Lansing State Journal: Big Ten basketball adjusting to unusually large middle

[BleedGopher]

per the Lansing State Journal:

The Minnesota Golden Gophers might be the best basketball team in the Big Ten. Northwestern looks headed for the NCAA tournament. Nebraska has wins at Indiana and Maryland. Road teams are winning nearly half the time in conference play. And, after no more than four league games for each team, nobody is undefeated.

Welcome to 2017 Big Ten basketball — where the middle is bloated, the top might be part of the middle, and the brands we’ve always counted on at the bottom are suddenly as formidable as the top.

Never before has the Big Ten had so many teams legitimately playing for an NCAA tournament bid. That’s an easy line to write with certainty, because there have only been 14 teams in the league for a couple of years and there have only been more than 11 teams for only a couple years more than that. Still, what’s happening in the Big Ten is unusual.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...asketball-large-middle-couch-column/96405794/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Dr.Don]

Good read, Bleed. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bad Gopher]

...and Leon is getting laaaarger!

 

[GopherDude]

Eleven Big Ten teams are in the top 72, per KPI, and none of the 14 are as low as 150 (148, Rutgers). This week last year, only seven teams were among the top 72 and three teams were 149 or below, including Minnesota (228) and Rutgers (281), which makes the Gophers’ rise to 7 all the more staggering. On the other hand, last year six Big Ten teams were in the KPI top 30 this week. This year, just Minnesota and Maryland.

Love it!