Big Ten Discussion

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Hey, at least he scratched out one assist this game. Must have been a deflection to a teammate.

Whatever happens on Saturday, I think we will see UM/MSU Part III a week from Sunday.

I don’t necessarily scorn him for his erratic play, but it is a head-scratcher. He has one of the best coaches in the conference, obviously giving him the green light. Whatever happened to Trevion Williams, btw? Must be injured?

Second in big ten history in rebounds. 4 year starter. Best in minny history in double doubles.

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To be honest I’m not sure Purdue is going to beat northwestern on senior night. I expect a close one. Wouldn’t shock me for law and pardon to blow up and win.

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I don’t know. MSU’s lack of depth may catch up to them in the BTT. I feel like the title game could be UM-PU again.

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If Edwards spends the entire game forcing every shot I could see that. However I expect him to play better than he did last night and ultimately for Purdue to win due to Northwestern’s lack of scoring.

So could ours. I just think M and MSU are much better than anyone else in the conference. Obviously, anybody is capable of losing to anybody this season but I think we are the two best teams.

MSU better not run into IU in BTT, they just can’t beat the Hoosiers
In all seriousness, I don’t think M makes it to final of BTT, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
I’ll take the field over MSU M and Purdue

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Gut instinct:

  • Michigan loses in the semis if they’re the #1 seed. Which is awesome since that means they win @MSU Saturday. (Honestly, I feel like Maryland or Wisconsin may win it, for whatever reason.)
  • Michigan beats Purdue in the semis and makes it to the championship if they’re the #2 or #3 seed.
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I would prefer a beatdown of MSU at East Lansing. Then in Chicago, exacting revenge on a sinking Iowa 8 seed, then pummeling the Badgers in the semis (while wearing cups and ankle braces to offset the Davison effect) to face MSU again in the championship and hand out another fresh beatdown for the second 2019 B1G championship banner—all as a warmup to the Natty banner, of course.

However, I would be very happy if your gut instincts come true.

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You just laid out the dream scenario right there! Cheers to that if it comes true! (Which isn’t a pipe-dream either, it’s all very possible.)

Funny you brought up Iowa as a #8 too, I was thinking the same thing last night. Looking at their schedule, I didn’t dig into tiebreakers but they can absolutely lose their next two at Wisconsin and at Nebraska and #8 can be at play.

No matter what happens this Saturday, at least winning the first game in Chicago would be perfect. That should lock up a 2 seed (if not already), might give Charles a chance to ease into game action again, and that would allow DDJ and Castelton to get another couple games under their belt. Anything beyond Saturday is gravy to me.

IMHO, UM, MSU and Purdue are the three best teams in the Big Ten for the second year in a row, which is pretty amazing given the amount of talent that all three lost from last year’s teams.

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10 of the 15 starters from those teams last year didn’t return or didn’t start in conference play. And Matthews and Ward are two of the 5 that returned. Crazy and very impressive work from those 3 coaches

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My rule of thumb: I never let rationality get in the way of March madness until all the beer is gone and the clock reaches zero with U-M on the lesser end.

This B1G tourney should be pretty amazing, evenly matched all the way through. Someone from Wednesday games could well pull off an upset on Thursday, too. (Looking at you, Penn St.) If it weren’t for Nebraska morphing into an implosion of apathy, I’d say Iowa is the team to win “most likely to underachieve when it matters most.”

To your point about Charles, it won’t break my heart if they need him to rest for the entire B1G tournament if he is anything less than 100%. We are absolutely going to need him for any extended NCAA stay.

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Agreed, I’m really looking forward to the big ten tournament this year. It should be a lot of fun with everyone competitive.

It’s also a lot more enjoyable knowing Michigan doesn’t need a win or two to get off the bubble. MUCH more enjoyable in that regard too.

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I think Penn St will be a trendy pick to make some noise in the BTT, but I can’t see it happening. They have had so much trouble trying to finish close games all season, and a lot of that has come down to poor offensive sets in the last couple minutes of games (perfect example was the recent loss at Wisky). Unless they’re able to build big leads, which they are certainly capable of doing, I don’t see them going far.

playing wisconsin anywhere but kohl is an entirely different thing

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