Kentucky should not be ranked top 10 next year IMO, even if Oscar returns.
Their class is good, but none of them are John Wall or AD
****Official B1G In-Season Thread****
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Their class is good, but none of them are John Wall or AD
Idk if I’d call it a great chance tbh. assuming he wins BTPOY/NPOY, it could be a strike while the iron is hot situation because it’s not like he’d be able to somehow turn himself into a lottery pick you know? I’m sure if he comes back Purdue will have a solid NIL package for him but he may decide he’s ready to be done with college and I wouldn’t blame him.
Respectfully disagree - UK finally looks like they are turning the page this season after sweeping the Vols. If Oscar , Livingston , couple other guys return , prob maybe their best recruiting class star wise ever , finally add some shooters that can stay healthy , I will not be shocked.
If they bring back everyone but Cason Wallace, maybe.
But that’s not very likely in today’s environment.
And Tennessee was down 2 starters, so while it’s better than their other wins, it’s still not great.
My team benefited from that call but that doesn’t mean it was good. Embarrassing
Giving us a makeup call next game is a classic
When did it start?
I wonder if Minnesota fans ever get tired of getting peened nonstop in both football and basketball?
I feel like we’ve said that the last few offseasons but he’s still here. It wouldn’t surprise me if he left but he also could be okay with his role going forward and decide to stick it out.
Eamonn Brennan B1G bubble watch
This is the best Hoosiers group since 2015-16, when IU’s season ended in the Sweet 16, a few months before we got married. Three offspring later, across multiple web sites, Indiana has never once been a lock in any edition of Bubble Watch. It’s just a silly column, sure, but that’s also a pretty good indicator of consistent, uninterrupted mediocrity. It’s a long time to be so average. It’s over now.
Meanwhile, we’re keeping an eye on Michigan. The Wolverines’ (NET: 65) home win over Michigan State Saturday night made them 15-12 and added a Quadrant 2 win to a resume that could still add a win at Rutgers Thursday night with Wisconsin (home), Illinois and Indiana (both away) to close out the regular season. Not worth putting on the page, but you never know!
Locks: Purdue, Indiana
Should be in: Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers, Northwestern, Michigan State, Iowa
Work to do: Penn State, Wisconsin
Maryland (18-9, 9-7; NET: 24, SOS: 26): Well, well, well: Look who has the best non-Hoosier State NET ranking in the Big Ten! Before you get mad at us, raw one-off NET ranking doesn’t mean all that much to the committee in and of itself, but we are highlighting here just to compliment the good work Maryland continues to do this season, up to and including last week’s 68-54 home win over Purdue. The Terps cooked Purdue so thoroughly during a 29-4 second half run that Zach Edey’s uniform still smells like Old Bay. Of course Maryland turned around and lost in overtime at (suddenly frisky!) Nebraska, but the net (and NET) benefit of the 14-point win over the Boilermakers remains.
Illinois (18-9, 9-7; NET: 27, SOS: 28): Last week was not a great week, all things considered: The Illini caught an all-time haymaker from Penn State star Jalen Pickett Tuesday night, only to squander a very good performance at Indiana in the closing minutes of an eventual 71-68 loss Saturday afternoon. Still, the broad arc of the Illini’s season remains undeniably positive, from the wins over UCLA and Texas to the pretty consistent league performance. They’re heading toward a single-digit seed.
Rutgers (17-10, 9-7; NET: 29, SOS: 39): The Scarlet Knights badly needed Saturday’s win at Wisconsin. Not in the same way the Badgers needed it, of course — Rutgers remains in pretty solid tournament shape — but for the purposes of breaking a three-game losing streak that sent a good season sliding toward the middle of the Big Ten pack pretty suddenly in the past couple of weeks. Saturday’s defense-off with Wisconsin was punctuated by a 6-of-10 3-point shooting night from Cam Spencer, the kind of offensive contribution Steve Pikiell craves from the one guy on his team consistently willing (and more importantly able) to take 3s.
Northwestern (20-7, 11-5; NET: 39, SOS: 54): Was Feb. 5 to Feb. 19 the best two weeks in the history of Northwestern men’s basketball? Presumably March 2017, when the Wildcats went to their first-ever NCAA Tournament and then won a game to boot, have to qualify as more enjoyable for everyone involved. But — especially for a program with a history of success quite as nonexistent as this one — it will hard to beat what Boo Buie & Co. just put together. On Feb. 5, a 15-7 Northwestern with a very shaky tournament resume held off Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, then won at Ohio State, then last week upset Purdue and Indiana in the matter of four days, finishing it off with a blowout offensive performance against Iowa Sunday night. Fourteen days, five huge wins, a couple of them vastly bigger than others, and all of a sudden it looks like Northwestern is a win away this week (either at Illinois Thursday or Maryland Sunday) from a lock. Remember when we were worried about a soft noncon schedule and Northwestern racking up enough B1G wins to make up the difference? Ha. This team has come a very long way in a very short space of time.
Michigan State (16-10, 8-7; NET: 40, SOS: 5): “So what’s a basketball team’s place in all of this?” So begins Brendan Quinn’s piece on Michigan State’s decision to play in the wake of the 71st mass shooting in the United States in 2023 — in East Lansing last week, which has vastly more to say about where Michigan State actually is than any Bubble Watch blurb could ever hope to, so go read that. The Spartans lost at Michigan Saturday, but their sheer presence there was a kind of victory unto itself. Tuesday night’s home against Indiana is likely to be even more emotional.
Iowa (17-10, 9-7; NET: 42, SOS: 22): A minor storyline in Northwestern’s blowout win over Iowa Sunday was Fran McCaffery’s ejection for arguing with officials late in the second half. McCaffery’s semi-regular outbursts have always been very funny to us; the combination of buttoned-down appearance and sudden unhinged response has always reminded us of the impotent middle-aged rage of Will Ferrell’s “I drive a Dodge Stratus!” SNL skit. What made Sunday’s even funnier was the extremely casual way the official tossed McCaffery from the game. His “you’re out of here” mechanic is literally what you do when you throw a tennis ball for your dog to go fetch, but while you’re starting at your phone, so the whole thing looks like you barely noticed doing it. Oh, OK, old boy. Here you go. Hahahaha. Fran McCaffery is comedy.
Penn State (16-11, 7-9; NET: 59, SOS: 41): The Nittany Lions are back? Thank Jalen Pickett, who scored 41 points (and had eight assists) on 15-of-20 shooting (!!) in a 93-81 win over Illinois last Tuesday. One of the great single performances of the season — of most seasons, frankly — carried the Nittany Lions on a wave of offensive efficiency they badly needed after four straight defeats. This will still be an uphill climb. The Nittany Lions probably need to go at least 3-1 in their challenging final four games of the regular season (at Ohio State, vs. Rutgers, at Northwestern, vs. Maryland) to get the balance of quality wins versus broader team sheet ugliness (3-5 in Quadrant 2, 288 noncon SOS) in a better place. But Pickett had 32 on 12-of-20 shooting (with nine rebounds and eight assists) Saturday at Minnesota. If he keeps this up, there’s no telling what Penn State might pull off.
Wisconsin (15-11, 7-9; NET: 76, SOS: 12): Wisconsin has long been shaping up as one of the more interesting bubble thought experiments of the season, and Saturday’s narrow home loss to Rutgers hardly changed that. Among teams along the cut line, few have a win as good as a true road victory at Marquette, let alone the five Quadrant 1 wins the Badgers have amassed. At the same time, there are just a lot of losses here, period, including a 4-3 record in Quadrant 2, and the matter of a NET that doesn’t even land the Badgers among the top two Quadrants on opponents’ resumes when they play Greg Gard’s team in their respective home gyms. The predictive metrics (especially BPI) agrees with the NET’s assessment, but if the NET is nothing more than an organizing tool, then that won’t matter — right?
Big Ten
For the first time in a long time, Indiana is a lock. After a 10-6 start, and an anemic 1-4 beginning to league play, the Hoosiers have resurrected the lofty ambitions for their 2022-23 season with the same toughness, intensity and Trayce Jackson-Davis-led two-way productivity that nearly saw them overcome a huge deficit at super-hot Northwestern Wednesday night, and then helped them outlast a very up-for-it Illinois in Bloomington Saturday. Despite an early-season injury to senior point guard Xavier Johnson — which, in retrospect, forced the maturation of both freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino (into an immediately top college player) and junior Trey Galloway (into a consistent offensive initiator even in the half court), which should pay lasting dividends even when Johnson returns — IU has mostly hit preseason targets for this season.This is the best Hoosiers group since 2015-16, when IU’s season ended in the Sweet 16, a few months before we got married. Three offspring later, across multiple web sites, Indiana has never once been a lock in any edition of Bubble Watch. It’s just a silly column, sure, but that’s also a pretty good indicator of consistent, uninterrupted mediocrity. It’s a long time to be so average. It’s over now.
Meanwhile, we’re keeping an eye on Michigan. The Wolverines’ (NET: 65) home win over Michigan State Saturday night made them 15-12 and added a Quadrant 2 win to a resume that could still add a win at Rutgers Thursday night with Wisconsin (home), Illinois and Indiana (both away) to close out the regular season. Not worth putting on the page, but you never know!
Locks: Purdue, Indiana
Should be in: Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers, Northwestern, Michigan State, Iowa
Work to do: Penn State, Wisconsin
Maryland (18-9, 9-7; NET: 24, SOS: 26): Well, well, well: Look who has the best non-Hoosier State NET ranking in the Big Ten! Before you get mad at us, raw one-off NET ranking doesn’t mean all that much to the committee in and of itself, but we are highlighting here just to compliment the good work Maryland continues to do this season, up to and including last week’s 68-54 home win over Purdue. The Terps cooked Purdue so thoroughly during a 29-4 second half run that Zach Edey’s uniform still smells like Old Bay. Of course Maryland turned around and lost in overtime at (suddenly frisky!) Nebraska, but the net (and NET) benefit of the 14-point win over the Boilermakers remains.
Illinois (18-9, 9-7; NET: 27, SOS: 28): Last week was not a great week, all things considered: The Illini caught an all-time haymaker from Penn State star Jalen Pickett Tuesday night, only to squander a very good performance at Indiana in the closing minutes of an eventual 71-68 loss Saturday afternoon. Still, the broad arc of the Illini’s season remains undeniably positive, from the wins over UCLA and Texas to the pretty consistent league performance. They’re heading toward a single-digit seed.
Rutgers (17-10, 9-7; NET: 29, SOS: 39): The Scarlet Knights badly needed Saturday’s win at Wisconsin. Not in the same way the Badgers needed it, of course — Rutgers remains in pretty solid tournament shape — but for the purposes of breaking a three-game losing streak that sent a good season sliding toward the middle of the Big Ten pack pretty suddenly in the past couple of weeks. Saturday’s defense-off with Wisconsin was punctuated by a 6-of-10 3-point shooting night from Cam Spencer, the kind of offensive contribution Steve Pikiell craves from the one guy on his team consistently willing (and more importantly able) to take 3s.
Northwestern (20-7, 11-5; NET: 39, SOS: 54): Was Feb. 5 to Feb. 19 the best two weeks in the history of Northwestern men’s basketball? Presumably March 2017, when the Wildcats went to their first-ever NCAA Tournament and then won a game to boot, have to qualify as more enjoyable for everyone involved. But — especially for a program with a history of success quite as nonexistent as this one — it will hard to beat what Boo Buie & Co. just put together. On Feb. 5, a 15-7 Northwestern with a very shaky tournament resume held off Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, then won at Ohio State, then last week upset Purdue and Indiana in the matter of four days, finishing it off with a blowout offensive performance against Iowa Sunday night. Fourteen days, five huge wins, a couple of them vastly bigger than others, and all of a sudden it looks like Northwestern is a win away this week (either at Illinois Thursday or Maryland Sunday) from a lock. Remember when we were worried about a soft noncon schedule and Northwestern racking up enough B1G wins to make up the difference? Ha. This team has come a very long way in a very short space of time.
Michigan State (16-10, 8-7; NET: 40, SOS: 5): “So what’s a basketball team’s place in all of this?” So begins Brendan Quinn’s piece on Michigan State’s decision to play in the wake of the 71st mass shooting in the United States in 2023 — in East Lansing last week, which has vastly more to say about where Michigan State actually is than any Bubble Watch blurb could ever hope to, so go read that. The Spartans lost at Michigan Saturday, but their sheer presence there was a kind of victory unto itself. Tuesday night’s home against Indiana is likely to be even more emotional.
Iowa (17-10, 9-7; NET: 42, SOS: 22): A minor storyline in Northwestern’s blowout win over Iowa Sunday was Fran McCaffery’s ejection for arguing with officials late in the second half. McCaffery’s semi-regular outbursts have always been very funny to us; the combination of buttoned-down appearance and sudden unhinged response has always reminded us of the impotent middle-aged rage of Will Ferrell’s “I drive a Dodge Stratus!” SNL skit. What made Sunday’s even funnier was the extremely casual way the official tossed McCaffery from the game. His “you’re out of here” mechanic is literally what you do when you throw a tennis ball for your dog to go fetch, but while you’re starting at your phone, so the whole thing looks like you barely noticed doing it. Oh, OK, old boy. Here you go. Hahahaha. Fran McCaffery is comedy.
Penn State (16-11, 7-9; NET: 59, SOS: 41): The Nittany Lions are back? Thank Jalen Pickett, who scored 41 points (and had eight assists) on 15-of-20 shooting (!!) in a 93-81 win over Illinois last Tuesday. One of the great single performances of the season — of most seasons, frankly — carried the Nittany Lions on a wave of offensive efficiency they badly needed after four straight defeats. This will still be an uphill climb. The Nittany Lions probably need to go at least 3-1 in their challenging final four games of the regular season (at Ohio State, vs. Rutgers, at Northwestern, vs. Maryland) to get the balance of quality wins versus broader team sheet ugliness (3-5 in Quadrant 2, 288 noncon SOS) in a better place. But Pickett had 32 on 12-of-20 shooting (with nine rebounds and eight assists) Saturday at Minnesota. If he keeps this up, there’s no telling what Penn State might pull off.
Wisconsin (15-11, 7-9; NET: 76, SOS: 12): Wisconsin has long been shaping up as one of the more interesting bubble thought experiments of the season, and Saturday’s narrow home loss to Rutgers hardly changed that. Among teams along the cut line, few have a win as good as a true road victory at Marquette, let alone the five Quadrant 1 wins the Badgers have amassed. At the same time, there are just a lot of losses here, period, including a 4-3 record in Quadrant 2, and the matter of a NET that doesn’t even land the Badgers among the top two Quadrants on opponents’ resumes when they play Greg Gard’s team in their respective home gyms. The predictive metrics (especially BPI) agrees with the NET’s assessment, but if the NET is nothing more than an organizing tool, then that won’t matter — right?
That’s a fair question. I think his best bet is being a 3 and D guy but the talent on the wings continues to increase with guys like Myles Colvin and Cam Heide coming into the fold. It’s not going to get any easier for him to get big minutes IMO.
"Let's get back to actual basketball."
This guy gets it! lmao
Yeah feeling all kinds of pessimistic going into this one. Its going to be a v emotional setting and while I do think this IU team is way more capable of being mentally strong, I don’t think we’re going to see it here
It's still in play....
An 8-way tie for 2nd. That would be wild!
Assists on and off the court. Somehow not in court also
We really need this one to get into the tournament? As of this morning bracket matrix has us as a 7 seed. That’s far from barely in.
Yes—if we lose like 4of the next 5 we could be in trouble. Having the #3 sos helps
I'm not saying this gets you in or moves you to in but I'm just basing off net and Kenpom and overall schedule, a loss would hurt. Right there at that 40ish line isn't comfortable. 2-2 over the next 4, 18-12 going into btt wouldn't be comfortable I'd think.
That's not good news because Wisconsin isn't making the tournament.
Someone's anus is going to bleed. Just not sure whose yet. I will be disappointed if we don't get to Francon 2 at least though.
Just gotta make sure they don’t like it too much, those sodomites enjoy some weird shit
Get out the vaseline Hoosiers……
Larry Scirotto, Courtney Green, and Kipp Kissinger will be the crew for tonight….
Larry Scirotto, Courtney Green, and Kipp Kissinger will be the crew for tonight….
Kipp Kissinger's 10th game in 11 days. And trips from Norman, OK to Columbus to Chapel Hill to Madison to Cedar Falls to Charlotte to Morgantown to Lincoln to Fort Worth to East Lansing.
I think we know why officiating is so bad this year. There is no oversight over the schedule they keep.
