• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

2014-2015 B1G Men's Basketball

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
DZ83CK said:
Honestly, I think you're looking at two teams that will probably make the NCAA tournament this season
Click to expand...
:ohno:

Well that right there says enough about the slate of teams making the field. Yuck.

And this isn't a BIG vs. other conferences thing. I don't think the Big Ten has many strong teams, but I don't think other conferences have great teams either. Big East? Big 12? PAC-12? Lol, not seeing it. ACC wins by default by having the best top talent and coaching combination to get to the Final Four, but even then they don't go more than 5 teams deep this year. And the SEC just happens to have by far the best team in the country.

Everything else is just splitting hairs between "mediocrity" and "parity" to me, because that's about the only way I'd explain this year's crop of teams.
 
Upvote 0
DZ83CK said:
Honestly, I think you're looking at two teams that will probably make the NCAA tournament this season, so "mediocre" is an overreaction IMO to the upset losses in nonconference. If these teams make the tournament even with those losses, there are still going to be about 50 other programs that are considered high major that don't make it. Mediocre is the NIT and worse. I don't think mediocre teams make the tournament as an at-large, maybe we define mediocre differently.
Click to expand...

I think you need to take another look at Michigan's schedule if you think they're getting into the dance. Zero quality wins so far, and a 13-9 record overall record that isn't good and would be worse but for their conference schedule being weighted with easy games early and tough games late (their 6 conference wins are against the bottom 6 teams in conference). Oh, and their best player is out for the year. In other words, worse days are a-coming.
 
Upvote 0
Well I thought UM would be playing worse now than they are without LeVert, I was surprised that they hung with UW and at Sparty the way they did. They lost those games but to me the way they played suggests they will manage to get some good wins in the near future. They may not make the tournament, but Beilein has already shown he can get that team to compete at a high level without LeVert so I'm not going to count them out just yet.
 
Upvote 0
DZ83CK said:
Well I thought UM would be playing worse now than they are without LeVert, I was surprised that they hung with UW and at Sparty the way they did. They lost those games but to me the way they played suggests they will manage to get some good wins in the near future. They may not make the tournament, but Beilein has already shown he can get that team to compete at a high level without LeVert so I'm not going to count them out just yet.
Click to expand...

They'd probably have to go 7-1 (6-2 at worst) the rest of the way to get in. With that schedule--and their lineup--it isn't happening.

They still have:

vs Iowa
at Ind
at Ill
vs MSU
vs OSU
at MD
at NW
Vs Rutgers

I don't see 6-7 wins there.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
A few things

1) The Big 12 is probably the best conference in college basketball this year, followed by the ACC, then the Big Ten.
2) MSU will be an interesting tourney case depending on how they finish out, obviously. Quick scan says they still have:

@MICH
@Ill
@Wisc
@Indiana

Host
OSU
Minny
Purdue

Losing five puts them at 19-12 overall and 10-8 in conference play. Not a terrific resume by any means, but probably enough to earn an at-large bid in a 68-team field, particularly with at least one win in Chicago.
3) Expansion to the first four makes such a weak bubble that scenarios like MSU missing the tourney doesn't seem realistic.
 
Upvote 0
Just spitballing here...some of the injustices caused by the unbalanced schedules could be rectified by moving to 20 conference games per year. Have one team that each team plays twice every year. Then you have 6 that you play twice and 6 that you play once and those switch each year, in a 4 year run you play each conference opponent 3 times at home and 3 on the road besides your designated rival who you play 8 times.

So, do we have rivals for each team? Neb/Iowa, UW/MN, Ill/NW, Ind/Pur, OSU/Mich, MSU/Maryland, PSU/Rutgers - that could work. MSU and Maryland are kind of the misfits there but not much can be done about that. Then have each side of the rivalry play the doubles against the one side of each rivalry and singles against the other. So in year one, Wisconsin would have MN/Neb/Ill/OSU/Ind/MSU/PSU twice and the others once, year 2 would be opposite. Year 3 you play the singles you had at home in year 1 on the road and same in year 4.

With the expansion, I think this would be the best you could hope for.
 
Upvote 0
buckeyesin07 said:
They'd probably have to go 7-1 (6-2 at worst) the rest of the way to get in. With that schedule--and their lineup--it isn't happening.

They still have:

vs Iowa
at Ind
at Ill
vs MSU
vs OSU
at MD
at NW
Vs Rutgers

I don't see 6-7 wins there.
Click to expand...

I think they could possibly lose 3 more regular season games and still make it if they win a couple games in the conference tourney. May be too much for them to overcome but if a few of those wins are against tourney teams (finish 7-4 w/ conf tourney games added, total 20-13) they could definitely make it with that resume. Maybe it is unlikely, I didn't realize they had lost as many games as they had, but stranger things have happened like Nebraska winning at Sparty last year as part of a surprising run to the tourney.
 
Upvote 0
On another note, the quality of play in college basketball is just down across the board. There's been a lot of hand-wringing about this by those associated with the game but I've noticed it too. I watched a game between Louisville and Duke a few weeks ago, two top teams at the time, and it was just ugly. I'm not usually a fan of harping on the little guys, but Gonzaga at #2 is an indictment of the play this year IMO.

This can be attributed to a few factors, but I believe the NBA Draft age requirement has, oddly enough, had a negative impact on college basketball.
 
Upvote 0
Well I am not inclined to be a harsh reviewer of college basketball teams and talent - if you don't like the quality of the product, just don't watch, no sense in harping on how mediocre it is. The programs at the top typically just aren't that dominant anymore, you can't really have a dynasty with all the turnover. I do think depth of talent, athleticism, and parity of the sport has improved over the years but these days it's not out of the realm of possibility to see a program have the #1 team one year and an NIT team the next year. You can have a team that makes the tournament consistently, but the days of a program even having a sustained Sweet 16 streak like UNC had are over. I guess what seems odd to me is top ACC teams get an air of respect that they don't necessarily deserve compared to teams from other conferences. A game last year between Cuse and Duke - two teams that failed to make the Sweet 16 - was hailed by the likes of Dickie V as one of the greatest college hoops games ever.

But back to the topic, I see there are still just six B1G teams projected to make the tourney by Joe Lunardi with the bracket he put out today, although Purdue and UM are both on his list of "next four out" & I'm sure Illinois isn't that far behind them. I think the B1G will salvage a decent season out of what is left, although it isn't one of their best seasons of course.
 
Upvote 0
I know I'm on the leader of the "Tom Crean Sucks on the Road" club and the Kohl center is certainly the worst combination, but I don't see how IU are 15.5 point underdogs.

Their shooting can keep them in any game.

edit- No Blackmon, recently announced. Okay, now this could get ugly.
 
Upvote 0
1) Dakich with the great callout of Crean regarding his ridiculous hockey-style substitutions that take no regard for the feel of the game. Hartmann scored 8 straight points and then sits at the 15:00 minute mark.

2) jackass Tom is out on the court and nearly helped trap the Wisconsin ball-handler in the corner. Wisconsin fans rightfully on him for that...now for the refs to knock that crap off.

edit- to follow on point 1, IU hasn't scored in 4 minutes since the subs. Dakich all over it.
 
Upvote 0
OHSportsFan said:
I know I'm on the leader of the "Tom Crean Sucks on the Road" club and the Kohl center is certainly the worst combination, but I don't see how IU are 15.5 point underdogs.

Their shooting can keep them in any game.

edit- No Blackmon, recently announced. Okay, now this could get ugly.
Click to expand...
Well, maybe even their shooting can't keep them in the game at Wiscy.

8-11 3pt in the 1st half. And down 8.
 
Upvote 0
OHSportsFan said:
I know I'm on the leader of the "Tom Crean Sucks on the Road" club and the Kohl center is certainly the worst combination, but I don't see how IU are 15.5 point underdogs.

Their shooting can keep them in any game.

edit- No Blackmon, recently announced. Okay, now this could get ugly.
Click to expand...
Lol, well I at least called the IU cover. Only because Wiscy got up 30 and then put the backups in.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top