~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[Brutus Buckeye]

OSU has an exhibition game against Wooster. That's pretty ridiculous. 

Typically it's against a team that is at least D2. 

[NickSmith4Three]

I have no idea why

[ohio1317]

Big Ten has announced how they are going to do scheduling (kind of).  http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101917aab.html

Basically, they will lock in-state teams for home and homes every year.  They are also going to start "regional" based scheduling.  Over 6 years, in-state teams will play 12 times, "regional" teams 10 times, and everyone else 9 times.



I played through this on my own and tried to figure out how this would work and think I got it. The "regional opponents" are almost certainly going to be:
 Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers.
 Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota

 -That makes sense for everyone except Ohio State who doesn't identify as an east coast school and has stronger history elsewhere, but I can see how they came to it even if not a fan of the grouping (OSU was simply odd man out).

 So the schedules look like this:
 Michigan/Michigan State/Illinois/Northwestern/Indiana/Purdue:
 -Home and home every year vs. instate team
 -Play home and home with other 12 schools every other year (with 6 extra games)

 Other 8 schools:
 -Start with a schedule of playing everyone home and home every other year outside of your "regional opponents" (10 teams, 15 games a year)
 -Will play 5 games vs. your "regional opponents" every year meaning a home and home with 2 of the 3 each year on a rotation basis (hence the 6 year cycle).

 On a personal level, I don't really like the regional grouping from an Ohio State fan perspective (I personally get most excited playing Michigan followed by Wisconsin and Indiana), but I like the 20 games a year in conference and think it works out well for everyone else there. It also still only amounts to one extra game vs. each of the 3 eastern schools over 6 year vs. anyone else and we still at least get everyone else more too. In short, not exactly what I was looking for, but I'll take it given how it makes sense for the other 13 schools and the 20 game schedule.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Thanks for trying to wrap your brain around it.

I don't think OSU has a hoops rival. 

Indiana and Michigan would be the ones that OSU fans would point to, but obviously neither would be reciprocated as they both have in-state rivalries that are much more heated on the hardwood. 

Odd that the Mac is the only Conference with Divisions. CUSA used to have them, clear back when they were made up almost entirely of teams that are no longer in that Conference. 

[ELA]

I don't get why Michigan is so underrated. Walton was good, but Simmons should be all-BigTen caliber, as well as a grad-transfer where he was all-MAC at Ohio and Matthews (the transfer from Kentucky) should be better than Irvin. Donnal wasn't that great, either, so one of the young big men should adequately replace him behind Wagner. I don't discount the loss of DJ Wilson, but his production is still replaceable.

Fortunately the schedule will let them prove themselves pretty quickly with the Maui Tournament, and non-con games @Texas, UCLA, and @North Carolina.

Yeah, IMO it all comes down to Simmons.  Beilein's teams have fared how their point guard has fared.  If he is All-Big Ten caliber (I have no idea, although that seems a touch lofty) then Michigan is a no brainer top 20 team.  If he struggles, they may struggle just to get into the tourney.  I have to imagine they are going to get destroyed on the glass, but JB teams tend to do that, with little effect.

[ELA]

MSU playing Georgia in a hurricane relief fundraiser on Sunday, in Grand Rapids.

So are these all charity loopholes that the NCAA doesn't want the bad PR of closing

[NickSmith4Three]

Illinois reportedly lost by a few to Indiana St in a secret scrimmage last week and beat Vandy yesterday by 10.

Illinois will play an exhibition at Eastern Illinois with the proceeds going to disaster relief.

[FearlessF]

Huskers beat the Cyclones in a closed scrimmage

but, a couple of the Clones didn't play because they are rumored to have upset the coach

[ELA]

Crap, seems like a national cover too.  Cursed

[HailHailMSP]

Yeah, IMO it all comes down to Simmons.  Beilein's teams have fared how their point guard has fared.  If he is All-Big Ten caliber (I have no idea, although that seems a touch lofty) then Michigan is a no brainer top 20 team.  If he struggles, they may struggle just to get into the tourney.  I have to imagine they are going to get destroyed on the glass, but JB teams tend to do that, with little effect.

Nailed it. And I would add to it that it shows itself even more towards the end of the season. Walton, Burke, and Morris all had good seasons on years Michigan made runs, but they really elevated come Feb/March. They carried teams on their back. 
The lone exception where they made a run that I can think of was the year after Burke left. Walton was a freshman, and had a very underwhelming NCAA tournament. That was a Stauskas led team, with some heavy support from Glenn Robinson and Jordan Morgan. The lack of PG play hurt them in the regional final shootout against the Harrison brothers at Kentucky. 

[ELA]

MSU opens at #2 in the coaches poll, Duke #1

http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-men/polls/coaches-poll/

Minnesota at #15, Northwestern at #20 and Purdue at #21 are the other Big Ten teams.

Wisconsin, Maryland and Michigan all receiving votes

Same in the AP Poll released today, Duke #1, MSU #2.  They play each other the 2nd game of the season.
Minnesota #15, Northwestern #19, Purdue #20
Wisconsin, Maryland and Michigan receiving votes

[ELA]

Junior Kyle Ahrens re-aggravated a foot injury, and sounds like he may just take a medical redshirt now.

Was finally going to be able to play his more natural position this year with the influx of bigs allowing him to play out on the wing, so I feel bad for him after suffering through a couple years of trying to fake it at the 4.

Averaged 2.6 ppg in 8 mpg last year, but shot 34% from 3, and was intrigued to see him out on the wing more this year.  He had a dunk in HS that made SC Top 10, and I believe participated in the HSAA dunk contest.  His younger brother will play for OSU next year.

[bayareabadger]

UW picked up a commit from Taylor Currie

A 6-foot-8 stretch 4, he seems like a Michigan-style player and was committed to them until Sept. 29. He reclassified and is super young, with a redshirt pending, but was a top-200 kid with a lot of potential. I like the pickup, even after losing an awesome guard in Herro.

[MichiFan87]

Michigan scrimmaged Toledo, and has an exhibition game on Friday night (unfortunately the same time as the hockey team plays Ferris State, where I'll be at).

Behind Wagner, it sounds like Teske is still the #2 center over Davis, but they have different strengths and weaknesses. Teske is better defensively but Davis is more skilled.

The forward position is my primary concern at this point. Robinson will probably be a starter initially, but the hope is that Livers emerges since he has more upside. 

Matthews will be the 3-guard and probably get most of the minutes there. Poole is focusing on that role, as well, as is Watson. I'll be happy if they combine to provide better offense and comparable defense than Irvin did.

Abdur-Rahkman remains the starting 2-guard. The question is if he's ready to be a bigger focal point of the offense. I think he can be, but I'm not sure if it will happen. He doesn't have a true backup, so I think he'll play the most minutes of anyone on the team.

And the 3-way competition at PG continues between Simpson, Simmons, and Brooks. I suspect we may see some 2-PG lineups against smaller teams, especially against bad guarantee game opponents, but not against better competition.

It will be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out....