win was an OT win in Columbus.  Their other eight games since that USC win are ugly:

• Blown out at Iowa
• Blown out at home by Illinois
• Road loss to hapless Northwestern
• Home loss to Maryland
• Road loss to rival Purdue
• Road loss to Wisconsin
• Home loss to Michigan

For their part, the Spartans four losses were all away from the Breslin Center.  They lost to (then) #1 Kansas in Atlanta, to Memphis in Maui, and they lost both of a two-game Big Ten road trip to SoCal.  <--That just feels weird to type.  

I still think that Indiana has a plausible path to the Tournament but that path is getting awfully narrow.  Their last seven are this and two other road games (UDub, Ore) along with four home games (UCLA, Purdue, PSU, tOSU).  They are likely to lose at home to Purdue but winning at Washington isn't unlikely and a 4-3 finish gets them to 18-14/9-11.  That isn't enough but it isn't all that far away either.  One extra win probably gets them there especially if that extra win happens to be at the expense of a high-end team like MSU so Woodson could protect his mentor's record (for a week) and get his team in MUCH better shape for the Dance with a big upset here.  

[FearlessF]

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