Wisconsin dominated the league by the efficiency stats and won it by two games, but is anyone else surprised to see just how far down the league is this year?
Maryland overachieved in the W/L column, but the efficiency margin stats say they were very lucky and closer to a .500 team than a conference contender.
Purdue surprised me in conference play, but man the non-conference was really ugly.
Iowa at least had some good non-conference wins and didn’t collapse this year.
Michigan State beat two top-50 teams this year. Ohio State only beat one. When was the last time a team won double-digit games in the league with that few quality wins?
Illinois and Indiana both look like they will miss the tourney without a run in Chicago.
Michigan had the early losses and then the injuries.
Minnesota and Nebraska had disappointing seasons after reasons for encouragement last year (NIT run, surprise NCAA berth).
On top of that, who is on an upward trajectory? Ohio State will likely lose Russell along with its seniors. MSU loses Trice, Dawson and I don’t know where they’d be without them. Wisconsin could lose Kaminsky, Dekker, Jackson and Gasser, but I love Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig.
Overall I’m just surprised at how far the conference fell after a few really strong years.
Not sure how Trimble is regarded in NBA circles (DX has him 33 in 2016), but he could still be part of a good core with Jake Layman. I was shocked how many senior transfers they had when I was there for senior night, but most of those guys played bit parts.
Maryland has Nebraska 2013-14 syndrome though… Their record is out-performing their efficiency margin. That’s usually a red flag (see NEB this year, Mich in 2010) for a team improving the next season.
I think Purdue has potential to have a nice season next year.
I don’t think it will take much to get into the top 5, but it should be good competition between each other. Just enough pieces on each team, not enough to stand out.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Losing Rice is big but he’s been inconsistent over the past 2 years and injured as well. Think Leron Black will be a nice player next year from what I’ve seen.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Losing Rice is big but he’s been inconsistent over the past 2 years and injured as well. Think Leron Black will be a nice player next year from what I’ve seen.
Haven’t seen much from Black other than the inability to stay on the floor due to fouls and enough dirty fouls to rival Adam Woodbury.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Losing Rice is big but he’s been inconsistent over the past 2 years and injured as well. Think Leron Black will be a nice player next year from what I’ve seen.
Haven’t seen much from Black other than the inability to stay on the floor due to fouls and enough dirty fouls to rival Adam Woodbury.
Agree with that, but you know I love tough players, and Black is a really tough kid and good rebounder from what I’ve seen.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Couldn’t Tracy Abrams returning offset some of the loss of Rice? Rice did miss a fair amount of the B1G season.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Couldn’t Tracy Abrams returning offset some of the loss of Rice? Rice did miss a fair amount of the B1G season.
True. Abrams will help at the PG in a sense… But he was very inefficient last year.
Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn are a good core, but losing Rice + Egwu will be big. Don’t love Jaylon Tate, what do they have coming in other than Jalen Coleman?
Couldn’t Tracy Abrams returning offset some of the loss of Rice? Rice did miss a fair amount of the B1G season.
True. Abrams will help at the PG in a sense… But he was very inefficient last year.
Yes he was not good at all last year. It will be interesting because a team like Purdue could still be a threat if they retain Hammons. I don’t think anybody will count out Wisconsin considering the track record Ryan has. MSU still won 12 conference games this year after losing Payne, Appling, and Harris. They do lose Trice/Dawson but I am not sure they’re losing more this year than compared to last. OSU will lose Russell but they still have some nice pieces returning in Tate, Loving, Diop. A very solid recruiting class coming in.
The last couple years there seems to be a team that comes out of nowhere and has a very good B1G season.
2012-Michigan, Indiana
2013-???
2014-Nebraska
2015-Purdue
Who will it be next year? Northwestern lost some very close games this year and returns a nice group of players. Top 4 scorers returning. A couple outside shooters in Lindsey, Taphorn, top 100 recruit Falzon coming in.
The Big Ten was awful this year. Amazing it went from arguably the top conference the last 2 years (certainly in ‘12-13’) to one of the worst.
And I don’t buy the argument that they don’t have the elite teams but have better teams overall. It just didn’t pass the “eye test”.
Then again, I believe college ball has taken a step backwards all across the board. Hard to find a good quality game to watch sometimes. However, the ACC was very good and provided some of the best games of year.
The Big Ten was awful this year. Amazing it went from arguably the top conference the last 2 years (certainly in '12-13') to one of the worst.
And I don't buy the argument that they don't have the elite teams but have better teams overall. It just didn't pass the "eye test".
Then again, I believe college ball has taken a step backwards all across the board. Hard to find a good quality game to watch sometimes. However, the ACC was very good and provided some of the best games of year.
I really enjoyed the Mid Major conference tournament games over the weekend. Thought that was some quality basketball. I also thought those games were ref’d better than anything I saw in the Big Ten this year.
As far as the Big Ten, it was way down this year which makes this season even harder to swallow.
Ohio State disappointed me in that I don’t think they got any better over the course of the year. They lost to Louisville and UNC in non-con, but I don’t think they looked wretched and certainly thought they had potential. They ended up losing most of their 50/50 games, only winning against Indiana and Maryland in Columbus. Did not have a single quality road win this year. Marc Loving’s suspension hurt them a little bit but I didn’t see anyone improve over the course of the season other than Tate. Anthony Lee, the Temple transfer, was a huge letdown for them. Averaged 13 and 8 at Temple, you’d think he’d be good for at least 10 and 5 in the B1G. Even before the injury he was not performing well.
