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A little chaos for the B1G

cubuffsdoug

Heisman Winner
Apr 8, 2002
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Indiana was the pre-season favor, but we all knew better. Purdue looked the part, but if you examined them closely, you saw some cracks in the armor. Wisconsin is not great, but they scare me as they look like the Badgers who won the regular season B1G title two years ago. They get by the skin of their teeth, and I didn't know teeth had skin. 😁 I won't say who I think will win the B1G because we need to see more conference games, but I do think the league has different layers to it.

The top group, for now, is Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin.
The next group is Indiana, Northwestern, Illinois, and Maryland.
The third group is Nebraska, all alone.
The bottom feeders are Minnesota and Iowa.
 
I agree that it’s unknown who can win it and at the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure who it would be but I knew it wouldn’t be Indiana or Illinois (2 trendy picks). I thought we had a chance and now I think it even more so.
Still a little early to be grouping teams, otherwise I’d have to disagree on your placement of Indiana and Illinois and also psu and msu. I need another week or so to really bucket more appropriately.
 
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I agree that it’s unknown who can win it and at the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure who it would be but I knew it wouldn’t be Indiana or Illinois (2 trendy picks). I thought we had a chance and now I think it even more so.
Still a little early to be grouping teams, otherwise I’d have to disagree on your placement of Indiana and Illinois and also psu and msu. I need another week or so to really bucket more appropriately.
What's your take on Indiana and Illinois?
I think Indiana is living on past rep and doesn't have the toughness to pass other B1G programs.
Illinois has too many alphas, and that's causing problems. I don't see that being fixed quickly.

My list was a snapshot of the B1G at this very moment. I put PSU and MSU in the first group because they've earned it for now. That may change in two or three weeks.
 
Here's my tier

Tier 1 - Title is really up for grabs this year...
-Rutgers
-Purdue
-Ohio St.
-Indiana
-Michigan St.
-Michigan
-Wisconsin

Tier 2
-Illinois
-Penn St.
-Maryland


Tier3
-Nebraska
-Northwestern
-Iowa


Tier 4
-Minnesota
 
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let's revisit in 3 weeks.

Given that we have seen all the teams that are supposedly good already we have to be included in any Tier 1.
 
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All fair breakdowns, and yet Minnesota - the consensus worst team in the league - came very close to winning at highly regarded Wisconsin last night, so there are no days off in the Big 10.
 
Tier 1 (in no particular order)
Rutgers
Purdue
OSU
MSU
Wisconsin
Penn State - they can score in bunches, have the best perimeter player in the league, and have multiple shooters

Tier 2 (in no particular order)
Michigan
Illinois
Indiana
Maryland

Tier 3 (IN ORDER)
Iowa
Nebraska
Northwestern
Minnesota
 
All the BTN guys seem to love Penn State right now. Not necessarily as the champion but as a Top 4 contender. I have not seen them play yet but they seem to have a lot of the same guys from last year. .
 
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Indiana was the pre-season favor, but we all knew better. Purdue looked the part, but if you examined them closely, you saw some cracks in the armor. Wisconsin is not great, but they scare me as they look like the Badgers who won the regular season B1G title two years ago. They get by the skin of their teeth, and I didn't know teeth had skin. 😁 I won't say who I think will win the B1G because we need to see more conference games, but I do think the league has different layers to it.

The top group, for now, is Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin.
The next group is Indiana, Northwestern, Illinois, and Maryland.
The third group is Nebraska, all alone.
The bottom feeders are Minnesota and Iowa.
Fine, if I had to….
Snapshot of right now:
Top= RU, Purdue, Ohio state
Next= Indiana, Penn state, Illinois, Wisconsin
Next = Michigan state, Michigan, Northwestern
Next= Maryland, Iowa, Nebraska
Deep pit bottom = Minnesota
 
I threw out my power rankings of the other 13 teams

(Same number means tie )

1.) Purdue - ncaa 1-3 seed
2.) Ohio state 3-6 seed
2.) Wisconsin 3-6 seed
4.) Indiana 4-7 seed
4.) Illinois 4-7 seed
6.) Michigan state 7-10 seed
7.) Michigan 10-11 seed
8.) Maryland 10-11 seed
9.) Penn state bubble …more likely NIT
10.) Iowa
11.) northwestern
11.) nebraska
13.) Minnesota
 
In Painter’s post game presser he mentions Rutgers toughness and ultimately I think that’s what makes us best team in conference. They are really starting to gel. I remember Hawk saying Paul and Cam cannot defend against better guards in conference and I am pleasantly surprised at how well both have played defensively (particularly Paul). I respect Hawks bball acumen and curios of his thoughts now
 
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Clearly this had to been recorded more than a week ago

Was night before the Purdue game as the guy on the right called Rutgers over Purdue.

Love how Rutgers is getting such respect now - the guy on the left threw us into the “ok” tier. Clearly he was still judging based on name. Guy in the right put us in the “contender” category (and this was BEFORE the last two wins) and the other guy didn’t “hate” his ranking.

Bottom line: we’re good. People are acknowledging it. And it’s not even a surprise to people anymore
 
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There are about 10 teams that could get hot and make late season runs. Illinois and Indiana shouldn't be written off yet. Same as Maryland.
 
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I don't really watch much CBB other than Rutgers.

This may (probably?) be unrealistic but why wouldn't Rutgers be the favorite in the Big Ten right now?
 
I don't really watch much CBB other than Rutgers.

This may (probably?) be unrealistic but why wouldn't Rutgers be the favorite in the Big Ten right now?
There's a lot left to play but even guys besides Katz are starting to, grudgingly, concede that point.
 
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I don't really watch much CBB other than Rutgers.

This may (probably?) be unrealistic but why wouldn't Rutgers be the favorite in the Big Ten right now?
Simply our history. We were the favorite back in 2020/2021 for a period until we hit a slump. A lot of people expect us to hit a slump eventually (doesn’t mean we will, this team has a different energy and vibe than any other pike team so far).
 
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I don't really watch much CBB other than Rutgers.

This may (probably?) be unrealistic but why wouldn't Rutgers be the favorite in the Big Ten right now?
Simply our history. We were the favorite back in 2020/2021 for a period until we hit a slump. A lot of people expect us to hit a slump eventually.
A lot of people *hope* we hit a slump eventually.
 
Was night before the Purdue game as the guy on the right called Rutgers over Purdue.

Love how Rutgers is getting such respect now - the guy on the left threw us into the “ok” tier. Clearly he was still judging based on name. Guy in the right put us in the “contender” category (and this was BEFORE the last two wins) and the other guy didn’t “hate” his ranking.

Bottom line: we’re good. People are acknowledging it. And it’s not even a surprise to people anymore
Carter Elliott is what is wrong with some of the people who cover sports. It's all about the name on the front of the jersey or the hot pick from the main media. Elliott subscribes to the same school of idiots as most of the AP voters do.
 
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Iowa is 9 - 6. Certainly not dogs. Can win on any given day. ( but not tomorrow)
 
Big Ten basketball is just silly and has been for about 5 years now. The conference is so fun and every game has a mind of its own. It’s anyones guess who wins the conference, who wins the tourney, who wins any game. Have to take each war 1 at a time and enjoy the ride.
 
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