According to various media folks his back tightened up and they held him out. Beilein also said post-game that he wasn’t putting Wagner in because Wilson was doing a much better job on defense and offense.
I hope he’s ok, we needed his offense late. Just remove Duncan and add him
Walton was playing on fumes. I don’t think that he was afraid of the moment at all. Nailed both his free throws late in the OT to secure the win.
Walton did look gassed. I think some of that was Purdue’s defense. This is going to be another physical game today, I’m concerned about what they have left in the tank.
I hope so. I couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t go get it the last 6 or 7 minutes
Beilein jumpstarted Groce’s Illinois’ career with the OU loss and then he finished it on Thursday.
10 Likes
What am I missing about the difference between BPI and RPI that could result in Minnesota being 19 RPI and 40 BPI, and Michigan being 46 RPI and 19 BPI? Is it mostly RPI is how well a team has performed, in terms of results, and BPI is predictive? These numbers are from before today’s W, just a heads up.
I didn’t know much about BPI before doing some Googling just now, but I found this article that touches on some differences:
While the RPI does not incorporate (1) scoring margin, (2) diminishing returns for blowouts (a 30-point win is not necessarily twice as good as a 15-point win), (3) pace of game, (4) strength of schedule beyond opponents’ opponents’ wins and losses, and (5) de-weighting games with missing key players, ESPN’s BPI does.
2 Likes
RPI is strictly winning percentage based (1/4 your win%, 1/2 win% of all your opponents, 1/4 win% of the opponents of your opponents) — with some modification for home/road/neutral court games.
So in RPI world, a team like UNC-Wilmington (29-5) gives you a better RPI bump than say Ohio State (17-15) — even though OSU is the more challenging opponent. (this is why the RPI is relatively easy to “game” — and give the SEC Conference full props for successfully gaming the metric to make its teams look more competitive to the computers than they look to human analysis)
BPI attempts to equate for more than just winning percentages, although the official description on ESPN’s website is somewhat fuzzy about the exact nature of the metric
1 Like
Seems like not the most pressing news for us right now, but Ohio State’s (and Michigan tormentor) Trevor Thompson has declared for the NBA draft. I guess he could return if he doesn’t sign with an agent or gets bad feedback, but it doesn’t sound like testing the waters. Sorry ghostofstjohnarena.
Thanks UMHoopsFan. Apparently Thompson’s declaration is of the “forgo my senior season” variety. That’s life in the big city, though. Opens up more minutes for Micah Potter and freshman post Kaleb Wesson but from a selfish standpoint I wished he would’ve hung around another season.
I wish Trevor well.
1 Like
Indiana just lost to Georgia Tech in the NIT. Wow
Not surprising after IU gave up the home game to GT. How can you justify doing that?
2 Likes
CREAN in the hot seat!
Usually PowerConference teams lose money when they host NIT games, especially 1st Round NIT games. The ticket isn’t included in a season ticket package so you have to sell to a full arena with a ticket holder base less than interested in attending.
1 Like
What’s the cost to travel a whole team, cheerleaders, band, staff, etc to Atlanta?
1 Like
Can’t imagine that IU would have any problems selling tickets. And even if they lost money, are they so poor that they couldn’t afford it? What happens if GT doesn’t want to host the game either?
I can’t imagine UM giving up a NIT home game and making their team travel. Why not just turn down the bid?
I believe the Tournament covers travel expenses, like it does in NCAA Tournaments.
@Champions, I know for a fact there were years when Michigan indicated to the NIT committee that it would rather play on the road than have to host NIT games (the committee didn’t necessarily indulge those requests each time). Look, Michigan struggles to get fans to show up for a Tuesday night late tipoff with 3mos notice — imagine an NIT game with 2-3days notice following a season that failed to live up to expectations.
IU was ranked preseason; fan base isn’t going to be excited to shell out more $ to see a disappointing season continue. Georgia Tech, on the flip side, is re-building and has a program excited for the chance to get postseason experience.
1 Like