~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[bayareabadger]

Had everything not gone wrong for UW this year, I still wouldn’t have predicted a win today. 

Factor in the development failures, and the injuries to a pair of rotation players, the fact UW stayed as close as it did really impressed. MSU helped, but this team is still only six-deep before it gets to the scrubs and walk-ons, and those six are plenty young. 

Seeing that they still fight hard at this point for Gard, he and UW should be alright. 

[ELA]

We need medina on here for game by game updates today.

[847badgerfan]

Davidson is unconscious right now ... tough kid coming right back in after popping his shoulder out.

He's been doing that, and playing out of position, all season.

[847badgerfan]

The gophers screwed the pooch. Could have had a freshman backcourt of Davison and McKinley Wright. Instead they went after the NY street baller

Gophers are all flash and no dash. Eventually they'll get it figured out up there and get some dash, but only when they lose the flash ('Lil Rickey and 'Lil Peej).

RTsB

[jhetfield99]

Man does it pain me like hell Purdue was 12-0 and then doesn't even get a piece of the damn title along with very likely throwing the 1 seed away  That's how damning 2 final possession losses to 1st and 2nd place teams can be after leading the vast majority of both games, along with dropping an alltime stinker (given the full circumstances) at Wisc.

I was surprised to see this was MSU's 1st outright title since 09.

It it terrific that Purdue gets to face IU Fri night, unless the latter screws it up.  If they can then top OSU, and meet MSU in the CTCG, I think the winner of Purdue/MSU can sneak into a 1 seed

Bracket wise for Purdue I would prefer to avoid one with Kansas, UNC and Duke.

Should be a fun BTT, though I still am rolling my eyes at the NYC and finish a week early deal, both could actually end up benefiting Purdue, as they could use the 1.5 week rest, Haas, PJ and Vince have looked absolutely beat in the last couple weeks.  Vince's injury has allowed Carsen to really show what a crazy scorer he can be when he's allowed to go true alpha scorer.  I went to the game in Champaign, was quite sweet to see a 40-burger live. 

[bayareabadger]

He's been doing that, and playing out of position, all season.

I kind of wonder where this string ends.
Watching Davison, he plays like very few shooting guards of recent UW vintage. Traditionally the SG is a high-efficiency/lower-usage floor spacer who can do an extra thing here and there (Brust, Gasser, Jbo, Showalter). Davison is much more in the mold of UW points, i.e. taking the ball at the end of the clock and making something happen. The last UW SG to really do that was Flowers, and he might be the only one outside of when Devin Harris played there as a freshman. I think Hughes played some his last two years, but that was because Jordan Taylor was taking the ball a lot and in essence making Hughes more of a wing/SG.
The thing I'm interested in is, can Davison allow Trice to be a floor-spacing shooter with better passing/point skills next year? I still like Brad having the ball in his hands at the end of the clock, but the potential to do it with either Prtizel or Trice (or both) out there is interesting. 

[medinabuckeye1]

We need medina on here for game by game updates today.

I have had a busy day but here is where we are now (as I type this Iowa has about a 20 point lead on NU so I'm going to assume that it holds up):

• 16-2 Michigan State
• 15-3 Ohio State (wins tiebreaker over PU based on H2H, won on W. Lafayette)
• 15-3 Purdue
• 13-5 Nebraska (wins tiebreaker over M based on H2H, no game in Ann Arbor)
• 13-5 Michigan
• 9-9 Indiana (wins tiebreaker over PSU based on H2H, no game in State College)
• 9-9 Penn State
• 8-10 Maryland
• 7-11 Wisconsin
• 6-12 Northwestern
• 4-14 Minnesota (wins H2H2H tiebreaker over ILL 2-1, beats Iowa based on record against the PSU and IU)
• 4-14 Iowa (beats ILL based on H2H2H, loses to MN based on record against PSU and IU)
• 4-14 Illinois
• 3-15 Rutgers

Thus, the match-ups in the BTT at MSG in NYC will be:
Wednesday, February 28:

• #11 Minnesota vs #14 Rutgers, 8pm, BTN
• #12 Iowa vs #13 Illinois, 5:30pm, BTN

Thursday, March 1:

• #5 Michigan vs IA/IL, 2:30pm, BTN
• #6 Indiana vs MN/RU, 9pm, BTN
• #7 Penn State vs #10 Northwestern, 6:30pm, BTN
• #8 Maryland vs #9 Wisconsin, noon, BTN

Friday, March 2:

• #1 Michigan State vs UMD/UW, noon, BTN
• #2 Ohio State vs PSU/NU, 6:30pm, BTN
• #3 Purdue vs IU/MN/RU, 9pm, BTN
• #4 Nebraska vs M/IA/IL, 2:30pm, BTN

Saturday, March 3:

• MSU/UMD/UW vs UNL/M/IA/IL, 2pm, CBS
• tOSU/PSU/NU vs PU/IU/MN/RU, 4:30pm, CBS

Sunday, March 4:

• MSU/UMD/UW/UNL/M/IA/IL vs tOSU/PSU/NU/PU/IU/MN/RU, 4:30pm, CBS

Note to Brutus, sorry there will not be a tOSU/M match-up in the BTT at MSG in NYC unless the Buckeyes and Wolverines both make the B1GCG.  

Some interesting stories/potential match-ups:

• Michigan State potentially playing Wisconsin again on Friday, would be back-to-back games against the Badgers for the Spartans.  
• Ohio State potentially playing PSU on Friday.  The Nittany Lions have had Ohio State's number.  Will that continue?
• Purdue likely to play in-state rival Indiana on Friday.  
• Michigan State reasonably likely to rematch with Michigan on Saturday.  

[medinabuckeye1]

I have had a busy day but here is where we are now (as I type this Iowa has about a 20 point lead on NU so I'm going to assume that it holds up)

In the time it took me to type that up the NU/Iowa game has closed to now only an 11 point game.  If Northwestern wins:

• Iowa moves down to the #14 seed (they lose the tie with RU based on H2H, no game in Iowa City).  
• Illinois moves up to the #12 seed.  
• Rutgers moves up to the #13 seed.  

So the Wednesday, February 28 match-ups would be:

• #11 Minnesota vs #14 Iowa, 8pm, BTN
• #12 Illinois vs #13 Rutgers, 5:30pm, BTN

[Hawkinole]

Jordan Bohanan intentionally misses free throw to preserve his tie with Chris Street -- who had no opportunity to extend his free throw streak of 34.
http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/iowa/basketball-men/2018/02/25/jordan-bohannons-intentionally-missed-free-throw-keeps-chris-street-record-books/371686002/
Afterward, Mike Street, Chris Street's dad who is a season ticket holder told him,  "We certainly in the future want him to get another shot at it. "I told him, ‘Next time, you need to go right on by."

[Brutus Buckeye]

[Hawkinole]

After Northwestern rebounded the miss, Nicholas Baer picked up a quick steal. And Luka Garza scored to put Iowa comfortably ahead, 75-65.
No harm done. One significant record maintained. 
“We had an agreement that God’s plan wasn’t going to let that happen. You saw that tonight," Bohannon said. "I missed it. We got the ball right back. I don’t know if it was really destined to happen, but it worked out like it should have.”
Even though Bohannon was born more than 4 years after Street's death, his legacy has endured. That's why this record meant so much. Now the two Hawkeyes share it.
“I know where the record deserves to stand, and that’s in Chris’ name," Bohannon said. "... It gets me a little emotional, knowing what one player can do for an entire state and entire Midwest and entire country, just to know what type of player he was.”
"That's not my record to have. That record deserves to stay in his name."

[jhetfield99]

Very interesting tribute.

[847badgerfan]

I kind of wonder where this string ends.
Watching Davison, he plays like very few shooting guards of recent UW vintage. Traditionally the SG is a high-efficiency/lower-usage floor spacer who can do an extra thing here and there (Brust, Gasser, Jbo, Showalter). Davison is much more in the mold of UW points, i.e. taking the ball at the end of the clock and making something happen. The last UW SG to really do that was Flowers, and he might be the only one outside of when Devin Harris played there as a freshman. I think Hughes played some his last two years, but that was because Jordan Taylor was taking the ball a lot and in essence making Hughes more of a wing/SG.
The thing I'm interested in is, can Davison allow Trice to be a floor-spacing shooter with better passing/point skills next year? I still like Brad having the ball in his hands at the end of the clock, but the potential to do it with either Prtizel or Trice (or both) out there is interesting.

I think this season of him having to play the point will serve him well and make him a much better shooting guard. He's now got that appreciation for what it takes at the college level and what I think will happen is he will be more adept at the reads and cuts moving forward.

I wonder where Anderson fits in all this, for next year. Maybe the backup for Trice, with Davison and Pritzl at the SG?

They could also play three guards. It will be nice for Gard to have more Guards.

[PSUinNC]

Very disappointing morning to be a Nittany Lion.  Nebraska imposed their will last night, team looks really tough; hats off to them.  

But man, what coulda been.....Was all right in front of this team, and they really clammed up the last week of the season.

The ONLY silver lining is if they do win their first game, they get OSU in the quarters and then likely Purdue in the semis, both teams I'd rather see than Michigan or MSU.  But I don't expect them to have OSU's number for a third straight game.  Heck at this point, I'm not sure they get past Northwestern anyway without Watkins.