Mich and Ind

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Certainly look like two best team tonight. Purdue losing by 36 at home!
 

No doubt the best teams both schools have had in years. Too bad the Gophs have their best team in years this year. Big Ten is impressive.

I still think the Gophers will have a shot against IN at home. It'll definitely be an upset if they win though. IN is a solid team.
 

Tubtastic said:
No doubt the best teams both schools have had in years. Too bad the Gophs have their best team in years this year. Big Ten is impressive.

I still think the Gophers will have a shot against IN at home. It'll definitely be an upset if they win though. IN is a solid team.
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I feel like we can play with Indiana & should win that home game, but Michigan is just a better team, with better players than us.
 

Indiana seems to disappear on the road against quality opponents Purdue is a rival and incredibly young compared to IU recipe for a blowout
 

I have a ticket behind the basket this weekend for IU/Michigan. Shall be a good one!
 


Tubtastic said:
No doubt the best teams both schools have had in years. Too bad the Gophs have their best team in years this year. Big Ten is impressive.

I still think the Gophers will have a shot against IN at home. It'll definitely be an upset if they win though. IN is a solid team.
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Too bad? Why?
 

Michigan may have their toughest stretch of conference play in their next 4 games with @ Indiana, vs Ohio St. @ Wisconsin, and @ Michigan St. I think Michigan is a very good team but I'll be interested to see how they come out of this 4 game stretch while playing in 3 of the toughest places to win in the conference.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Michigan may have their toughest stretch of conference play in their next 4 games with @ Indiana, vs Ohio St. @ Wisconsin, and @ Michigan St. I think Michigan is a very good team but I'll be interested to see how they come out of this 4 game stretch while playing in 3 of the toughest places to win in the conference.
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In looking at schedules almost everyone has a brutal strech like this at some part in their season. The positive spin on our 3-4 start is that the worst of the schedule is now behind us.

Indiana closes their season @MSU, @Minn, vs. IA, vs. OSU, @Mich.

Wisconsin is the in the middle of their toughest.

MSU kicked off their tough stetch losing to Indiana, and now still play 5 more ranked teams in their next 8 games including Michigan twice.
 

BarnBurner said:
Too bad? Why?
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If we assume that Indiana and Michigan had the exact same teams as they did last year, and finished with the same 11-7 and 13-5 records respectively, we would still have a good shot at finishing 2nd or 3rd in conference. Basically we would be capable of a better finish if Indiana and Michigan did not also have arguably their best teams in the last decade this year.
 



Cayman said:
If we assume that Indiana and Michigan had the exact same teams as they did last year, and finished with the same 11-7 and 13-5 records respectively, we would still have a good shot at finishing 2nd or 3rd in conference. Basically we would be capable of a better finish if Indiana and Michigan did not also have arguably their best teams in the last decade this year.
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I think it was a phrasing issue. I believe the comment was question was trying to say that it is too bad that, in the year when Minnesota has one of their best teams, Michigan and Indiana also have some of their best teams.
 

Did anybody notice that both Beilein and Crean kept key starters on the court until the final 2 minutes last night? IU was up 35 and pressing with 5 minutes left. Burke played until just 1:51 remained....Meanwhile, Tubby has Mbakwe, Austin, Andre, Joe sit for most of the final 10 minutes in a 12 to 18 point game.

Is Tubby too paranoid about injuries? Or, are both Crean and Beilein trying to run up the score?
 

Moses87 said:
Did anybody notice that both Beilein and Crean kept key starters on the court until the final 2 minutes last night? IU was up 35 and pressing with 5 minutes left. Burke played until just 1:51 remained....Meanwhile, Tubby has Mbakwe, Austin, Andre, Joe sit for most of the final 10 minutes in a 12 to 18 point game.

Is Tubby too paranoid about injuries? Or, are both Crean and Beilein trying to run up the score?
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Maybe Tubby has read the GopherHole comments about bench strength.:)
 




Costa Rican Gopher said:
I feel like we can play with Indiana & should win that home game, but Michigan is just a better team, with better players than us.
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I think Mich is definitely a final four team and Indy has a good shot.

Can we handle Indy at the Barn? I'm not sure about that at present. Time will tell.
 

The Big Ten "tiers" are becoming more clear as we approach the halfway mark.

Tier I (national title material)
1. Indiana
2. Michigan

Tier II (Final 4 potential)
1. Michigan State

Tier III (good enough to get to 2nd weekend)
1. Minnesota
2. Ohio State
3. Wisconsin

Tier IV (most likely bubblers)
1. Illinois (with wins over Butler & Gonzaga, Illini could get a bid at 8-10)
2. Iowa (soft 2nd half of Hawkeyes' schedule could result in a strong finishing kick)

Tier V (bubblers will want to avoid these underdogs in Chicago)
1. Northwestern
2. Purdue

Tier VI (any B1G win is something to celebrate)
1. Nebraska
2. Penn State
 

SelectionSunday said:
The Big Ten "tiers" are becoming more clear as we approach the halfway mark.

Tier I (national title material)
1. Indiana
2. Michigan

Tier II (Final 4 potential)
1. Michigan State

Tier III (good enough to get to 2nd weekend)
1. Minnesota
2. Ohio State
3. Wisconsin

Tier IV (most likely bubblers)
1. Illinois (with wins over Butler & Gonzaga, Illini could get a bid at 8-10)
2. Iowa (soft 2nd half of Hawkeyes' schedule could result in a strong finishing kick)

Tier V (bubblers will want to avoid these underdogs in Chicago)
1. Northwestern
2. Purdue

Tier VI (any B1G win is something to celebrate)
1. Nebraska
2. Penn State
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About right, though I'm not sure if MSU has separated themselves from Tier III yet. History says they will however.
 


Addicted2Gophers said:
I don't know about MSU having final 4 potential.
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I can understand that, but with Izzo's history, the Spartans' emerging talent (Payne, Dawson, Harris), and the fact that they may get to play the first 2 rounds in Auburn Hills (along with Michigan), that's a good start.
 

I think Ohio State should be with Michigan State in Tier II. I would also drop Wisconsin down to Tier IV and Iowa to Tier V.
 

Moses87 said:
Did anybody notice that both Beilein and Crean kept key starters on the court until the final 2 minutes last night? IU was up 35 and pressing with 5 minutes left. Burke played until just 1:51 remained....Meanwhile, Tubby has Mbakwe, Austin, Andre, Joe sit for most of the final 10 minutes in a 12 to 18 point game.

Is Tubby too paranoid about injuries? Or, are both Crean and Beilein trying to run up the score?
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I noticed that when we were waiting for the Indiana-Penn St. game to end when the Gophers played NW. Indiana was up 20+ with about two minutes left, still had some of their starters in and was pressing. There ended up being a ton of fouls and even a TO or two I think, and we missed the first few minutes of our game. It was just a bizarre ending to a blowout if you ask me. Indiana was playing like it was a 2-point game. Oladipo ended up playing 34 minutes in that game. And in the Michigan game last night, all five of their starters played more minutes than their average for the season. One injury and all of a sudden you're having to play someone significantly who has hardly played all season.

Why would you risk an injury like that? And why didn't the BTN cut away from a lopsided game?
 

Winnipegopher said:
I think Ohio State should be with Michigan State in Tier II. I would also drop Wisconsin down to Tier IV and Iowa to Tier V.
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As much as I thought (and desperately hoped) we were a tier above Wisconsin this year, I think it would be premature to classify them into a tier below us while they are still 1 game above us in the standings and beat us in head to head play. I understand that we have faced a tougher conference record thus far, and the game against Wisco as in their house, but there is some truth to the old "bird in the hand" maxim.
 

BTN doesn't have the ability to cut out of blowouts because they would offend the fan bases of those teams. Other networks can do it for College Football or NFL because they have affiliates and are able to send different signals into different affiliates. The BTN can't do it selectively. They would have to cut out everywhere and face the wrath of all the Indiana fans.
 

GophersInIowa said:
And why didn't the BTN cut away from a lopsided game?
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This is a great question for the next time GH does an inverview with the BTN president. How can BTN justify skipping over the first 6 minutes of the Gophers-Nothwestern game for another game where the outcome is clearly in doubt? The Penn State - Indiana game was never closer then 19 points in the final 15:55
 

Moses87 said:
Did anybody notice that both Beilein and Crean kept key starters on the court until the final 2 minutes last night? IU was up 35 and pressing with 5 minutes left. Burke played until just 1:51 remained....Meanwhile, Tubby has Mbakwe, Austin, Andre, Joe sit for most of the final 10 minutes in a 12 to 18 point game.

Is Tubby too paranoid about injuries? Or, are both Crean and Beilein trying to run up the score?
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I don't know about Beilein but I think IU was trying to go for 100 at least that's what I thought. Should be a good game this weekend. Go Hoosiers!
 


It seems that your separating teams by tiers without really taking into consideration who they've actually played and beaten, or lost to.

You seem very impressed with Mich St, but of their 7 wins, only 1-3 are what you'd call "good wins", vs OSU, @UW & @Iowa. But compared to Minnesota, our win vs MSU and our road win over Illinois is close to comparable to their 1-3 wins. The only difference would be their's and our games vs Wisconsin in Madison. We lost by 1, they won by 2.

We were riding low on a 3 game losing streak, they were riding high on a 5 game winning streak. Seems to me that the 3 point swing in our games vs UW in Madison is more than understandable.


It shouldn't be forgotten that we beat MSU. Granted, they'll probably even the score with a whole week to prepare for us.

But MSU hasn't played hardly anyone yet, hell, 5 of their next 7 games are vs the other 4 Top 5 teams in the Big Ten, if you include the Gophers as above Wisconsin. Including Wisconsin they have 6 of their next 8 games vs the other 5 of the Top 6 teams.


As for tiers, looking at the RPI we see this tier structure,

Tier 1
7 - Mich
15 - Ind both of these are before IU beat Michigan, so IU's should improve & Michigan's will come down a bit

Looking at other ratings, BPI, Sagarin, Ken-Pom, etc. has both of those two ranked consistently in the Top 5.



Tier 2
10 - Minn
22 - OSU

Those other ratings have both those teams ranked consistently between #8 and #13

Tier 3
13 - MSU

MSU in the other polls ranks between #11 and #20.

I see MSU being brought down to reality in the next month or so playing a much tougher schedule from here on out.


Tier 4
51 - Wisc

The other ratings have Wisc rated from #15 to #31. I believe that their RPI rating will keep improving as time goes by.


Tier 5
33 - Ill
94 - Iowa

The other rating's have both of these teams rated between #34 and #66. While I see Iowa's RPI improving as time goes by, the Illini's will get worse, closing the gap between these two. But let's hope that Iowa upsetting the Gophers is not one of the things bringing this about.


Tier 6
84 - NW
109 - Purd

The other ratings have these teams rated from #55 to #100.


Tier 7
81 - Neb

The other ratings have this team rated from #105 to #154.


Tier 9

184 - PSU

The other ratings have PSU rated from #171 to #201.



And yes, I skipped from Tier 7 to Tier 9 on purpose, lol. PSU is just embarrassingly bad.


Not a huge difference, just have Minnesota higher and MSU lower. Both have yet to prove that they are as good as people think MSU is and that Minny is as bad as some think we are.
 

I'd like to also mention in response to the above post, that while it does not affect the conference race, Michigan State also has a big out of conference win over Kansas at a neutral site.
 

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