We were 1-1 against PSU and OSU in December with a healthy Harper/team, but still not yet playing Grant. And then DH missed the Indiana game, barely played against WI and played more, but very ineffectively against Purdue with all 3 of those games being losses. DH was close to 100% for the UCLA game which we won, and clearly 100% for the NE game on the road, our best game of the year - and Grant finally started playing in those two games, also.
And then we lost to PSU on the road after a very close first half with Harper turning the ankle late in that first half. He clearly wasn't himself after that and we lost. Same thing today. And if one is looking for silver linings, Harper was a non-factor today and Ace shot the ball terribly (but rebounded and played pretty good D), but with much bigger contributions from other players than we normally get (especially Derkack who played far and away his best game), we played a very good MSU team tightly.
I know these are small sample sizes, but just by my eyeballs, I still believe this team, with a healthy Harper and Bailey and an improved rotation with Grant getting major minutes and some of the other supporting players doing at least a bit better (and even without EO), can win more than half of its B1G games. Problem is I don't know when DH is going to be healthy again and if that takes 2-3 more games our only chance to make the Dance will likely be by winning the B1G tourney. And I guarantee you nobody in the B1G wants to face a healthy and hungry RU in that tourney (which we'll make if Dylan doesn't miss more than another 2 games, IMO). Not the season anyone was looking for, but we might still get an exciting last 9-10 games.
