~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[grillrat]

Yes and no.  Going undefeated in this league is a BIG deal (see what I did there.... .  Hasn't been done in 40 years I believe.  So if Purdue manages to go 18-0 (which for that matter, it would be the first time ever that a coach went 18-0 in the Big Ten), that would carry a lot of weight and get a decent amount of media attention.  That's why I say that it would eclipse OSU if they have 4 losses.  3 losses or less for OSU and Holtman gets it regardless.

[ELA]

Yes and no.  Going undefeated in this league is a BIG deal (see what I did there.... .  Hasn't been done in 40 years I believe.  So if Purdue manages to go 18-0 (which for that matter, it would be the first time ever that a coach went 18-0 in the Big Ten), that would carry a lot of weight and get a decent amount of media attention.  That's why I say that it would eclipse OSU if they have 4 losses.  3 losses or less for OSU and Holtman gets it regardless.

Pretty interesting comparison to what just happened in football.  MSU was coming off 3-9, with most saying somewhere between that and maybe 5-7 or 6-6 for 2017.  They went 10-3, including 7-2 in Big Ten play.  Wisconsin was supposed to be really good, but wound up going (9-0) 12-0.  PC won COTY.  I think that's a pretty dead on comparison if Purdue goes 18-0 and OSU goes like 15-3.
I think what's working against OSU in football is that they are OSU.  They are the top program in the conference.  So not only are they expected to always be really good, so they can't exceed expectations, we aren't even impressed by how hard to expectations are.  Wisconsin football is more like Purdue basketball.  A really good program, but still to the point where we can appreciate how high the expectations are.  So I do think Painter has a better shot than Meyer does.

[ELA]

Updated composite computer poll, 41 rankings (last week in parenthesis)

1.		Villanova (1)
2.		PURDUE (2)
3.		Virginia (3)
4.		Duke (4)
5.		Kansas (9)
6.		North Carolina (7)
7.		West Virginia (8)
8.		MICHIGAN STATE (10)
9.		Xavier (12)
10.		Cincinnati (15)
11.		Clemson (16)
12.		OHIO STATE (18)
13.		Auburn (14)
14.		Texas Tech (5)
15.		Oklahoma (6)
16.		Tennessee (17)
17.		Gonzaga (13)
18.		Arizona (23)
19.		Florida (-)
20.		Nevada (-)
21.		Wichita State (11)
22.		Saint Mary's (-)
23.		TCU (24)
24.		Rhode Island (-)
25.		Creighton (25)
	-
27.		Michigan (20)
39.		Maryland (42)
60.		Nebraska (74)
66.		Minnesota (64)
77.		Penn State (63)
86.		Northwestern (81)
89.		Wisconsin (91)
91.		Indiana (77)
111.		Iowa (94)
118.		Illinois (100)
120.		Rutgers (132)

[ELA]

And good lord, THREE teams ranked outside the top 110?  I think there were years where we didn't have a single team ranked lower than like 90th.

I guess that's why we are also 5th among conferences, behind Big XII, SEC, Big East and ACC.  Only ahead of the mess that is the Pac 12.

[medinabuckeye1]

Yes and no.  Going undefeated in this league is a BIG deal (see what I did there.... .  Hasn't been done in 40 years I believe.  So if Purdue manages to go 18-0 (which for that matter, it would be the first time ever that a coach went 18-0 in the Big Ten), that would carry a lot of weight and get a decent amount of media attention.  That's why I say that it would eclipse OSU if they have 4 losses.  3 losses or less for OSU and Holtman gets it regardless.

Yes, going undefeated is a big (or as you put it, B1G) deal.  If that happens, I wonder how much consideration will be given to what a mess this conference is this year.  I do not mean to preliminary diminish Purdue's hypothetical accomplishment but ELA's latest post just pointed out that we have three sub 110 teams and remember that Purdue only plays the 2nd and 3rd best teams once each.  
I do concede that I was too strong in my projection that it would take 18-0/12-6.  I think you are right at least to the extent that 18-0 would do it if Ohio State finished 13-5 or worse.  18-0/14-4 might depend on how strong the 18-0 and 14-4 look.  Ie, I think there might be a difference between a dominant 18-0 and an 18-0 with a bunch of close wins and the same thing for Ohio State.  
I think we all agree that, barring a stupendous collapse by Ohio State, Paniter/Purdue will need to be undefeated for this to even be much of a discussion.  Going undefeated is basically a trump card and without it I don't think Purdue's hand is strong enough to make it a worthwhile discussion.  Ie, the 4-game difference between 18-0 and 14-4 is MUCH bigger than the 4-game difference between 17-1 and 13-5.  

[Brutus Buckeye]

Big Ten COTY is an everybody gets a trophy award.

If a coach wins the actual championship hardware, then they should be exempt from the tallest midget trophy. 

Give that nonsense to a bubble team that sat home the year before. 

[ELA]

Big Ten COTY is an everybody gets a trophy award.

If a coach wins the actual championship hardware, then they should be exempt from the tallest midget trophy.

Give that nonsense to a bubble team that sat home the year before.

It's not a tallest midget award.  It's a most exceeds expectations award.  Plenty of coaches have won it in years where they also won the conference.  Just not when they were expected to win the conference.

[Brutus Buckeye]

OSU has had their best FB seasons during years where expectations were low. 

It is often comical to witness some of the mental gymnastics that the Conference will go through in order to find someone else, anyone else, to give that trophy to. 

Big Ten: This coach went 5-7 when he was only supposed to go 4-8. Can you believe it? They might even get to play in a Bowl Game.

Rest of League: OMG! That's amazing? We should have hired him! What were we thinking? 

[ELA]

OSU has had their best FB seasons during years where expectations were low.

It is often comical to witness some of the mental gymnastics that the Conference will go through in order to find someone else, anyone else, to give that trophy to.

Big Ten: This coach went 5-7 when he was only supposed to go 4-8. Can you believe it? They might even get to play in a Bowl Game.

Rest of League: OMG! That's amazing? We should have hired him! What were we thinking?

Please name the 5-7 coach who won the Coach of the Year

[bayareabadger]

Big Ten COTY is an everybody gets a trophy award.

If a coach wins the actual championship hardware, then they should be exempt from the tallest midget trophy.

Give that nonsense to a bubble team that sat home the year before.

Everybody gets a trophy is a stupid and nonsensical metaphore. It just about means anything someone aggrieved wants it to mean. 
Here we have someone saying it’s part of everyone getting a trophy becuase everyone apparently can’t get this trophy. It’s kind of amazing. 
Let’s all agree it’s a kind of silly award. It seems weird y’all want one so damn bad, but whatever. 

[847badgerfan]

I'd be really happy if Gard won it this year, but I ain't gonna hold my breath on that one.

Getting past Iowa tomorrow will be tough enough.

[medinabuckeye1]

Everybody gets a trophy is a stupid and nonsensical metaphore. It just about means anything someone aggrieved wants it to mean.
Here we have someone saying it’s part of everyone getting a trophy becuase everyone apparently can’t get this trophy. It’s kind of amazing.
Let’s all agree it’s a kind of silly award. It seems weird y’all want one so damn bad, but whatever.

FWIW:  On the Ohio State boards, a LOT of tOSU fans get salty about the fact that it has been nearly 40 years since our coach has won COTY in spite of the fact that our team has been clearly the best in the league over that stretch.  This complaint makes some intuitive sense.  If Ohio State has had the best program over the past 40 years then it stands to reason that our program has had the best coach at least a few times in that span.  
I've always responded by explaining that our coach never wins COTY in football because the award is really the "Coach of the team that most exceeded expectations" award and expectations are so high for tOSU football that it is essentially impossible for our coach to win that award.  That doesn't satisfy everyone, but I think most over there accept it.  
I can tell you that if Painter wins COTY there will be a slew of infuriated Ohio State fans who will point out that our football coach never wins COTY due to high expectations and the same should apply in Basketball.  
I don't care too much about the award per-se, but I do care about the principle.  In football the Ohio State coach has not won COTY due to high expectations and the same should apply in BB.  Barring a stupendous collapse the B1G COTY should be Holtmann.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Where did I indicate that I badly wanted one?

I want OSU to win real Trophies; the kind you get for winning Bowl Games, NCs, Big Ten Titles, B1G East Titles, rivalry games, maybe a Heisman Trophy here and there. 

Let everyone else fight over the COTY consolation prize. 

[847badgerfan]

If OSU keeps doing what it's doing, there will be a COTY award in Columbus.