Finals of the Big Ten tourney:
#1 Purdue
#3 Indiana
With Indiana winning it all
That’d be some final! I’m hoping that is what it comes down too.
Here’s my projected seeds if the top-4 teams win the rest of the games they are supposed to and if they also win the B10 tourney:
Wisconsin - #3
Purdue - #4
IU - #4
MSU - #5
Your probably right, but isn’t that crazy that the best seed a Big Ten team will get will be a 3?
^
Well, sort of…I think that the best the B10 has to offer (the top-4) can play with almost anyone in the country. There are some good non-conference wins:
Purdue over Louisville (although they weren’t 100% like they are now)
Michigan State over Texas (and they also lost a close one to UCLA)
Wisconsin over Texas (AT Texas)
IU, strangely enough, doesn’t have that “signature” non-conference win (they got blown out by Xavier), although they did drub Kentucky
However, the reason they’ll only get as high as a 3 seed is because the B10 is “down,” and the teams mentioned above have some pretty bad non-conference losses:
Purdue - Wofford, Iowa State
MSU - No bad non-conference losses but some horrible ones in-conference, mainly on the road
Wisconsin - Drubbed by Duke
IU - Xavier, UCONN
So all in all I don’t see a #2 seed; there are too many quality teams in other BCS conferences that deserve it.
I don’t think I would consider Xavier and UCONN bad losses. Everyone is on the Xavier bandwagon now and UCONN caught fire as a result of that IU game. Maybe the UCONN game is a bad loss becasue it was in Bloomington, but I don’t think so.
Now IU doesn’t have a signature nonconference win becasue they really didn’t play anyone tough but Xavier and I guess at Southern Illinois. I guess this can be due to soft scheduling. However all of Indiana’s losses are to solid teams (top 25 teams): Xavier, UCONN, Wisconsin (2), and Michigan State.
I think maybe a 2 seed could be had by Wisconsin if they win the Big Ten Tournament. The Big Ten is a power conference so I’m not sure an Xavier (A-10 winner) deserves a 2 seed over a Big Ten team. Lunardi’s latest bracketology has Xavier as a 2 seed.
Just out of curiosity who do you think would qualify for the 8 slots as 1 and 2 seeds?
Duke
North carolina
UCLA
Tennessee
Memphis
Kansas
Big East Winner–> Louisville, Georgetown?
Big Ten Winner?
Just a thought I’m wondering your thought for these eight slots.
At the time I would have considered the loss to UCONN (at Assembly) bad, although since Calhoun’s got them playing so well in retrospect it isn’t a bad loss. Xavier is overrated, IMO.
IU SOS will hurt them if the committee is comparing it to another team with similar numbers, I think. That could be the difference between a low #3 seed and a high #4 seed.
Top-2 seeds, AS OF RIGHT NOW (before any conference tourney upsets or shockers that may occur):
UCLA
Kansas
Duke
North Carolina
Memphis
Tennessee
Georgetown
Stanford
Texas is in the top-10 but lost to TT
Xavier is an A-10 school that plays inferior competition, IMO
I still stink the 8th team you throw in there is better than what the B10 has to offer, so I’ll go with Stanford
Wow, holy crap. I haven’t seen the Spartans play that well since the days of the Flintstones. I know we better at home but, holy crap guys…would it kill you to save some of that for the road games. They scored 41 in that abomination @Wisconsin and had 59 in the first half yesterday. Geeez. They need to have every game be Senior Day.
Still we’ll have to see how they do at Illinois and OSU. Both are very winnable games but seeing how State likes to shrivel up and play scared on the road who knows.
As for seeds, I imagine the Big Ten winner will probably get an automatic #2 seed. Stanford will likely get the shaft by being bumped to a #3 (since UCLA will likely win the Pac-10 tourney) though they could hang with any of the top Big Ten teams right now. Georgetown’s an enigma. They play awesome D but are horribly inconsistent on offense. (FANTASTIC OT game against Marquette on Saturday…even better with Gus Johnson calling it).
It’s funny how Fee broke down the Wisconsin team but it’s true…Bo Ryan NEVER has the best talent and he always coaches them up where the entire team overachieves. I’d rank him up there with some of the best coaches in the country…especially since he does it every year. Not to mention that I think he officially owns Tom Izzo at this point…that game on Thursday was disgusting. However, that’s also why I think Tom Izzo does better in March Madness. His teams are geared to win against national teams in the tournament but in Big Ten play they get beat. Then we have teams like Illinois and Wisconsin who always do well in the Big Ten but tend to drop out early in the tourney. I might be off but that seems to be how it is sometimes.
Should be a very interesting Big Ten Tournament. On the bright side, none of the games that MSU plays will technically be a “road” game…so they might have a shot.
Stevo
Whoops.
Goodbye, first Big Ten title since 1996.
Goodbye, #1 seed in Big Ten tournament
Purdue will end up 15-3 in the Big Ten conference. 24-7 overall. They’ll win at least 1 more in the B10 tournament. Their final record will end up being either 25-8 or 26-8.
That’s good enough for a #4 seed, IMO. If they win the Big Ten Tournament, I think they can snag a #3 seed, because they’ll need to beat either Wisconsin or IU to do it.
Those losses to Wofford and Iowa State won’t prevent them from getting in the NCAA tournament, obviously, but it may be the difference between a #4 seed or a #5 seed.
I’ve thought Purdue has been grossly underrated all year long. I don’t understand why. Even when they were #1, they were below Indiana and Wisconsin in the overall rankings.
Oh well…Wisconsin gets another title barring a collapse at Northwestern. Once again Bo Ryan coaches his ass off to a title…and the team will likely be bumped in the second round of March Madness. Count on it.
Good road win by the Spartans last night. Now they just need to finish it up and beat OSU in their building to get some momentum. And the Boilermakers know how tough those hungry Buckeyes can be.
And I already got the 20th and 21st off of work so I will be on the couch ALL DAY for March Madness. I can’t wait. I love it so much I save up vacation days for it. WOOOO!
Stevo
OSU will make the Big Dance if and only if:
They beat MSU
They win at least 2 games in the B10 tourney…decisively (10+ points)
The game they lose in the B10 tourney is by less than 5 points
Alright, another crazy week in college ball. UCLA got two shady wins. North Carolina tops Duke. Georgetown squeaks one out against Louisville. And of course my Hoosiers drop a road game at Penn State. Bad loss in my opinion, but in the long run as far as seeding and everything else goes I don’t think it will make that much of a difference. Instead of playing Purdue in home whites at the Big Ten tournament we’ll be playing in red.
As far as the Big Ten tournament goes, my previous predictions need a little revision. I still firmly believe that the top four teams will meet in the semifinals excpet now it will go:
#1 Wisconsin vs. #4 Michigan State–> Go Sparty
#2 Purdue vs. #3 Indiana–>It will be a battle
Back to Indiana. I’m really concerned with the team. They seem to be emotionally spent after the ups and downs of the season. First getting killed by Michigan State and then struggling agasint Minnesota on senior night. Now today losing at Penn State. We’re not exactly peaking at the end of the season. My only hopes is that we end up with a 4 or 5 seed. Most likely a 5 seed depending on the Big Ten tournament and draw a good opponent as a 13 or 12 seed. Always gotta worry about the 5 vs. 12 matchup. Then hope for a subpar 4 seed to match up with in the second round. I’ll be thrilled to make it to the Sweet 16 and see what happens. I’m not giving up on the season, but I just don’t think this team has the killer instinct. Hopefully I’m wrong and they win the Big Ten tournament and advance far in the NCAA tournament.
Oh well enjoy Championship week. I always enjoy this week of the year for all the great conference postseason tournaments.
Can’t wait until Thursday->Sunday!
How about them Lady Boilermakers?
The state of Indiana could have FIVE teams in the NCAA tournament. I remember a few years back, maybe somewhere in the 98-01 range, they had 6 or 7.
Purdue
IU
Butler
Notre Dame
IUPUI (if they beat Oral Roberts tonight)
OJ Mayo is pretty damn good.
Yep.
Him and Lil’ Romeo will dominate the Pac-10 next year!
:
I’d be AMAZED if OJ came back to school…that dude would be in the NBA already if not for the rule change. Heck, the only reason he chose to go to USC was so there wasn’t anybody on the team who would outshine him and make him look more human.
Cough…
Anyway, it was definitely a fun final week of basketball last weekend. Frankly, I’m a nerd about this but I LOVE watching the Finals of these little tournaments. I checked out George Mason beating William and Mary and watched San Diego pull out their second upset in a row by going through St Mary’s and Gonzaga. What fun. Even better, Middle Tennessee somehow made the Sun Belt finals. CHAOS!! Davidson/Elon and Siena/Rider were on too but they were blowouts. I love this stuff, especially since half of them take place in high school gyms. What fun.
My favorite was watching Winthrop beating UNC-Asheville, not for the game but to watch this 7’7 dude named Kenny George for UNC-Asheville. This dude is not only tall but frickin massive. Winthrop didn’t even TRY to have a low-post game since their tallest guy came up to Kenny’s shoulders. When they feed him the ball down-low they just throw it high in the air since he’s the only one who can grab it. He obviously needs work on his low-post moves and he’s slow as dirt but it’s incredible to watch. He’s only a sophomore so I hope he gets better…it’s an incredible thing to see. I found this random photo for you. Just ridiculous.
Tonight we’ve got the Sun Belt, Horizon and Summit league finals. We’ll see if Middle Tennessee can keep up their Cinderella run.
And ug…Spartans stunk it up on the road again. Hopefully it pisses them off since they get OSU all over again on Friday to set up a revenge match against that bastard Bo Ryan. Go State!!
Stevo
Oh I was just kidding about Mayo. He’s a lottery pick. And LR isn’t expected to get much playing time…because…well, he’s not that good. The events surrounding his scholarship and recruiting are a bit shady as well.
San Diego really screwed some “bubble teams,” because now the WCC is sending probably 3 teams instead of 2.
I’ll definitely be checking out the Summit and Horizon finals tonight! Go Jags and 'Dogs!
BIG TEN INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
Player of the Year: D.J. White, Indiana
Freshman of the Year: Eric Gordon, Indiana
Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Kramer, Purdue
Coach of the Year: Matt Painter, Purdue
FIRST TEAM (media):
Eric Gordon, D.J. White, Robbie Hummel, Brian Butch, Jamar Butler
FIRST TEAM (coaches):
Eric Gordon, D.J. White, Robbie Hummel, Brian Butch, Drew Neitzel
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM:
Manny Harris, Eric Gordon, Robbie Hummel, E’Twuan Moore, Kosta Koufos
Nice to see the awards have a distinct Indiana flavor.
Anyone know a link I could use to watch the Big East Tournament games online? espn360.com doesn’t look to be offering it (at least in Syracuse). In the past we’ve used out 4’ projector to watch it at work which makes for a solid afternoon. Thanks if you can help!