If Big Ten Tournament Started Today. ...

SelectionSunday

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This is how the pairings would look for the first three days. All games on BTN.

Weakling Wednesday (March 8)
#12 Ohio State (2-4) vs. #13 Nebraska (2-5), 5:30 p.m.
#11 Indiana (2-4) vs. #14 Minnesota (1-4), 8 p.m.

2nd Round (March 9)
#8 Illinois (3-3) vs. #9 Wisconsin (3-3), 11 a.m.
#5 Iowa (4-3) vs. Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30 p.m.
#7 Northwestern (3-3) vs. #10 Maryland (2-4), 5:30 p.m.
#6 Penn State (3-3) vs. Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Quarterfinals (March 10)
#1 Purdue (5-1) vs. Illinois/Wisconsin winner, 11 a.m.
#4 Michigan (4-2) vs. Iowa/Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30
#2 Rutgers (5-2) vs. Northwestern/Maryland winner, 5:30 p.m.
#3 Michigan State (4-2) vs. Penn State/Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.
 

This is how the pairings would look for the first three days. All games on BTN.

Weakling Wednesday (March 8)
#12 Ohio State (2-4) vs. #13 Nebraska (2-5), 5:30 p.m.
#11 Indiana (2-4) vs. #14 Minnesota (1-4), 8 p.m.

2nd Round (March 9)
#8 Illinois (3-3) vs. #9 Wisconsin (3-3), 11 a.m.
#5 Iowa (4-3) vs. Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30 p.m.
#7 Northwestern (3-3) vs. #10 Maryland (2-4), 5:30 p.m.
#6 Penn State (3-3) vs. Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Quarterfinals (March 10)
#1 Purdue (5-1) vs. Illinois/Wisconsin winner, 11 a.m.
#4 Michigan (4-2) vs. Iowa/Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30
#2 Rutgers (5-2) vs. Northwestern/Maryland winner, 5:30 p.m.
#3 Michigan State (4-2) vs. Penn State/Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.
Who are your biggest surprises, both better and worse,than you imagined at this juncture?
 

Who are your biggest surprises, both better and worse,than you imagined at this juncture?
IMO Wisconsin is going to plummet in the rankings / B10 standings. They are weak this year as evidence of the drubbing they took at the hands of a depleted Indiana team (who lost 3 in a row and suffered injuries prior to beating the Bucky by 18, holding them to 45 as a team, and keeping their highest scoring starter to 9 points).

Also, I’m glad for Northwestern as they’ve gotten shit on for 50 years, it will be interesting to see if they can keep this up. They also lost one of their best big men (Nance) to UNC via the portal.

Ohio state will end up being around 10th in the league. After watching the gopher game and seeing their KenPom adjusted offensive rankings (#3 in the country) I don’t get it. They settled for bad twos and didn’t really have shooters (other than 1 guy) + lacked a real guy who was a walking bucket down low. Yet they’ve beat some real teams so far…so it can’t be smoke and mirrors- but the Gophers also haven’t turned into a defensive juggernaut overnight…so what is it?
 

IMO Wisconsin is going to plummet in the rankings / B10 standings. They are weak this year as evidence of the drubbing they took at the hands of a depleted Indiana team (who lost 3 in a row and suffered injuries prior to beating the Bucky by 18, holding them to 45 as a team, and keeping their highest scoring starter to 9 points).

Also, I’m glad for Northwestern as they’ve gotten shit on for 50 years, it will be interesting to see if they can keep this up. They also lost one of their best big men (Nance) to UNC via the portal.

Ohio state will end up being around 10th in the league. After watching the gopher game and seeing their KenPom adjusted offensive rankings (#3 in the country) I don’t get it. They settled for bad twos and didn’t really have shooters (other than 1 guy) + lacked a real guy who was a walking bucket down low. Yet they’ve beat some real teams so far…so it can’t be smoke and mirrors- but the Gophers also haven’t turned into a defensive juggernaut overnight…so what is it?
Perplexing is what it is regarding Ohio State...I hadn't seen Ohio State prior to our game. But on paper they looked to be good. In person, I agree with you...who impressed you individually? Wasn't impressed with their timeouts either. I do think they will trend down, as well.

Give Minnesota credit... their defense was night and day improved over even as recent as Wisconsin. On offense, they played with a purpose. They moved the ball, had a plan.
Does that mean they can beat anybody else? Not sure about that? On paper, again, it doesn't look good. Was Ohio State the best we can play? Will we dictate the pace and control tempo going forward?
 

Perplexing is what it is regarding Ohio State...I hadn't seen Ohio State prior to our game. But on paper they looked to be good. In person, I agree with you...who impressed you individually? Wasn't impressed with their timeouts either. I do think they will trend down, as well.

Give Minnesota credit... their defense was night and day improved over even as recent as Wisconsin. On offense, they played with a purpose. They moved the ball, had a plan.
Does that mean they can beat anybody else? Not sure about that? On paper, again, it doesn't look good. Was Ohio State the best we can play? Will we dictate the pace and control tempo going forward?
I agree MN’s defense improved from earlier in the year. But that is an improvement from terrible. Need a bigger sample size. It has been good against WI and Ohio State and I believe they will be very bad offensive teams in the Big10, so these aren’t good barometers. This is not a shot at the gophers, but it’s reality. Let’s see how they do tonight against an explosive team.
 


This is how the pairings would look for the first three days. All games on BTN.

Weakling Wednesday (March 8)
#12 Ohio State (2-4) vs. #13 Nebraska (2-5), 5:30 p.m.
#11 Indiana (2-4) vs. #14 Minnesota (1-4), 8 p.m.

2nd Round (March 9)
#8 Illinois (3-3) vs. #9 Wisconsin (3-3), 11 a.m.
#5 Iowa (4-3) vs. Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30 p.m.
#7 Northwestern (3-3) vs. #10 Maryland (2-4), 5:30 p.m.
#6 Penn State (3-3) vs. Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Quarterfinals (March 10)
#1 Purdue (5-1) vs. Illinois/Wisconsin winner, 11 a.m.
#4 Michigan (4-2) vs. Iowa/Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30
#2 Rutgers (5-2) vs. Northwestern/Maryland winner, 5:30 p.m.
#3 Michigan State (4-2) vs. Penn State/Indiana/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Thanks for putting these together throughout the year. I think it was you or someone else that at one point said our true "NCAA Tournament" was the BTT and I agree wholeheartedly. I really hope we can put a win or two together, with an upset along the way in the BTT, it would set a fantastic tone for the off-season.
 

If I were to project out, my guess would be that the Gophers, IU, MD and Nebraska are the bottom 4. Hopefully with improvements we've shown, we can win a couple games and make it to Friday.
 

Who are your biggest surprises, both better and worse,than you imagined at this juncture?
Pleasant surprises = Rutgers in the #2 spot & Northwestern

Biggest disappointments = Illinois (my pick to win it) & Indiana

Relative to my preseason predictions (where I picked in parentheses):

Better Than Expected So Far: Purdue (6), Penn State (9), Rutgers (10), Maryland (11), Northwestern (13), Nebraska (14)

Worse Than Expected So Far: Illinois (1), Iowa (2), Indiana (5), Wisconsin (7), Ohio State (8), Minnesota (12)

Spot On So Far: Michigan State (3), Michigan (4)
 

If I were to project out, my guess would be that the Gophers, IU, MD and Nebraska are the bottom 4. Hopefully with improvements we've shown, we can win a couple games and make it to Friday.

I think that's a pretty good guess. I think I'd swap IU with Wisconsin though.
 



Updated through Monday, January 30.

Weakling Wednesday (March 8)
#12 Ohio State (3-7) vs. #13 Nebraska (3-8), 5:30 p.m.
#11 Wisconsin (4-6) vs. #14 Minnesota (1-9), 8 p.m.

2nd Round (March 9)
#8 Iowa (5-5) vs. #9 Michigan (5-5), 11 a.m.
#5 Illinois (6-4) vs. Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30 p.m.
#7 Penn State (5-5) vs. #10 Maryland (5-5), 5:30 p.m.
#6 Michigan State (6-5) vs. Wisconsin/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Quarterfinals (March 10)
#1 Purdue (10-1) vs. Iowa/Michigan winner, 11 a.m.
#4 Indiana (6-4) vs. Illinois/Ohio State/Nebraska winner, 1:30
#2 Northwestern (6-3) vs. Penn State/Maryland winner, 5:30 p.m.
#3 Rutgers (6-4) vs. Michigan State/Wisconsin/Minnesota winner, 8 p.m.

Next Up (Tuesday)
Northwestern (6-3) @ Iowa (5-5)
Indiana (6-4) @ Maryland (5-5)
Nebraska (3-8) @ Illinois (6-4)
 






Wisconsin is the new Penn State.
And don’t forget, Weakling Wednesday was originally coined “The Rutgers Invitational.” Now, Rutgers has developed its program to the point where if they stay on their current path they’d be going to a 4th straight NCAA tourney were it not for COVID.

Meanwhile, the Gophers continue to make regular appearances.
 
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This team is so bad they shouldn’t even qualify for Weakling Wednesday. They should be forced to play someone on Terrible Tuesday just to get to Weakling Wednesday.
Who knows, maybe the Big Ten will add a Terrible Tuesday when UCLA & USC join two seasons from now!
 

Who knows, maybe the Big Ten will add a Terrible Tuesday when UCLA & USC join two seasons from now!
Actually they could do away with weakling Wednesday. Just played it like a region of the NCAA tournament.

I’d like to see them bottom teams still play each other and add extra games to prevent bad teams from winning a few or a few upsets occurring and the B1Gs 14 seed makes it.
 


If the Gophers lose Wednesday to Rutgers and Purdue beats Penn St—the Gophers are eliminated from conference title contention.
 

In light of the WI AD firing Chryst and not appointing Leonhardt as the new HC one could assume that he has a list of potential replacements for Gard.
Gard seems to be a very good XO guy and does develop players but his ability to recruit quality high school players and use the portal is very suspect.
At the end of last season, Chryst was told things had to improve on offense. This year they were worse and he was made redundant.
Gard will probably be in the same situation.
 


In light of the WI AD firing Chryst and not appointing Leonhardt as the new HC one could assume that he has a list of potential replacements for Gard.
Gard seems to be a very good XO guy and does develop players but his ability to recruit quality high school players and use the portal is very suspect.
At the end of last season, Chryst was told things had to improve on offense. This year they were worse and he was made redundant.
Gard will probably be in the same situation.
Wisco has finished in the top 5 I think 4 out of 5 years along with two ties for conference champ. Maybe they move on from Gard after this campaign but I would guess not.
 

Wisco has finished in the top 5 I think 4 out of 5 years along with two ties for conference champ. Maybe they move on from Gard after this campaign but I would guess not.
Chryst also had a relatively stellar performance over the years but that did not save him.
 





Gard cant recruit...except he had Tyler Herro committed until Kentucky bumped their offer to him substantially. Wisconsin would be dumb to fire a guy who wins a conference championship 1 out of every 4 years with such shitty recruits. Considering he has won it 2 times in the last 3 years and the coach of the year those same 2 years, Minnesota should be the first school to back up the brinks truck to his door if they're that dumb.
 

Gard cant recruit...except he had Tyler Herro committed until Kentucky bumped their offer to him substantially. Wisconsin would be dumb to fire a guy who wins a conference championship 1 out of every 4 years with such shitty recruits. Considering he has won it 2 times in the last 3 years and the coach of the year those same 2 years, Minnesota should be the first school to back up the brinks truck to his door if they're that dumb.
I wouldn't fire him but Herro is a bad example as he didnt ever play for Gard or attend wisco.

I'd be pumped if he was the Gopher coach minus the style of play being boring. Its effective and they win so I'd take it.
 





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