~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[NickSmith4Three]

Illinois played poorly against the zone and had a ton of fouls and turnovers.  Disappointing result.

[ELA]

The Big Ten is a disappointing result.

[NickSmith4Three]

That game last night was one of the worst officiated Illinois games I have ever seen.  

There was a offensive foul (charge) that somehow generated foul shots for the other team

At least one, maybe two times that a foul was nullified upon review

A tip in shot that counted for 3 pts, a foul on Illinois during that resulting in Wake getting the ball back after the tip in 3.

[Entropy]

sorry... I stumbled into the wrong room.  

what is this sport again?

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well at least Purdue took care of business...

Was fun to see all the kids in the student section wearing "FBI" shirts 

[ELA]

Forever Booing Institution?

[medinabuckeye1]

MONDAY
Maryland at Syracuse
Wisconsin at Virginia
TUESDAY
Florida State at Rutgers
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Louisville at Purdue
Illinois at Wake Forest
Iowa at Virginia Tech
WEDNESDAY
Penn State at NC State
Clemson at Ohio State
Michigan at North Carolina
Miami at Minnesota
Boston College at Nebraska
Duke at Indiana
THURSDAY
Notre Dame at Michigan State

ACC 8-6

Based on ELA's picks we should have been 3-4 at this point.  Instead we are a dismal 1-6 because all of ELA's predicted B1G losers lost along with Maryland (by 2 at Cuse) and Northwestern (by 1 at GaTech).  
If the rest of ELA's predictions hold up we will finish 4-10 which would be our worst finish since 2-7 back-to-back in 2003/2004.  
Is there any chance to salvage a decent record out of this thing?  
Using ESPN's lines:

• Penn State is a 1.5 point favorite at NCST
• Ohio State is a 5.5 point favorite vs Clemson
• Michigan is a 9.5 point dog at UNC
• Minnesota is a 5 point favorite vs Miami
• Nebraska is a 2.5 point favorite vs Boston College
• Indiana is an 8.5 point dog vs Dook
• There is no line listed for MSU vs ND

I like ESPN's lines better than ELA's predictions because we would pick up home wins by the Buckeyes and Cornhuskers.  Assuming that they have MSU favored over ND then it isn't impossible to imagine us going 5-2 the rest of the way to finish 6-8.  

The problem, as I see it, is that our remaining favorites are generally pretty close calls while the ACC's remaining favorites are both BIG favorites so we are a LOT more likely to suffer an upset than to pull off an upset.  

[ELA]

Problem is there have been 5 close games (all but Purdue's win and Iowa's loss) and we went 0-5.  Just by coin flip we should have pulled out 2 of those, and at least been 3-4 at this point.

[medinabuckeye1]

That is a fair point.  For the most part we aren't getting blown out, we just keep losing the close ones.  B1G results so far:

• 12 point road loss (UW to UVA)
• 2 point road loss (UMD to Cuse)
• 11 point home win (PU over L'ville)
• 5 point home loss (RU to FSU)
• 1 point road loss (NU to GaTech)
• 7 point road loss (ILL to WF)
• 24 point road loss (IA to VaTech)

[ELA]

Forgot about Wisconsin, that one wasn't close either, particularly considering how low scoring the game was.  They were down 10-16 most of the 2nd half, which is like 20-25 in a more typical scoring game.

[betarhoalphadelta]

And while the Purdue/L'ville game didn't finish close, it was a very close, hard-fought game all the way through. At the end Purdue pulled away during all the fouls / free throw shooting. I think it was a 4 point game with less than a minute to go. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Ohio State up 
Penn State down 7
Michigan down 14

All at halftime

[ELA]

Thought PSU had a really good shot.

Michigan doesn't look interested in playing defense at all

[medinabuckeye1]

Looking worse now. B1G losing all three games in progress.

OSU & PSU running out of time. Michigan getting run out of the gym.