Wins and losses happen. But there are definitely still bad losses in conference play and Wisconsin has two now with dropping home to Maryland and at Penn State. That can’t happen to a team that is supposed to contend for the conference.
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Seat is buckled. It’s an exhilarating ride folks!!
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Happens all the time. Feels like Michigan drops a game at Penn State almost every year. I hope that game doesn’t get rescheduled haha
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the Big Ten is absolutely loaded this year. Current conference KenPom rank (by estimated team strength to project .500 record in conference play) is the 2nd highest of any conference in the KenPom era. Only the 2016-17 Big12 topped it by a smidge. The Big 12 this year is also the only conference within even shouting distance of the Big Ten. SEC, ACC, and BE are in a dead heat a ways behind the top 2 and P12 is a little behind that.
Now is KenPom’s system the best or only way to rank conferences? Of course not. But it’s at least a decent starting point. Maybe you prefer conferences that are top heavy with contenders for a 1 seed and don’t care if they feast on a few bottom dwellers. Or maybe you like conferences that are strongest at the bottom so nobody ever has an easy night. The thing is the Big Ten kind of has it all this year. The Big 12 has the best team (Baylor) between either conference, but they also have 3 truly terrible teams whereas the Big Ten really only has Nebraska weighing them down.
Once conferences get to conference play, it’s basically a zero sum game in terms of how conferences ranks change against each other. It’s only really outside the conference that you can get a sense for how good conferences are against each other.
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The gap from Gonzaga/Baylor to #4 Iowa in KenPom is the same as the gap from Iowa to #24 Indiana
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Big12 is probably better at the top 6 or 7. But considering it’s a 10 team conference and 2 of their teams are absolute trash fires, which is 20% of their conference. you have to give the B1G a ton of credit for having 13 competent at worst teams. It’s actually almost unprecedented
Combine that with the B1G having 3 top 10 teams I think you have to give them the edge
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sure those losses can happen, they just decrease the chances of the team contending for the conference title. Wisconsin’s loss at PSU today was a Quad 1A game as of current NET rankings, aka amongst the toughest group of games that even teams seeded 2-4 in the NCAAs can end up with .500 at best records against.
I really do appreciate everyone’s thoughtful posts defending Wisconsin’s loss to Penn State. I understand road losses aren’t all that surprising anywhere any time. I wish the Badgers the best of luck making a late push for a conference title during the stretch where 5 of their last 9 games come against Iowa/Michigan/Illinois. 3 games back in the loss column, 9 to play. Should be fun to watch play out!
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#1 toughest remaining conference schedule for the Badgers
People get entrenched in their views and just look for whatever backs that view up, ignoring the rest. As you know, I was extraordinarily anti-Iowa for much of the year. We got in many debates here regarding it. As my transition to reality regarding Iowa was happening, I tried to deny it. “No, they’re still too bad on defense.” “Lock down their shooters and Garza can’t beat you alone.” Yadda yadda yadda. All these attempts to deny what I was seeing. But eventually, the fog cleared and I was able to view Iowa as what they are, the a top 5 team in this country. And I will do anything in my power to carry their flag.
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I don’t think anybody here expects to see Wisconsin contend for the conference title at this point, but that isn’t because they are not a very good team it is because they have already dropped too many games with too tough of a schedule left to play.
Random funny stat for Wisconsin compared to the Big 12 this year. Wisconsin has 9 top 100 KenPom wins this year. Kansas leads the Big 12 with 7 so far (several tied behind them with 6).
I wasn’t even trying to make a point about Wisconsin. Just the national narrative referenced above. No different than UM/Iowa losing at Minnesota or Illinois losing to Maryland etc. Games like that happen.
It is really criminal that there are so many single plays between the top teams though.
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Haha I don’t think anyone here actually thinks Wisconsin is a contender anymore. It’s moreso trying to say it’s a weird victory lap to take for Iowa when they have 3 losses already and still have some tough games ahead of them. I wouldn’t be that shocked if they ended up finishing 3rd or 4th, which makes it a weird brag
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I’d be pretty surprised if Iowa finished anything other than 2nd (or 1st, depending on how the Big Ten deals with conference records and if Michigan gets locked down again due to actually having an outbreak). I mean, like I said above, they just played pretty dang even with their biggest competition for that spot (maybe controversial, but I hate Wisconsin) despite it being a road game with a missing starter. I guess I’m just the type who takes that circumstance into account more than some. I came away more impressed with Iowa than I was before when I watched the replay this morning.
I enjoy the passion of this conversation. So many strong views, so many reputations at stake… It’s pretty crazy.
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That’s fair. I should have limited my victory lap to just laughing at Wisconsin’s expense. I am also a little triggered because I somehow convinced myself to bet on Wisconsin today. Why.
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They still play OSU 2x, Wisconsin 2x, @Indiana (who already beat them), @Michigan. They are going to lose some games. Not sure how many they’ll need to win to finish top 2, but I’d guess they need to finish at least 14-6 (maybe 15-5?) to do so and they already have 3 losses. If they sweep OSU and WI then they’ll get there, but I doubt that happens
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I think they do it. I’m willing to risk everything for this team. I’m way too deep to back out now.
Hahaha reputations are on the line
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I really never foresaw myself becoming a massive Iowa stan but here we are. This is what a bet with @umhoops will do.
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How about that comment right under yours in that thread though 
Also, Dylan did officialize the bet officially it seems.
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