~2017-18 Big Ten Basketball Thread~

[ELA]

And the teams on the right didn't even really struggle.  Villanova, Duke, Clemson and West Virginia were probably the four most impressive teams of the weekend.

[medinabuckeye1]

Updated to include second round:

Record by seed:

• 3-1 - UVA lost:  2-1 - Xavier lost.  
• 4-0:  2-2 - Cincy and UNC lost.  
• 4-0:  2-2 - TN and MSU lost.  
• 2-2 - Zona and Wichita State lost:  1-1 - Auburn lost.  
• 4-0:  3-1 - Kentucky, WVU, Clemson won.  
• 2-2 - Miami and TCU lost:  0-2.  
• 3-1 - Arkansas lost:  2-1 - aTm and Nevada won.  
• 1-3 - Creighton, VaTech, and Mizzou lost:  0-1.  
• 3-1 - KSU, Bama, and FSU won:  2-1 KSU and FSU won.  
• 1-3 - Butler won:  0-1.  
• 2-2 - Loyola-Chicago and Cuse won:  2-0 both won.  
• 0-4:  n/a
• 2-2 - Buffalo and Marshall won:  0-2.  
• 0-4:  n/a
• 0-4:  n/a
• 1-3 - UMBC won:  0-1

Lots of upsets in the second round and oddly they are concentrated on one side of the bracket where the National semi-final will be no better than a 3/5 match-up.  

[FearlessF]

It's MAdness, baby!

[MaximumSam]

Michigan gets a third straight matchup with a strong defensive team.  Expect more slog.

[Temp430]

Michigan gets a third straight matchup with a strong defensive team.  Expect more slog.
 

Truly a miracle Saturday night.  Michigan's shooting has been absolutely atrocious for the two NCAA tournament games played so far.

[Riffraft]

This is going to be awesome.
I can only hope that UC and Xavier are on a similar collision course.

Well that worked out well. As much I as I generally root for Xavier, after living in Cincinnati for over 20 years as a Cleveland Browns fan enduring all the garbage from Cincy people about Cleveland and Cleveland Sports teams, I have to enjoy the curse of Cincinnati Sports. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Yeah, trying to grasp for a rooting interest from here on out.

I guess I'll take W Virginia and whoever plays Michigan. 

[FearlessF]

West Virginia and KAnsas st

Huggy Bear and Bruce Weber

[847badgerfan]

He's anything but Huggy...

[betarhoalphadelta]

It is crazy how the brackets work out.  On the right-hand side (East/Midwest) it is mostly chalk.  You have:

• Both #1 seeds Nova, Kansas
• Both #2 seeds PU, Dook
• One #3 seed TxTech
• Both #5 seeds Clemson, WVU
• One #11 seed Cuse

Then on the left-hand side (South/West) there is almost no chalk.  You have:

• One #3 seed Michigan
• One #4 seed Gonzaga
• One #5 seed Kentucky
• Both #7 seeds aTm, Nevada
• Both #9 seeds KSU, FSU
• One #11 seed Loyola-Chicago

If you view #5 seeds as not "really" upsets then on the right you have only one upset and on the left you have five out of eight.  

This is Purdue's 4th S16 under Painter. Every prior S16 was a 4 or 5, and never got the "broken bracket" scenario where the 8/9 (or the 16!!!) knocked the 1 out of contention.
This year, Purdue has a 2, so of course we're facing the 3 in the S16, and our 1 is still in contention, while the other side of the bracket the best remaining seed (3 seed Michigan) gets a 7, and the other remaining 2 seed on our side is facing an 11. And if we manage to make the F4, chances are we're facing Kansas or Duke.

[FearlessF]

probably better to be the underdog this year

#1, #2, & #3 seeds dropping like flies

[MrNubbz]

It's MAdness, baby!

Unfookingbelievable 3 of my final 4 are out after the 1st weekend.UVA/MSU/Xavier.Who ever wins these brackets doesn't know chit.......when you think about it.This will be the funkiest final four in quite some time

[ELA]

Unfookingbelievable 3 of my final 4 are out after the 1st weekend.UVA/MSU/Xavier.Who ever wins these brackets doesn't know chit.......when you think about it.This will be the funkiest final four in quite some time

I never had faith in MSU getting past Duke, so at least when MSU went down, I figured after 24 hours to cool off I could still root for my bracket.  Then back to back I lost a Final 4 team (UNC), then a Finals team (Cincy), and the whole thing had gone to hell.
I said I didn't like UM's chances against UNC at all, I thought that was an awful matchup for them, but if UNC got upset before the Sweet 16, I thought UM would make it to San Antonio for sure.  I guess that can now get put to the test.

[ELA]

As for next year, MSU should take a step back, but who knows.  The fact that MSU's lone Final 4 team in the last 6 years is probably the worst team they fielded in that stretch prevents me from dealing in absolutes.  I'm assuming Bridges and Jackson are gone.  Carter, Nairn and Schilling graduate.  Rumors are Ward is sort of done, but I don't see any way he gets drafted.  He's not what the NBA wants in a big anymore.  We'll see if smarter heads prevail.

I would think they should still be a tourney team, anything beyond that is gravy.  Off the top of my head, McQuaid was the only junior, so presumably 2019-20 should be a strong year.

With or without Wagner, next year Michigan should be the very heavy favorite.