2025-2026 B1G Basketball Thread

[FearlessF]

I imagine Nebraska will be well-represented, but Iowa hasn't been to the S16 in over a quarter century.  I'd imagine it'd be something like 55/45 in favor of the Skers

the Hawkeyes do swarm well.
we shall see - OKC was impressed - Houston is a little farther to drive from Omaha

[FearlessF]

[medinabuckeye1]

[img width=273.619 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/69jDIct.jpeg[/img]

Pretty cool that three of four teams in the South Regional are from our league but still an uphill climb because the other team is the highest seed and basically playing at home.

[medinabuckeye1]

9s and 12s have always overproduced though.

I want to make a couple points on this.  

9s have always overproduced as against 8s in the first round but oddly they have a terrible track record beyond the first round:

• With this year's sweep the 9s are now 88-76 against 8s in the first round.  However . . .
• With #9 Iowa's win over #1 Florida the 9s still only have a total of 9 S16 appearances.  They are a dismal 9-79 in the second round.  For comparison the 8s are much better at 16-60 but that actually understates the difference.  Both times that a 16 took out a 1, it was a 9 seed that beat the 16 in the second round.  So against #1s the #9s are flat awful at 7-79 (0.081) while the #8s are a much more respectable 16-60 (0.211).  

12s have less wins than 11s so it isn't THAT surprising.  I don't think they overproduce but they stand out because 13s (and below) are just awful.  In first round games:

• 12s are 58-106 including #12 High Point's win over #5 Wisconsin
• 13s are 33-131
• 14s are 23-141
• 15s are 11-153
• 16s are 2-162

[FearlessF]

the Hawkeyes do swarm well.
we shall see - OKC was impressed - Houston is a little farther to drive from Omaha

[FearlessF]

https://www.tiktok.com/@bigtennetwork/video/7620538861604703518?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

[grillrat]

Strong signs pointing to Hubert Davis being fired from UNC.

[FearlessF]

Nebraskans have purchased 28% of tickets to the two Sweet 16 games in Houston on Thursday, an online ticket reseller said.

[CatsbyAZ]

Kansas and Saint Johns warming up before tip-off:

With Kansas losing in dramatic fashion to St. Johns on Sunday, I hadn't realized how much Kansas has "averaged out" since the Jayhawks won it all in 2022. Not until their disappointed fans fumed at Bill Self in the aftermath of Kansas giving up a tie-breaking layup as time expired. In the four seasons since 2022, Kansas has not made it past the Tournament’s first weekend, this after each of the three following years (’23, ’24, and ’25) Kansas spent the earlier majority of those seasons ranked number #1 (’23 highest rank was actually #2).

So what changed for Bill Self’s successful tenure? Kansas fans are saying it’s a combination of the Big 12 beefing up with the additions of Houston/Arizona/BYU and especially Bill Self’s inability to adjust to the NIL/Transfer Portal era.

[Wildcat4E]

With Kansas losing in dramatic fashion to St. Johns on Sunday, I hadn't realized how much Kansas has "averaged out" since the Jayhawks won it all in 2022. Not until their disappointed fans fumed at Bill Self in the aftermath of Kansas giving up a tie-breaking layup as time expired. In the four seasons since 2022, Kansas has not made it past the Tournament’s first weekend, this after each of the three following years (’23, ’24, and ’25) Kansas spent the earlier majority of those seasons ranked number #1 (’23 highest rank was actually #2).

So what changed for Bill Self’s successful tenure? Kansas fans are saying it’s a combination of the Big 12 beefing up with the additions of Houston/Arizona/BYU and especially Bill Self’s inability to adjust to the NIL/Transfer Portal era.

I think it's a combination of both of those factors.

But even the guy we just fired was 3-1 v. KU at home.

So, the bigger factor is that they are having trouble competing now that everyone pays their players!

One way they used to fudge the rules, they would put some rich kid on the team, and that guy's sole job was to pay for anything and everything the rest of the talent wanted.  Anyway, that's the scoop I've heard.

I do, however, think they will rue the day if they run Dollar Bill off.  Although their status wasn't great under Ted Owens, these are the coaches they've had since he was hired in 1965: Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, Bill Self.  60 years, 4 coaches--and Larry Brown was only there for 5 years.

[ELA]

Izzo and Painter might be the last two coaches building nearly exclusively through recruiting high school players.

I think there might be other coaches who want to, but you have to win quickly, so you need a quick infusion of portal talent, and what good recruits are signing up when you are putting a bunch of older kids adults in front of them.  So then your first year, win or lose, you lose a decent number of those guys.  If you won, you can't get worse.  If your didn't, you can't lose again.  The coaches who get it right will be the best teams.  The coaches who don't will flame out.  I think MSU and Purdue are well situated to always be very good.  The teams they finish behind will change year to year, but I think they will always be behind whichever team did get it right that year.  That might mean teams who lean into the portal heaviliy; Auburn, Michigan, Indiana, etc... will be great one year, and in the NIT the next.  So it's a matter of whether you want to be consistently very good, or shoot for great, and maybe be Auburn or Kentucky or Kansas State this year if you miss

[Wildcat4E]

Izzo and Painter might be the last two coaches building nearly exclusively through recruiting high school players.

I think there might be other coaches who want to, but you have to win quickly, so you need a quick infusion of portal talent, and what good recruits are signing up when you are putting a bunch of older kids adults in front of them.  So then your first year, win or lose, you lose a decent number of those guys.  If you won, you can't get worse.  If your didn't, you can't lose again.  The coaches who get it right will be the best teams.  The coaches who don't will flame out.  I think MSU and Purdue are well situated to always be very good.  The teams they finish behind will change year to year, but I think they will always be behind whichever team did get it right that year.  That might mean teams who lean into the portal heaviliy; Auburn, Michigan, Indiana, etc... will be great one year, and in the NIT the next.  So it's a matter of whether you want to be consistently very good, or shoot for great, and maybe be Auburn or Kentucky or Kansas State this year if you miss

MSU is always a tough out in the tourney.  Izzo's teams always get better as the season goes along, which is a testament to his coaching ability.  Purdue is always a solid squad, even though my uncle was ranting that Painter should have gotten fired the year you guys had a 7-4 center and never threw it to him, settling for 3's, going cold and going home.

K-State's coach only had a team that improved along the way in his very first year.  All 3 later versions finished with a fizzle, getting worse toward the end of the season instead of improving.  Which is also a testament to his coaching.  Hell, they started out pretty hot this year, and really had a chance to beat Nebraska--losing by 1 on a drive to the bucket. It absolutely fell off the cliff after that loss, the team flat out stopped playing with any effort, and boom, we're arguing over an $18.7 M buyout.

Our new coach was great at identifying high school talent, but had no money to keep anybody, and was a yearly victim of the portal.  However, he re-loaded and won 20 games every damn year.  That's what we need, a "program," and to keep guys he finds or maybe add a few when the occasion presents itself.  

K-State has been to 3 Elite-8's with 3 different coaches since Iowa and St. Johns even made the Sweet 16, I was a bit surprised to learn the other day.  

[847badgerfan]

I always liked Bruce Weber. 

Bill (go play with your) Self not so much.

[medinabuckeye1]

Izzo and Painter might be the last two coaches building nearly exclusively through recruiting high school players.

I think there might be other coaches who want to, but you have to win quickly, so you need a quick infusion of portal talent, and what good recruits are signing up when you are putting a bunch of older kids adults in front of them.  So then your first year, win or lose, you lose a decent number of those guys.  If you won, you can't get worse.  If your didn't, you can't lose again.  The coaches who get it right will be the best teams.  The coaches who don't will flame out.  I think MSU and Purdue are well situated to always be very good.  The teams they finish behind will change year to year, but I think they will always be behind whichever team did get it right that year.  That might mean teams who lean into the portal heaviliy; Auburn, Michigan, Indiana, etc... will be great one year, and in the NIT the next.  So it's a matter of whether you want to be consistently very good, or shoot for great, and maybe be Auburn or Kentucky or Kansas State this year if you miss

I think there is a lot of truth here.  

As a fan I hate this new version.  I liked watching guys develop and looking forward to next year as guys improved but now I look at Ohio State's younger players from this year and wonder "will they even be here next year?".  

I also think that there is some feeback loop going on here in the way that you explained but also in another way:  When you develop a team through recruiting HS players it is going to be VERY rare that you wind up with five championship level guys at the same time.  Usually you'll miss on one position or a guy will leave early or whatever and you'll end up with 4/5 of a championship team and one MAC level guy.  In the old (like five years ago) days that was fine because most every team was in that same boat so even when you got to the F4 most teams had a position or two that wasn't really up to F4/Championship caliber.  You can't do that anymore because the teams that get to the F4 are going to be teams that filled ALL of their holes and can put five high end players on the court at once.  

In today's game you KNOW that other teams are going to fill their holes with portal guys so if you want to have a legit shot to compete at the highest level then you are going to have to do the same.