Search results

Top 25 team with some nice non-conference wins but never a top 10 team. They get the media darling premature rankings bump like Nebraska football. The only easy game in the B1G is Northwestern at home.

Illinois stomps Purdue 63-37 in Champaign.

Must win tonight!

This really looks like a 10-10 conference team right now. The B1G is shaping up to be soooooooooo tough this year. They'll need to really play out of their shoes to get to 12-8 at this point. That's probably what it's gonna take to get in the NCAAs.

The open shots seem to be coming from the defender being way too eager to provide help defense/crash. Seems a little naive defensively but maybe that's how they're taught to play. I assume a little adjustment in defensive strategy could neutralize this?

Your regular nuance reminder: It IS indeed possible to be *both* proud of MC's overall game and be devastated by all of the dribbling off of the shin to lose it late. Doesn't always have to be binary. But yes, in grand scheme of things, overall exploits and value to the team will matter much...

He's borderline leaving after this season, so I think it's a jury is still out argument here. Let's get a look at the full body of B1G conference play come March.

17 wins could get them in and 18 would be a lock. Too many quality wins sprinkled in with their 11-12 conference wins. It'll be hard to pass on any B1G team over .500 in conference play with how strong the league is this year.

Finish non-con at 7-5, then does a 10-8 record and 17 wins get them in the tournament? It will if they add a couple more ranked wins. If they win 11 conference games then the good wins will pretty much be there by default.

*pokes thread*

The most frustrating thing was the seeming predictability of run plays. At times it seemed as though they understood that they had to give away downs (1 or 2 yard pick ups) in order to keep the defense honest. I think the run side of the RPO will look much better with Ibrahim and Williams...

Need these next two non-con games to get to 7 wins, then an 11-7 finish in the last 18 conference games should get them in the tournament. Gonna be tough to keep an over .500 B1G team (with multiple high quality wins) out of the tournament even if they have only 17 or 18 overall wins.

Pitino is a fun guy and everyone's buddy, but I don't think he knows how to get his guys to *play* for him (ala Izzo).

Good to see Assembly Hall - Champaign rocking again. B1G basketball staple IMO.

He's witty and seems like everyone's friend, but they don't want to run through a brick wall for him. You can have a down year, but you should at least fight.

Knew there would be a mountain to climb with drawing Auburn or Alabama, but I think most wanted the challenge/spectacle. A few folks wanted Tennessee so that the Gophers had a better chance at getting an 11th win, but I'd rather face the big boys and get a true top-10 test.

OSU wins? Wisc, Wisc, PSU and @Michigan. Good wins but all four are only top 10-15 teams. LSU wins? Georgia, @Alabama, Florida, Auburn. Two top 5 wins and two top 10-15 wins. Does it come down to which non-conference win is better: LSU win @Texas or OSU at home to Cincinnati? I think the...

OSU - 96 rating PSU - 89 rating WI - 87 rating Minn - 86 rating Mich - 85 rating Iowa - 83 rating Indiana - 77 rating Illinois - 74 rating Michigan State - 73 rating Purdue - 71 rating Nebraska - 70 rating Maryland - 69 rating Northwestern - 66 rating Rutgers - 62 rating

No way Minnesota is behind Oregon and Utah now (in a sane world). NCAA is doing everything it can to rig rankings so that PAC-12 can sneak in. At some point, it's time to turn it into the Power Four instead of Power Five.

Nice thing is that college football is truly a multi-year build project. (as opposed to the "win now" pro sports approach). It's not as much about assembling individual players. It's about building a top-line culture and sustaining it (see PJ's references to Iowa/Wisconsin sustained culture)...