They’re close … but we not only have the edge in win percentage, we do in efficiency too. And there’s an argument to be made that if we’d played NW/PSU/IU, our efficiency edge would be larger still.
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What are they irate about though? That Michigan didn’t reschedule the 3 other games during a pandemic when the cancellations were through no fault of Michigan in the first place?
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The criteria being laid out in the middle of the season would make me upset if I was an Illinois fan.
I think this narrative is a little overblown. The better team doesn’t always win- there are upsets all over basketball. Illinois is probably the better team than Michigan right now, but they had incredible focus issues this year- not even just the losses. The best team doesn’t always win the Big Ten nor the NCAA tournament. The sample size is too small for a perfect outcome.
Michigan played well enough to win the big ten, won it on Thursday and then lost a meaningless game which dragged down their efficiency margins.
Would I be pissed if I was Illinois- probably, but fans will be pissed on any call within a game that doesn’t go their way- that’s life. They are as much to blame for losing the title as Michigan is or the Big ten is.
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That four games weren’t played and three were by Michigan. That there was no announcement about the criteria until Michigan was going to be crowned champions. That “games behind” criteria would put Illinois ahead of Michigan. That they beat Michigan h2h.
It’s just a tough situation. I’m only pointing out that they have every reason to be frustrated.
I was out of pocket for a bit this weekend and I’m a bit shocked that this is such a controversial take. 
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I get it if Michigan had games remaining against good teams, but the missed games were against 1. NW - the second worst team in the conference, 2. Indiana - a team playing atrocious basketball that MI just beat on IU’s home floor, and 3. PSU - the 11th place team.
I really think PSU is the only game that even was possible to lose, but I still doubt it would have happened.
What did they want Michigan to do? Play 11 games in 21 days? That’s insane.
Lots of teams across the country didn’t play full conference schedules. It’s what you are dealing with given the circumstances. Baylor played 4 fewer games than the rest of the Big 12. Some leagues were decided by Kenpom rankings.
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Like I said, it is what it is. Michigan won the Big Ten. It would just suck if you were an Illinois fans. And if the situation were reversed, Michigan fans would be losing their minds. The idea that there is somehow not a case to be made for Illinois is insane, though.
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No question if the roles were reversed Illini would take similar position to UM and you can bet the barn Michigan fans would be apoplectic
I never said there wasn’t a case to be made for a co-championship. But “incredibly pissed” and “irate” implies that they 100% definitely were wronged, which I vehemently disagree with given the circumstances. Michigan likely would’ve gone 3-0 and they would have zero right to be upset in that case regardless of how badly they beat Michigan.
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USC (15-5) lost the P12 to Oregon (14-4) with a H2H win over Oregon.
FSU (11-4) lost the ACC go UVA (13-4) with a H2H win over UVA.
Houston (14-3) lost the AAC to Wichita St (11-2) with a 1-1 record against WSU.
Obviously I’m not a fan of any of these teams, but I haven’t seen any complaints about regular season titles in any of these scenarios on Reddit.
If I were an Illinois fan, I’d feel like my team got slighted. However, I think there’s something to be said about how severely Illinois fans have reacted relative to the above second place teams. Maybe that’s because the B1G regular season is more important than other conferences.
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Underwood has been using this for motivation of an inconsistent team. Big chip on the shoulder. That’s the silver lining for them.
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and Michigan football fans in 1973 lost their minds when the big ten literally had a vote about who should win the conference title.
Decisions get made that are unfair in basketball, just as in life. A decision has to be made. There will be winners and losers of those decisions- be it at the conference level or the referee level. The big ten administration does a horrific job of communicating- that’s a fact. Winning percentage is a reasonable way to resolve it, that was their decision.
Many Illinois fans are taking the position that they should have sole possession of the title and that this is a witch hunt. That’s crazy too. Illinois is a good team, they got a raw deal, but that’s as much on them as anyone else. Fairness has nothing to do with this year given Covid and basketball players know that as well as most.
Yeah, I get this. Michigan was “likely to win” but it isn’t like they had one game left over versus Northwestern. They still had to play three games which is a fairly substantial number.
I would bet a lot of money the reaction on social media would be greater if the roles were reversed.
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I agree UM fans would have overreacted too. Sunday’s game proved how irrational many UM fans are (I saw takes that Michigan is going to lose in the second round or that the Sweet 16 is the ceiling for this team now). But I think that’d be an over the top take for MI fans too if Illinois’s remaining schedule was NW, IU and PSU. It isn’t like Michigan missed games against OSU, Iowa and Purdue or something.
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These aren’t the real All Big Ten teams (those come out shortly) but this first team is pretty insane.
FIRST TEAM
Guard — Marcus Carr, Minnesota, Jr., 6-2, 195, Pittsburgh.
u-Guard — Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois, Jr., 6-5, 200, Chicago.
u-Center — Luka Garza, Iowa, Sr., 6-11, 265, Washington, D.C.
Forward – Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana, So., 6-9, 245, Greenwood, Indiana.
Forward – E.J. Liddell, Ohio State, So., 6-7, 240, Belleville, Illinois.
SECOND TEAM
Guard — Joe Wieskamp, Iowa, Jr., 6-6, 212, Muscatine, Iowa.
Guard — Franz Wagner, Michigan, So., 6-9, 220, Berlin, Germany.
Center — Kofi Cockburn, Illinois, So., 7-0, 285, Kingston, Jamaica.
Forward — Isaiah Livers, Michigan, Sr., 6-7, 230, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Forward — Trevion Williams, Purdue, Jr., 6-10, 265, Chicago.
Coach of the year — Juwan Howard, Michigan.
Player of the year — Luka Garza, Iowa, Sr., 6-11, 265, Washington, D.C.
Newcomer of the year — Hunter Dickinson, Michigan, Fr., 67-1, 255, Alexandria, Virginia.
Wow. Cockburn second team? Surprised about Carr given the way the season ended up for them.
Aaron Henry robbed
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Just to be clear on this though, if Michigan played those three games and went 2-1 there would have been a split championship and both schools hang banners right? Illinois gets the 1-seed in the BTT due to H2H, but both teams are crowned champs I think.
I get that they’re pissed and I get that they want to be co-champs. I’d be too probably with the way the last two weeks played out. At the same time, while we can speculate about going 2-1 versus 3-0 there’s very, very little chance Michigan goes 1-2 so I’m not upset at all about the banner that will be hanging in our rafters. We earned it. Maybe Illinois did too…even if they did lose four games and narrowly won a couple others.
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I believe the AP tells people to vote positionally but still insane to have Carr and TJD as first teamers IMO.
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Marcus Carr’s teams combined to lose 13 of their final 14 conference games. The only win for either team in that stretch was when IU beat Minnesota.
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Correct, which is very different than not hanging a banner.
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