Man, if Painter wins the Big Ten after losing Mathias, Haas, Edwards and P.J. ThompsonâŚand with Carsen Edwards only shooting 35% from the floor in conferenceâŚI will be very impressed
I find much of the following from Inside The Hall to be untrue
BlockquoteThe Spartans are an especially difficult front line to match up with, even in a conference laden with great big men. They require that opponents be big enough to bang against Ward, Kenny Goins, and Xavier Tillman, yet mobile enough to defend them on the perimeter as well. Manage that, and teams must still account for their superlative passing and decision-making.
Blockquote
Yeah I completely disagree. Their bigs are not perimeter threats and I donât think they are good passers either.
Goins can hit it from deep, but certainly not Ward or Tillman. Now, those guys are big bodies inside, but IU out rebounded them. HmmmâŚmaybe IU is just that good. Nah.
IU does have plenty of athletes - they just canât figure out how to put the spherical thing through the circular thing with the strings hanging off it.
I believe Purdue has a very good chance of winning it. Their schedule is really quite easy, and youâre right, ours is the toughest.
I still have mredâs B1G Tournament Bracket Generator bookmarked from last year. Through last nightâs games they have MSU and Purdue tied at 18-2 with State winning the tiebreaker. They have us third at 16-4 with, ready for this, two loses to Michigan State. I donât know what they use as an algorithm for predicting the outcome of games. Of course what that means is if that is correct EXCEPT that we beat the Spartans twice, WE win the championship. If we split with MSU, Purdue wins. HmmmâŚ
Goins can shoot a bit, but he also isnât going to take people off the bounce so you donât need to be that mobile to guard him.
Say what you want about Pitino, but THIS Minnesota team scraps and plays hard. They fight.
Minnesota was playing very hard when you posted this, Iâm sure. My take away, though, would be, anyone who doesnât think kids sometimes âcruiseâ and sometimes play HARD needs to watch this Purdue team. From the 14:07 mark when they were down by 13 until now (7:53) when Purdue is up by four, Purdue has played at ANOTHER level. They are playing HARD! They are like wild men out there. Weâll see what happens from here on out. My guess is Purdue will end up winning by 10 or 15.
Yeah Minnesota ran into a buzzsaw and couldnât regroup during that run. That happens in Mackey though, just ask Michigan St ha.
Absolutely it does. Crazy place. And Iâll tell you, I really like Matt Painter!
There was a time when I wondered if Haarms was going to be a player. Yes, he was 7â3 but would he be strong enough, coordinated enough? Back when he was a freshmen. Wow! Heâs playing hard, and making a huge difference!
To me, Big Ten is divided by really hateable coaches or really likable coaches, for whatever reason.
Painter is absolutely in the likeable coaches. Top notch.
Impressed with Minnesota. They never quit, played hard all the way. But Iâm more impressed with Purdue. If they play the way they played the last 14:07 they can beat anyone! My wife just said, âeven Tennessee?â I said, âYep, Tennessee, Duke, anybody!â
Purdue guard Nojel Eastern has made 29 of his last 35 (83%) free throws.
He was 31 of 75 (41%) for his career before January 11th, 2019.
Basically what Michigan needs to happen with Xâs 3-point shot 
Our game @ Minnesota has loss written all over it.
Whyâs that?
Did Minny start playing zone? Iâm pretty confident in our chances in any game against primarily man to man.
I think he uses kenpom for predictions.
3pt shooting is the great equalizer. Most teams shoot 32%-37% on the year, so a 20% or a 50% night can totally alter the other facets of the game. Michigan played poorly overall and dealt with crippling foul trouble against Iowa, but if theyâre hot from 3 then we are looking at a completely different game.