I wouldn’t be too quick to count this out, lol. I think ten is more likely, but I think Howard has shown a proclivity to want to play more guys than less. But the last two years have not had the depth to do it,
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FWIW, it’s tough to be intimidated by a bunch of fans known for hiding under giant state flags.
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I will take the over on 11.5 B1G wins
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Purdue, OSU(I do believe Liddell and Washington return) I know in the minority but I think Indiana has a very good year. The aggregate win total for a 4th place team in the Big Ten has been hovering right around 12.6 wins for the past few years. You do need to correct for an 18 to 20 game schedule so.
Wow you think Indiana finishes top 3 ahead of Michigan, MSU and Maryland? That seems bold. The additions of Xavier Johnson and Tamar Bates with the loss of Durham and Franklin moves the needle that much for you?
For me it starts with TJD-Thompson-Johnson that’s a real good trio to begin with. I think Kopp probably improves a bit off his poor 3 point % of 2021 he had a year at NW where he shot 39% even if it was say 35% that’s an upgrade.I can see a backcourt group of Johnson/Lander/Phinisee/Bates being an upgrade over Durham/Franklin/Phinisee/Lander. Note Durham was a good outside shooter but a terrible shooter inside the arc. Then like I said you have Kopp/Thompson/TJD. A wildcard would be a guy like Parker Stewart never played this past year and has been a good outside shooter. Then out of a group like Galloway/Leal you might get a bit. Defenses weren’t bad under Miller but I think Woodson gets more out of them.
Just looking at things I think it’s OSU/Purdue, then a group of IU/Maryland/Michigan/Michigan State for 3-6 and maybe only separated by 1-2 games from 3rd to 6th.
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Having a hard time understanding any tiers without Michigan in the top one.
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I need to see Mike Woodson coach a college game first. I think IU has had a great portal season but most of their roster is either returning non-shooters or incoming transfers with some baggage.
My current hot take is that Bates will be their best player by February.
Best newcomer or best overall? Feels like it would be tough for Bates to have a better and more impactful season than TJD.
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Best overall. I said it was hot!
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Hey Burgerboy how come your always so negative on M most of the time. Are you an inside expert or something?
This may be a bit off topic, but I’m an alum hoping to make it back for a game this year. How should I go about buying tickets for a single game?
Some may have a better answer but I used to get individual tickets through mgoblue.com but now I use StubHub, seat geek, or vivid seats.
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Ernie is right on the tickets. You just can’t get them till the fall unless you get season tickets.
I don’t think I am overly negative with the team. I like some of the pieces returning but they do lose a lot of good players. I think the freshman will be ok but I am of the opinion it will take some of them different amounts of time to acclimate themselves. I don’t mind the Jones pickup but I am not sold on Howard hitting it out of the park with another up transfer. Some of that has to do with everything Michigan is losing.
Every year usually has a different challenge year 1 was a new coach, year 2 was a covid year and a team returning some nice pieces but there weren’t high expectations. Year 3 is the challenge of trying to repeat what you did in year 2 because Michigan isn’t sneaking up on anyone this upcoming year.
I like Juwan but I won’t make it a secret I was extremely frustrated and disappointed how they played in their most important game of the year. I think Juwan is a good coach but I question when the games get real close, end up game situations if he can get things set up and get this team over the hump. They had issues in year 1 close games like Oregon/Illinois/OSU/Minnesota. This year they didn’t have a lot of close games but the OSU/UCLA games they didn’t look great in late game situations. The OSU game was the first one without Livers and they fought back but still what Michigan had at the end of that game wasn’t their best option with a Smith 3.
I also don’t get hung up on where a team finishes in the conference season or what tier. If anything UCLA getting to the Final Four should get us to realize you just need to get hot at the right time and have a guy that can get buckets.
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Your first sentence contradicts everything that you said after it.
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No $hit
Complete sentence.
What was their best option?
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Damning the national #1 recruiting class with faint praise. We’ve forgotten what it’s like to have that kind of a class. Obviously if they are just ok, that’s a major disappointment and puts a limit on how good this team could be.
With a reasonable expectation for the newcomers, plus a likely star in Dickinson, it’s hard to see them as only an 11 or 12 win team in this Big Ten.
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I think you’re still stuck in a phase where you can’t believe Juwan is actually a really good coach.
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