People seem to forget that our win over the Illini got us our High ranking, and Illinois has done nothing but lose since then. Other than that, we had a home win vs NW and a home win vs MSU, that could have just as easily been a loss. We got kind of lucky vs Stanford as well, as far as I remember.
So its pretty easy to image that we were simply OVERRATED.
That being said, the loss to NW, though it was a bad loss, wasn't the HUGE EARTH SHATTERING UPSET that some are making it out to be.
Minny was overrated. NW at #98 in the RPI at the time of the game, was underrated. NW had ROAD wins vs 2 Top 50 rated teams, so while they can one day be pummeled, including by us, on other days they show up and can beat good teams.
Looking at our 4 game losing streak with an unbiased view, it was THREE ROAD GAMES, with the only home game coming against the soon to be #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines.
The home game vs soon to be #1 Michigan? Forgivable loss
The ROAD game vs Top 15 Indiana? Very Forgivable loss
The ROAD game vs Wisconsin? Well, the Ken-Pom has Wisco ranked #13 in the country. The Sagarin has Wisco ranked #17. They have 5 wins in the Big Ten already, including a ROAD win vs IU. I am not sure, but I'd say that a 1 pt loss to them, ON THE ROAD, is forgivable.
Then we have the NW ROAD game. I can't defend it, I can't call it forgivable, but it being right in the middle of that brutal 4 game stretch, well, it happened.
Now I think that we just have to hope that an easy home game vs a team like Nebraska can help get the team back on the winning path.
7 of our remaining 11 games are vs teams BELOW us in the Big Ten standings. 2 of the 4 games vs teams above us, are home games, the game vs IU and the game vs Wisconsin.
The team seems to be playing badly and lacking confidence, but all we need is for 2 players to have good games and help us get one win, for that to lead to more confidence and a 2nd win, and then who knows what?!