I thought the ACC was horrible last year and they spit out three Elite 8 teams and two Final 4s.
I’m probably wrong, like I am about many things, but I just don’t get what’s so hard about admitting the Big Ten isn’t that good this year. I feel like we’re at a point where we could have zero top 25 teams in it and argue that because there’s 11 bubble teams that all go two games above or below 10-10 against eachother that’s somehow an impressive feat
Yeah, the judging teams by their best game (which was an outlier performance) is just not a good way to go. I think a couple weeks ago in this thread I was trying to explain that Wisconsin winning at Iowa in overtime without Kris Murray didn’t exactly mean Wisconsin was some juggernaut. There are useful tools to measure teams other than compare different single game results.
No one is saying the Big Ten is some awesome league like the Big 12, just pointing out that the depth of teams in the league is really unique and is going to cause a bunch up of conference records.
That doesn’t mean the league is as good as it was in 2019 or something but it is still worth pointing out.
Our collective opinion of the B1G is very much a “devil we know” opinion. Sit down and watch an entire ACC/Big12/SEC game and you’ll see the same head scratching behaviour we watch every night.
The B1G is nowhere as good as Tom Izzo would like you to believe. The hey dey is still 2013 era, there are like 4 teams from that season that would run away with the title this year. B1G is quickly becoming the conference of extreme OK-ness
2019, 2021, there have been other good years recently.
This year the league is a 1 seed and then something like 10 teams that are in the 7 seed through bubble range.
Big 12 is just loaded with top half seeds, P12 has maybe the best pair of title contenders? BE has five really good teams and tourney locks and nothing else, SEC could make a case for title contending pair of Bama/UT and then I have no idea what to make of the rest.
What’s odd about this whole conversation is that we were pretty sure going into the season that the conference didn’t seem particularly top loaded…and now that it’s proving out, we have people stating it like its a surprise.
Bottom line, the middle tier of the B1G (however you want to define those tiers) is still competitive on the national front, and the conference isn’t melting. As @ChathaM1 stated above, our intimate familiarity with this conference (and UM/MSU) is affecting our perspective of how good other conferences actually are…or aren’t.
Although I think it’s weak on high end teams this year , I can’t lie it’s pretty deep again.
Even the usual cupcakes are scrappy, which helps prop up weaker rosters at the Michigan’s , Illinois etc who are all still solid rosters or better.
I can’t watch Illinois with out getting frustrated. Totally different season with Shannon. Borderline final 4 contenders with him instead of t will starting.
Haven’t watched a ton of state this year, but they are looking much better than in our matchup right now.
More and more in on MSU’s defense but I also have no idea what Illinois offense is trying to do.
More and more out on point Coleman.
Hawkins is absolutely killing Illinois. I have no idea what he is doing out there.
MSU gets a great whistle on the road
I was pretty frustrated by that loss but not feeling as bad now. They are definitely solid. There d was legit.
I was impressed by their communication , discipline and execution on that end. If Michigan hits the open looks they did get they would have won but State had a nice game plan and executed it wonderfully.
They didn’t bite on any of our guys double moves and head fakes some which were pretty nice in the lane.
I remember Kobe, t will , and Hunter all getting stuck in the lane. Definitely studied their opponents tendencies and moves.
Hoggard seems to be a lot better than I thought he was going to be this year. He’s been a 1 man show for MSU the last few minutes against Illinois
Illinois doing a good job turning MSU offense into guards playing one on one.
Illinois is just such a strange team but they have an insane amount of talent. Mayer, Terrance Shannon or Hawkins can all just take over
Illinois benches the best player on the roster and comes back and wins. Such a weird team. Think they will only get better though. Talent is there.
Illinois is responsible for 14% of the losses the KenPom top 8 teams have taken. Their ceiling is as high as anyone’s.
Cooper moving ahead of Kohler on the depth chart is extremely funny.
The most interesting stat is 6 total 3 point attempts for MSU. I feel like playing through Hoggard and living 2 points at a time is an issue even when he plays well. Just looking now, but they’re 3-4 now against high major teams when he has 10+ shots.
It’s a similar issue that Wisconsin faced with Happ a few years ago, but at least Hoggard can convert some and ones so it’s not quite as problematic.
Yeah 0/7 from three
Won’t win many games that way
Will someone explain to me why Malik Hall can’t get on the floor