Well they’re officially in the top half of the conference in defensive efficiency in conference play. If I claimed that would happen pre-season I think you and everyone else here would have banned me from the forums.
That’s a tricky one. They’ve certainly been tanking but injuries have done them no favors. Though I suppose you could argue that even a shorthanded Minny should beat Northwestern and Nebraska.
they are technically 7th in raw defensive efficiency in conference play. Per T-rank, though, their adjusted D in conference play is 10th because they have played fewer games against the best offenses. I mean they couldn’t play vs their own #1 offense, 2 games vs #2 OSU, 1 game vs #3 UM, 1 game vs #4 Illinois, and 1 game vs #5 Purdue.
Relatively very easy slate for a defense to face in conference play this year.
Illinois - Michigan fighting for the conference title
Indiana - MSU in what is pretty much a tournament play-in.
Wisconsin - Purdue fighting for the 4 seed
I don’t think Wisconsin can get the 4 seed. Even if they win out, they’re gonna be 12-8, with Michigan and Illinois ahead no matter what. The 3 teams currently ahead of them are OSU, Iowa and Purdue. If Wisconsin were to win out, and those 3 teams all were to lose out, OSU and Iowa would be at 12-8 with Purdue at 11-8. That would put Wisconsin, OSU and Iowa in a 3 way tie, but Wisconsin is 0-1 against OSU and 1-1 against Iowa would have them lose the tiebreaker (OSU would be 2-1 against the other 2 and Iowa would be 2-2). So best Wisconsin can do is the 5 seed.
This game is big for Purdue (and Michigan too) though. Purdue is 11-6 with 2 games left while OSU is 12-7 with one game left, and Purdue’s currently in 4th place in the conference. If Purdue either wins out or wins one while OSU loses to Illinois, they’ll take the 4 seed (assuming Iowa beats Nebraska). That would most likely end up in a Purdue-OSU 4-5 matchup with OSU as the 5, and a matchup where OSU has already lost to Purdue twice. That leaves good odds of a Michigan-Purdue semi-final in the BTT, which is probably our ideal matchup.