~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[medinabuckeye1]

Pardon my ignorance, but I really know nothing about this PK80 thing that both Ohio State and Michigan State are playing in on Turkey Day.  

For one thing, apparently Portland has an arena so big that they have two BB arenas in it?  

First question:  On the PK80 Bracket that I found online MSU is supposed to open with Georgetown but on the Worldwide Leader's schedule for MSU, they are playing DePaul.  What happened there?

Apparently this is really two eight-team tournaments.  In the Victory Bracket:

• UNC/Portland at 2:30
• Ark/OU at 5:00
• Oregon/UCONN at 9:00
• MSU/DePaul at 11:30

In the Motion Bracket:

• Dook/Portland St at 4:30
• Texas/Butler at 7:00
• Florida/Stanford at 10:00
• Ohio State/Gonzaga at 11:59

Then each team will play two more games because there are winners and losers brackets after each step.  Ie, on Friday Ohio State will play either Florida or Stanford and on Sunday they will play either Dook, Portland St, Texas or Butler.  

Each bracket will produce:

• 3-0 Champion
• 2-1 Second place
• 2-1 Third place
• 1-2 fourth place
• 2-1 fifth place
• 1-2 sixth place
• 1-2 seventh place
• 0-3 eighth place

Do I have this right in my head?

Does anybody think Ohio State has a chance against Gonzaga?  

Is it possible that Ohio State would be better off to lose to Gonzaga because they could then win two games in the losers bracket as opposed to beating Gonzaga and then probably losing two games in the winners bracket?  

[ELA]

First question:  On the PK80 Bracket that I found online MSU is supposed to open with Georgetown but on the Worldwide Leader's schedule for MSU, they are playing DePaul.  What happened there?

They were supposed to play Georgetown, but they dropped out, and released some weird statement that was basically like "we don't want to play a bunch of losable games."  I recall reading some DC writer blasting them for it, that this is basically the marquee event for Nike's premier basketball schools, and nobody is going to remember who wins and loses.  That there's far more value in confirming your place among the basketball elite, both from a perception standpoint, and as far as your relationship with Nike, than in ducking a couple good losses.

Each bracket will produce:

• 3-0 Champion
• 2-1 Second place
• 2-1 Third place
• 1-2 fourth place
• 2-1 fifth place
• 1-2 sixth place
• 1-2 seventh place
• 0-3 eighth place

Do I have this right in my head?

Does anybody think Ohio State has a chance against Gonzaga?  

Is it possible that Ohio State would be better off to lose to Gonzaga because they could then win two games in the losers bracket as opposed to beating Gonzaga and then probably losing two games in the winners bracket?  

Yup, same as all of these 8 team preseason tourneys.  I think it can be kind of a wash as far as winning first but going 2-1 vs. losing first but going 1-2.  Yes, you pick up an additional loss the 2nd way, but by being in the winners bracket, you are more likely to play RPI boosting opponents.  That said, this field is beyond loaded aside from Portland/Portland State, so aside from playing them, pretty much everyone should be an RPI boost, save for playing DePaul like MSU has to now.

The tourney as a whole should be great, only problem is the tip times with it being on the West coast.

I'll certainly give MSU AD Mark Hollis credit (this was his idea), that as far as these types of things go, he continues to be at the forefront.  Not such a bad idea to throw a birthday bash for your biggest sponsor, and get ESPN involved.

[MaximumSam]

No clue what Gonzaga looks like this year, but playing them at midnight on the west coast seems like a recipe for disaster.

[PSUinNC]

Quite pleased with PSU's effort yesterday in Brooklyn.  aTm is clearly a better team, but PSU really hung with them.  aTm shot the lights out from 3 last night as well as had an unreal effort at the free throw line.  aTm got up 17 at one point in the 2nd half, but PSU immediately fought back and got it down to 5 with about 8 to go. 

PSU is playing a ton of young talent, save for Julien Moore and Shep Garner which are both seniors.  Shep unfortunately never really materialized into that 'replacement' for Tim Frazier (and I put in quotes b/c Shep was never an NBA level talent like Tim, but should have been a more serviceable 3 guard than he's become).  Tony Carr is the real deal, you'll all enjoy watching him play this year and I think he has NBA level skills, just not an NBA body.  Watkins is a nice big body inside and Stevens is a natural scorer. They have some really nice talent on D, even if it didn't show last night.

I am really happy that what Chambers put in motion so long ago is finally coming to fruition - and that's the pipeline FINALLY to Philly.  PSU never ever ever had that, it's refreshing to see them getting kids that the likes of Nova and G'town are interested in.  

Best case for PSU this year is the bubble, but they'll lack a premier OOC win regardless now that they lost last night.  I don't think the B1G is good enough to simply get in b/c you're in the top half of the conference at season's end, but an NIT berth is not out of the question this year, which would really set them up nicely for a nice run in '18-19.  

[ELA]

Tugs Bowen officially not playing this year.  Louisville said he can remain on scholarship and with the team.  Considering he never suited up, and only managed to get Pitino fired, he may not want to spend much more time on campus, for his own safety.

[ELA]

It's a little early to be wondering that.  If Purdue wins Battle of Atlantis by beating Nova and Zona they'll jump to 6th or better in the country.

Or lose in the opener to a bad Tennessee team and keep that Big Ten train rolling

[mcwterps1]

I hope everyone sleeps on the Terps. 

[MichiFan87]

For all the bad press on the Big Ten, while the league's performance against quality teams has been disappointing so far, there have only been 3 bad losses - Iowa to South Dakota State & UL Lafayette, and Indiana to Indiana State - and even those wouldn't be the worst non-con losses for the league in most years.

Michigan was fortunate to beat VCU tonight. Offensively there were some dumb turnovers and defensively allowed too many offensive rebounds. The officiating was bad both ways and fortunately Michigan caught a huge break for a no-call when Wagner got a late steal that led to a fast-break. Tonight's game reinforced that Michigan has a decent starting lineup except for the on-going 3-way PG competition, a good backup center in Teske, but no quality depth at the 2/3/4 spots, though I have more hope in Livers and Poole emerging than Watson. I'll be intrigued if Beilein tries to play Wagner at the 4, which is probably where he ends up as a pro, alongside Teske, against bigger teams....

[ELA]

The best indicator of ACC sleeper pick is to be a team other than UNC or Duke, playing MSU in the Challenge.  I believe we got FSU and Miami in years where they randomly won ACC titles, we got BC in a year where if they didn't win they were really.close with Dudley, same with NCSU the year they had Hodge?  Now ND goes out and wins Maui, and will likely be top 10 when the new poll.comes out Monday.

[ELA]

Or lose in the opener to a bad Tennessee team and keep that Big Ten train rolling

And then lose to WKU.  Big Ten already managed to fall into the 7th place game in a pair of tourneys now

[ELA]

Bridges out.  Hopefully because it's a November game, so why risk it, and not because it's truly serious.

[medinabuckeye1]

I didn't stay up to watch it but yikes, judging from the score Ohio State's game against Gonzaga must have been pretty ugly.  

[MaximumSam]

Yeah sounds like they ran out of gas in the first half.  Not really expecting them to beat Gonzaga under any circumstances, especially in the middle of the night

[847badgerfan]

Big Ten = Bad