IMO that’s great. I like that about the podcast. So many podcasts are just agreementfests. I’d rather hear two people challenge each other, and so would most people, IMO.
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I wonder with Illinois… if somehow this Illini team --with lots of talent and some of the best returning players in the B1G-- were to not have a very successful season… would people look at Brad Underwood a lot differently? Like even though he’s bringing nice talent in, would he have some serious question marks surrounding him?
There is no excuse to not be very good with the roster Illinois has. Talent, experience, and a pretty balanced roster positionally. And, I guess its also worth noting that Illinois fans are still very concerned about the state of their recruiting moving forward after some big misses.
And I keep thinking with Illinois too that they won ALLLLLL their close games last year. Think this was part of the reason the computers didn’t like them. Wonder if that will balance out more this year.
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Funny thing is that the computers have moved up Illinois from their preseason projections. They undressed Minnesota. They’ve had a tough tough schedule. Didn’t look outclassed by Baylor. My thoughts on them are unchanged
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Reaching back a little in the thread here but I wonder if some of the disagreement on MSU is due to the difference between a power ranking and a prediction. I agree with the general thinking here that MSU probably looks like a middle of the pack team in the conference right now, but I can also see the reasoning in projecting them to finish ahead of many teams that look better right now, like Iowa or Indiana, based on the track records of the coaching staffs.
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Also on a different note I appreciate the contentious environment of this pod and, (I think?) the last one. Sounded like at the start there was even a first attempt at a pod that got a little too heated. I hope they’re as fun to record as they are to listen to.
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So MSU is 9th percentile in the country guarding postups? My opinion about that is as follows:
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I’m a bit lower, but only because I saw them as a potential top 5 team and my pick for the best in the big ten coming into the season. A lot of that was due to liking Underwood.
People don’t like when we point this out 
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That team finished 12th on Kenpom, so pretty much inline with where I’ve said Iowa belongs.
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I mean is anyone saying that Iowa can’t win the conference? That they have no shot? I don’t see people saying that.
In my opinion, “It has happened once” isn’t a super strong argument for a team with awful defense being the favorite to win the conference. It very well could happen. It’s college basketball, you get hot for the correct two games and there ya go.
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2019 Michigan was better than 2014 despite not winning the Big 10 and only reaching the sweet sixteen.
It’s almost as if there are better ways to measure teams.
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Meh I don’t agree with that. I’m sure the computers say that because 2019 was light years better defensively than 2014, but Stauskas and Levert were both better than anyone on 2019 Michigan (and GR3 was maybe 4th or 5th best among players from the two teams). Iggy was great, but I think the 2019 team was missing what the 2014 team had - a guy to just take over a big game and get you a bucket when you really need it. IMO that’s what propelled Michigan to a Big Ten title and Elite 8 appearance - Stauskas’s performance in the big games.
I get why people prefer the elite defensive squad though. It’s a good debate to have.
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All you have to do is swap the two MSU teams and their conference success flips. Cassius Winston and 2019 MSU would would have swept the 2014 team and won the Big 10.
we’ll never know
Again, not sure I agree with that. 2014 MSU was pretty darn good in their own right. That roster was better than their 2019 roster. 2019 MSU played out of their skin a bit, but there’s something to be said for everyone embracing their role. Michigan should’ve beaten them twice in 2019, but they folded down the stretch in those games. Again, having guys like Stauskas and Levert to take over at the end would have been huge.
Top of the conference in 2014 (Wisconsin, OSU and MSU) was probably also better than 2019 and Michigan won the league by 3 games.
Regardless of who would win in this hypothetical matchup (I’m still not entirely sure why exactly it’s happening), I still think it’s kinda silly to use 2014 Michigan as a pointer towards Iowa when I don’t see anyone arguing that Iowa can’t win the league. I would think the extreme rarity of a defense as low as that winning the league is an argument against the likelihood of it this year.
Oh well, we’ll see for sure in a couple of months.
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Who takes over the game more, Stauskus/Levert isolating against Henry/McQuaid/Tillman, or Cassius Winston operating in the ball screen against that Michigan defense?
I mean, Cassius took over against Michigan’s defense anyways. How much better could he do? Michigan just couldn’t match him when he took over. And I’d argue Gary Harris was a better defender than Henry and McQuaid (although both were very good in their own right). Stauskas still torched MSU.
I think you’re underselling how good 2014 MSU was. That was a really good team. Appling, Harris, Valentine, Dawson, Payne (or Costello when Dawson was out) > Winston, McQuaid, Henry, Goins, Tillman
Wisconsin had Kaminsky, Dekker, Trayce Jackson. OSU still had Craft. That Michigan went 15-3 and won the league by 3 games was a heck of a feat. Took some dawgs to do that.
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Even with B1G All decade third reamer Aaron Craft OSU was 19th on Kenpom, they were a good team, but you’re really over hyping them. That Wisconsin team was nasty though.
I guess it comes down to this for me. If these teams matched up 10 times, how many times would MSU elite offense break 1.2 ppp versus Michigans terrible defense, and how many times would Michigan elite offense break 1.2 ppp against MSU elite defense. I think it’s MSU and not particularly close.
That 2014 team was probably my favorite team to watch, and I’ll always believe they win the title if McGary is healthy.