Northwestern made 2 shots in the second half, pretty incredible lol.
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I would bet that Juwan would employ that strategy and tell Dickinson not to foul but make Garza work for it while everyone else stay home on Iowa shooters. I think Michigan matchup well on the perimeter against Iowa. Garza has the advantage over Dickinson bc he’s the best B1G player but Dickinson has trained with Garza.
Anyone else get shades of that MSU/NW game from three years ago while watching last night’s train wreck of a second half against Illinois?
The Penn St game is postponed ??? Sorry, I’m a little slow. This going to be a weird season.
Yes, unfortunately. Next game is Wisconsin on Tuesday.
I think there’s a case to be made that Illinois is the best team in the Big Ten right now.
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Illinois has always passed the look test. They’re the one team in this conference that has the talent that I find intimidating as a Michigan fan. They have a gear that the others can’t shift to. And poor Chris Collins. To be up 15 at the half and lose by 25. There was an empty chair in the champagne room last night.
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Wow - so, if I have it right, 3 of the current top 4 have single plays against 2 of the top 4. Bummer, cause we do and that seems rare enough that I’d figured it was a scheduling advantage.
What’s interesting about this is that there are four teams that look like contenders and:
-Iowa and Illinois play once
-Michigan and Illinois play once
-Michigan and Iowa play once
-Wisconsin plays 2x against UM, Iowa and Illinois (and hasn’t played any yet)
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I think the Wisconsin game is going to be really interesting. I wasn’t particularly impressed with them last night against IU but a team full of old guys that have run the same system forever scares me. I can’t believe that Trice is TWO YEARS older than Austin Davis.
The other interesting thing I see in that table is the tier behind the top four. What do we make of them and their direction right now? Minnesota and Rutgers seem to be falling like rocks. IU played pretty well last night but seems limited. No idea what to do with OSU. While MSU has a long way to go, they’re probably the one team trying to climb out of that mediocrity at the moment.
My heart breaks for poor Bucky Badger. 
Did anyone notice that the OSU women put themselves on NCAA tournament ban for recruiting violations. I suspect we have not heard the end of this story.
What a crazy league. I think the numbers that KenPom has as well as the efficiency margins are spot on where there is a huge gap between the top 4, the middle is a jumbled mess and then the bottom.
I think Illinois and Michigan are the best/most consistent teams right now. Iowa can get hot and beat anybody. I do think what we have learned from Wisconsin is that if they shoot 40+% from 3 like last year they can beat anybody. But when those shots don’t fall they might be more a mid-tier team. Given that and their schedule I’m just not sure they are gonna get to the top spot.
Could be recency bias, but if Indiana can figure it out they might be the best team out of the middle. If they can hit some shots, play thru TJD who was a beast last night they probably have as good a shot of anybody to be the best mid-tier team. At least until Archie screws it up. Probably have to throw MSU in that conversation as well given the flaws everybody else has, I would trust them to figure it out given the coaching and talent that is there versus what the other teams have.
Calling it now - Dickenson has yet to pick up a cheap-nonsense foul in the first minute of the game so far in his collegiate career, but that ends Tuesday. Against Wisconsin.
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Now that Maryland stinks, PSU is going to have an uphill COVID return, and NW is stuck with a brutal schedule that could leave them in an unrecoverable tailspin, we’re looking at 10 possible NCAA tourney bids for the conference. Probably room for one of PSU or NW to get themselves in the discussion but it will be tough.
I keep on waiting for Illinois 3 pt shooting to come back down to earth but it just keeps on going. Those guys may just be legit improved 3pt shooters.
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Purdue is 0-4 in road games as they head to Breslin. But they kept the games pretty close against Rutgers and Illinois. Give me Purdue +5
Michigan is definitely old and I think we are seeing some benefits from that in terms of physical maturity and individual maturity. Granted, we are still much younger than the geriatrics at Wisconsin, but we can’t play the youth card.
However, the big difference is that our team has played a lot fewer games together than Wisconsin. For starters, we changed coaches in the middle of Livers/Brooks/Davis/Johns career. Then there’s the transfers and freshmen. And we’ve also had injuries and less practice time due to Covid. Meanwhile, Wisconsin has had the same coach and same players in their core group the entire time.
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MSU-Purdue prediction: MSU opens the game on a 17-0 run and it’s never competitive.
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