Early thoughts on the conference

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SM_25

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Where would you guys rank the teams so far this year. Its been a weird start to conference play, which should make for a good ending.

Upper Teams
-Purdue
-Wisconsin
-Mich St.- Hard team to judge. 4 tough loses against Duke, AZ, Baylor, and Kentucky. Struggled with Bridges out.
-Minnesota- Tonights game doesn't change my thoughts on our team.

Next Group
Maryland- A team that is over performing in my opinion.
Indiana- Underperforming, but possibly the most talented team in the conference
Northwestern
Michigan- Pretty solid team that is returning a lot of players. They will improve as the season goes on.
Nebraska- Meh

Lower Group
Penn State- Could have easily been with that middle group. Tough team to judge that is very up and down.
Illinois- They have some talent though. Lands can really shoot the ball and Malcom Hill is very good.
Iowa- Not to much talent outside of Jok.
Ohio State- Just not an impressive team. Zero outside shooting is really going to hurt them
Rutgers- A solid squad for being the worst team in the conference.

Overall the conference is so balanced. It will make for a very fun conference season.
 

I mostly agree with your assessment. The loss tonight doesn't take away from the Gophers. They shot horrendously tonight. Put up a clunker against Penn State on Saturday and I'll start to sweat.
 

Parody. Any team can win. No clear, elite, team.
 

stocker08 said:
I mostly agree with your assessment. The loss tonight doesn't take away from the Gophers. They shot horrendously tonight. Put up a clunker against Penn State on Saturday and I'll start to sweat.
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+1 It will say a lot about the team if they can come out and respond on Saturday. This team has had to go through a lot the last year, so it wouldn't surprise me if they come out and play with a chip on their shoulder.
 

MennoSota said:
Parody. Any team can win. No clear, elite, team.
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At the start of the year i would have said Indiana was elite with wins over Kansas and UNC. Damn, imagine the meltdown on here if we were in the same shoes as the Indiana fans.
 


Think it is a very down year for the conference. No elite teams -- highest ranked team is at 17. Big East and ACC each have four teams ranked higher than that. B12 and P12 each have three ranked higher. Just a very weak B1G this year. I still think the conference gets 8 in the NCAA tourney, but I could see a scenario where only 7 get in.

The only B1G teams I would bet my house on to even make the NCAA tournament are Purdue and Wisconsin. Sparty has looked like they may have it figured out, and now Bridges is healthy, but then there was that loss to Penn State at home just a few days ago. It's wide open. I think we could see as many as eight or nine teams in the 7,8,9,10 win range. About the only thing I am sure of in terms of order of finish is that Rutgers will be last.

I think Maryland could be a dark horse. Not saying they are the best team, but their conference schedule is really forgiving. They only play Wisconsin, Michigan St, and Purdue once each. And two of those three are at home. They also get Rutgers twice. I could see the Terps winning 13-14 games in conference, which might be enough to take first.
 

bizzle22 said:
Think it is a very down year for the conference. No elite teams -- highest ranked team is at 17. Big East and ACC each have four teams ranked higher than that. B12 and P12 each have three ranked higher. Just a very weak B1G this year. I still think the conference gets 8 in the NCAA tourney, but I could see a scenario where only 7 get in.

The only B1G teams I would bet my house on to even make the NCAA tournament are Purdue and Wisconsin. Sparty has looked like they may have it figured out, and now Bridges is healthy, but then there was that loss to Penn State at home just a few days ago. It's wide open. I think we could see as many as eight or nine teams in the 7,8,9,10 win range. About the only thing I am sure of in terms of order of finish is that Rutgers will be last.

I think Maryland could be a dark horse. Not saying they are the best team, but their conference schedule is really forgiving. They only play Wisconsin, Michigan St, and Purdue once each. And two of those three are at home. They also get Rutgers twice. I could see the Terps winning 13-14 games in conference, which might be enough to take first.
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Looks like a down year in regards to elite teams but across the board the conference is extremely balanced with a lot of good teams. Should make for a really fun Big Ten Tournament at the end of the year where a lot of teams should have a great shot of coming out on top.
 

Just think the lack of elite (PJ is already in my head) teams is really going to hurt come NCAA selection time. With the exception of Indiana no one in the B1G really has any nonconference wins (which will be HUGE for the Hoosiers in March if they end up on the bubble) to hang their hat on. And since there are no elite teams in our conference no one else is going to be able to pick up those real signature wins. Purdue and Wisconsin are good, but I see both of them hanging around that 15-20 ranking position. Meanwhile in the ACC, there will probably be three top ten teams and another three or four in the top 25. Just more chances for ACC teams to pick up signature wins. I think it is a realistic possibility that the B1G only gets 7 teams in the tournament, which would be less than usual.

I agree that the Big Ten tourney will be very interesting. Obviously it's early, but with no one looking close to unbeatable it will be wide open. When was the last time that every team in the conference had at least one B1G loss by January 8?
 

7 bids almost seems certain; Gophers need to be 4-5 at turn to be well positioned

The Big Ten has never received more than 7 NCAA bids, but consistently has been getting 6 or 7. (please correct me if wrong)

Have received at least 6 bids every season since 2011, and in 4 of those ('11, '13, '15, '16) received 7. There's certainly a chance to get 8 this year even with the ACC's strength, but gotta' feel 7 is the safer number. I like the Gophers' chances of being 1 of those 7 if they find a way to be 4-5 or better at the turn (through Maryland) of the B1G sschedule.
 



SelectionSunday said:
The Big Ten has never received more than 7 NCAA bids, but consistently has been getting 6 or 7. (please correct me if wrong)

Have received at least 6 bids every season since 2011, and in 4 of those ('11, '13, '15, '16) received 7. There's certainly a chance to get 8 this year even with the ACC's strength, but gotta' feel 7 is the safer number. I like the Gophers' chances of being 1 of those 7 if they find a way to be 4-5 or better at the turn (through Maryland) of the B1G sschedule.
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I stand corrected. For some reason I thought we had gotten 8 in at least one of the last 2 years. Just looked at the last 3 years and it was 7,6, and 7. Thanks for the correction
 

Personally i think that having the B1G stronger throughout the conference is a better thing for tournament teams. Most of the teams will probably be around 50 or so in some rankings. Beating teams like that is a quality win. That win we had at Northwestern will end up looking like a good win at the end of the year. Any win against a top 50 team will look good since that is one of the things the selection committee looks at. Even with no Elite team I still Purdue can play with any team in the country. Regardless of what seeds the B1G teams get won't really matter. Come tournament time no one is going to want to play against Purdue's size, especially if they are a 3 or 4 seed. Thats going to be a tough matchup.

Besides losing Hammons, Purdue is almost returning everyone from last years team. Wisconsin lost no one of value. Indiana, which i think will be the best team going into the B1G tournament have so much talent. It just baffles me how they are struggling so bad right now.

Teams i think that get in

Purdue
Wisconsin
Indiana
Minnesota
Mich St
Maryland
Northwestern

Illinois, Michigan, and Penn St battling for a play in game.

Remember we thought we had an Elite team with Michigan St., and then they go out in the tournament and lay an egg. They aren't to far off from last years team talent wise. Based on talent alone I prefer Bridges over Valentine, but the leadership was so much better on that team.

Sorry I'm sitting in class, so I can't go in depth as i would like to.
 


SM_25 said:
Personally i think that having the B1G stronger throughout the conference is a better thing for tournament teams. Most of the teams will probably be around 50 or so in some rankings. Beating teams like that is a quality win. That win we had at Northwestern will end up looking like a good win at the end of the year. Any win against a top 50 team will look good since that is one of the things the selection committee looks at. Even with no Elite team I still Purdue can play with any team in the country. Regardless of what seeds the B1G teams get won't really matter. Come tournament time no one is going to want to play against Purdue's size, especially if they are a 3 or 4 seed. Thats going to be a tough matchup.

Besides losing Hammons, Purdue is almost returning everyone from last years team. Wisconsin lost no one of value. Indiana, which i think will be the best team going into the B1G tournament have so much talent. It just baffles me how they are struggling so bad right now.

Teams i think that get in

Purdue
Wisconsin
Indiana
Minnesota
Mich St
Maryland
Northwestern

Illinois, Michigan, and Penn St battling for a play in game.

Remember we thought we had an Elite team with Michigan St., and then they go out in the tournament and lay an egg. They aren't to far off from last years team talent wise. Based on talent alone I prefer Bridges over Valentine, but the leadership was so much better on that team.

Sorry I'm sitting in class, so I can't go in depth as i would like to.
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If we are talking predictions right now I'll say...
Wisconsin-- in for sure
Purdue-- in for sure
Maryland-- will have a gaudy record due to their schedule
Indiana-- not sold, think they get to at least 9-9 in conf and the Kansas/UNC wins are too much to ignore
Mich St.-- nudges their way in there too, though I'm not nearly as sold on them as others appear to be

So that's five. The other two...boy it's gonna be a fun battle. Right now I give the edge to the Gophers and Northwestern, but I could definitely see Illinois or Michigan sneaking into one of those last spots.
 



Top 50 wins

Good stuff, guys.

Current RPI top-50 wins by 2nd- & 3rd-tier B1G teams:

Illinois (2): vs. VCU, NC State
Indiana (3): vs. Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois
Maryland (1): Illinois
Michigan (1): vs. SMU
Michigan State (3): @ Minnesota, Minnesota, Northwestern
GOPHERS (4): @ Purdue, UT-Arlington, Arkansas, @ Northwestern
Nebraska (2): @ Maryland, vs. Dayton
Northwestern (2): Wake Forest, vs. Dayton
 

From what is listed above is the reason why the B1G is going to give the selection committee headaches. There are so many teams that are so close to one another, and these teams are going to continue stacking up wins. Personally thats why i think the B1G will be represented heavily in the tournament, but they will have the 6-10 seeds. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall listening to their conversation about our conference.

Now we have Iowa playing Purdue tough right now...its going to be a whirlwind of a season for a lot of teams. Hopefully most of the posters on here cooled down from our loss last night.
 

bizzle22 said:
If we are talking predictions right now I'll say...
Wisconsin-- in for sure
Purdue-- in for sure
Maryland-- will have a gaudy record due to their schedule
Indiana-- not sold, think they get to at least 9-9 in conf and the Kansas/UNC wins are too much to ignore
Mich St.-- nudges their way in there too, though I'm not nearly as sold on them as others appear to be

So that's five. The other two...boy it's gonna be a fun battle. Right now I give the edge to the Gophers and Northwestern, but I could definitely see Illinois or Michigan sneaking into one of those last spots.
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Im kind of curious, but what don't you like about Indiana? From a talent standpoint they are close to the top of the conference, but do you think it has something to do with chemistry right now? The one thing that i see when i watch them is a team that is missing Yogi. Maybe they haven't adjusted quite yet after running the offense through him the last four years, but they are a scary team if they figure their crap out.

I like your predictions though, good stuff.
 


Nebraska looks like they will be in contention for a bid, they looked decent against Creighton and have won a few big games in the B1g, I wouldn't count them out, with White they would be a contender.
 

SM_25 said:
Where would you guys rank the teams so far this year. Its been a weird start to conference play, which should make for a good ending.

Upper Teams
-Purdue
-Wisconsin
-Mich St.- Hard team to judge. 4 tough loses against Duke, AZ, Baylor, and Kentucky. Struggled with Bridges out.
-Minnesota- Tonights game doesn't change my thoughts on our team.

Next Group
Maryland- A team that is over performing in my opinion.
Indiana- Underperforming, but possibly the most talented team in the conference
Northwestern
Michigan- Pretty solid team that is returning a lot of players. They will improve as the season goes on.
Nebraska- Meh

Lower Group
Penn State- Could have easily been with that middle group. Tough team to judge that is very up and down.
Illinois- They have some talent though. Lands can really shoot the ball and Malcom Hill is very good.
Iowa- Not to much talent outside of Jok.
Ohio State- Just not an impressive team. Zero outside shooting is really going to hurt them
Rutgers- A solid squad for being the worst team in the conference.

Overall the conference is so balanced. It will make for a very fun conference season.
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I think Illinois is more talented than the Gophers. They should be better than they are so far.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 

FredEness said:
I think Illinois is more talented than the Gophers. They should be better than they are so far.
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Verbalcommits.com shows Illinois as having the second most talent (based on recruit rankings) in the Big Ten behind Michigan State. They usually land multiple consensus top 100 kids every year. Yet somehow Groce doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.
 

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