BIG 10 Basketball thoughts.

[Carpet]

Thought I would make a thread dedicated to Big 10 basketball.

How many times has Indiana been ranked # 1 this year? I know they were a preseason # 1 and maybe have held the # 1 ranking 2 more times. Every time Indiana achieves a # 1 ranking they get beat. Sure it is hard to win at the barn on a elevated floor but truth be told Minnesota exposed Indiana's weakness.

Indy is soft inside and when they go against a team that has strong inside play they will be pushed around. Indy is over rated in my book.

Hell the entire Big 10 conference is over rated. Let's take a look at the rankings.

# 1 Indiana (Over rated by far)
# 4 Michigan (Not a great road team should be a 15 team)
# 9 Michigan State (Izzo always tuff his boys are getting better deserved)
# 16 Ohio State (Illinois beat Ohio State way over rated)
# 17 Wisky (deserved ranking)

I think come tourney time that the Big 10 will get at least 6 teams into the dance and I look for the big boys of the Big 10 to lose early

[Carpet]

And # 4 Michigan goes down to Penn State

[Carpet]

The February 28th college basketball games


The B1G game tonight-

Ohio State at Northwestern, 6:00pm CT, ESPN2


B1G standings-
_____________________Conf______+/-____Overall________Remaining Games
1.__Indiana__________12-3______5______24-4___________Iowa___OSU_____@Mich
2.__Michigan State___11-4______4______22-6___________@Mich__Wisc____NW
____Wisconsin________11-4______3______20-8___________PU_____@MSU____@PSU
4.__Ohio State_______10-5______2______20-7___________@NW____@IU_____IL
____Michigan_________10-5______3______23-5___________MSU____@PU_____IU
6.__Illinois__________7-8______-1_____20-9___________Neb____@Iowa___@OSU
____Minnesota_________7-8______-1_____19-9___________PSU____@Neb____@PU
____Iowa______________7-8______0______18-10__________@IU____IL______Neb
9.__Purdue____________6-9______-1_____13-15__________@Wisc__Mich____Minn
10._Nebraska__________4-11_____-4_____13-15__________@IL____Minn____@Iowa
____Northwestern______4-11_____-3_____13-15__________OSU____PSU_____@MSU
12._Penn State________1-14_____-7______9-18__________@Minn__@NW_____Wisc

+/- = +1 for B1G road win, -1 for B1G home loss.

[woodee12]

Yeah. Those 5 and Illinois hopefully! Iowa had a shot but they lost to the Huskers.

Izzo always finds a way tourney time.

From a betting perspective, the big 10 will be a great fade.

I can see Illinois doing some damage in the big 10 tourney possibly. Just bc they seem to be peaking when other teams are doing the opposite.

[Krichinsky]

I would take the Illini over Minn.

[Carpet]

Illinois -13 vs Nebraska Saturday at 4:15 central
When I ran my numbers it was Illinois by 19

This is Senior Night for this veteran team and it will be special. The last game these Seniors will ever play at Assembly Hall and you can bet they will be ready. The Seniors will be honored before tip off and will come out of the gate with pure energy.

Coach Groce of Illinois has diagramed this game up in a few words, contain the guards and press the ball off the glass.

The Big men of Illinois should be able to step out and hit a shot vs this NB defense. Illinois will have looks all night vs this packed in defense the corn pickers play.

Illinois coming off a 7 day lay off, the practices have been sharp but brief to keep this team fresh. Illinois seems very focused as a team.

7 days off usually spells trouble but in this case it comes at the perfect time for the Illini.

This is a Big game for Illinois beat Nebraska and the ticket is punched to the dance, lose and it is cannon fodder.

From every thing I have seen and read Illinois is going to blow this game away to give the walk on Senior Berrandee a chance to play. This kid can only get in to play only if the Illini are up by a bunch. I like a team that is focused at the right time.

Illinois - 13.5

[Carpet]

Iowa trying hard to make the Big Dance, Will they?

I think the numbers are just against Iowa making the NCAA tourney, even in a 68-team field.

Their RPI is at 87 right now with home games left against UI and Nebraska. They might get a 10-point bump by beating ILL at their place, but beating Nebraska at home will hardly move the needle on the RPI (Ill actually got worse because the SOS dropped).

If Iowa goes into the BTT with an RPI in the mid-70s, they would need a huge BTT to make the NCAA tourney in my opinion. They would probably have to make the finals.

They just don't have the quality wins, and beating ILL at their place isn't a super win. They could get some quality wins in the BTT, but the Selection Committee has said in the past that they tend to discount tournament wins (unless you win the whole thing) because of the rapid format and some teams resting players with nagging injuries, etc.