Minnesota paper ranking of the B1G teams

[cubuffsdoug]

How would you rank the teams? PEOPLE, there is only one "t" in Scarlet.

http://www.startribune.com/marcus-fuller-s-big-ten-basketball-power-rankings/567063202/

6. Rutgers (13-4, 4-2) The Scarlett Knights are definitely the surprise team of the Big Ten so far, sitting in a three-way tie for second place with Illinois and Wisconsin.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Think the writer is giving too much love to the hometown Gophers, but it is nice that he recognized RU's accomplishments thus far.

That aside, my power rankings at the present moment are as follows:

1. Michigan State
2-12 Everybody else except Nebraska and NW
13-14 (tie) - Nebraska and NW

It's truly that tight in the "middle" of the B1G, and it's really really difficult to truly distinguish among the 11 teams.

If forced to rank them, I'd probably say that Maryland, Illinois and Iowa would be in the 2-4 spots (but not necessarily in that order); and maybe you put UMich and Wisky in the next couple spots, but I'm not sure even that's right, and the rest of the 5-12 teams are virtually indistinguishable at this point.

 

[satnom]

At this point I would put RU at #4 behind MSU, MD and ILL.

More to come.

GO RU

 

[Degaz-RU]

At this point I would put RU at #4 behind MSU, MD and ILL.

More to come.

GO RU

Hard for me to put RU at #4 with our relatively low (KenPom #115) offensive efficiency. Our offense hasn't looked very good lately, and our FTs have been poor as well. I know our defensive efficiency (KenPom #8) is elite, but I just think that puts us in the conversation for the upper part of the B1G middle of the pack (5-8 range). There are a lot of "good" teams in this conference.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Only Rutgers fans love to punish our team for deficiencies but overlook opposing teams for the same thing.:Unhappy: We have been Rutgersized for so long, we can even see our team as being better than most of the league. :cry:

Offensive efficiency: #115, but no mention of defensive efficiency of #8. Defense wins games. Offense determines by how much.

 

[Beancounter88]

I think #6 is more than fair to us - puts us ahead of some really good teams and some big-time blue bloods. Need a couple of road wins to solidify our status.

 

[FrankZ]

At this point I would put RU at #4 behind MSU, MD and ILL.

More to come.

GO RU

Agreed

 

[cubuffsdoug]

I think #6 is more than fair to us - puts us ahead of some really good teams and some big-time blue bloods. Need a couple of road wins to solidify our status.

Other than Wisconsin, no team has won enough on the road to solidify pushing Rutgers down the list. In fact, Rutgers undefeated at home unlike the rest of the league should help.

 

[Scangg]

#6 is too low. If we were top 10 offensively instead of defensively people would view it differently. I haven't seen 5 teams better than Rutgers this season. It's really really even. We barely lost a road game to one of the top teams in the conference without Geo.

 

[bac2therac]

Its very hard to seperate 2-12 at this point. Teams have played 6 games. Need more data.

 

[BigRnj]

Winning the first two laps of a mile only means you have two laps to go. We can solidify our position but there is a lot of race to go.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

If we are number 6 in BigTen this better not be a year they the Big Ten gets only 5 spots in the dance.

 

[rupittsburgh]

#6? no respect... smh

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I love the thought of being 5-2 and having HALF the league have four league losses or more! Let’s do this !

 

[wisr01]

Hard for me to put RU at #4 with our relatively low (KenPom #115) offensive efficiency. Our offense hasn't looked very good lately, and our FTs have been poor as well. I know our defensive efficiency (KenPom #8) is elite, but I just think that puts us in the conversation for the upper part of the B1G middle of the pack (5-8 range). There are a lot of "good" teams in this conference.

Last night BTN analyst Shon Morris said we are the 4th best team in the BIG and predicted we would finish as 4th best.

 

[RutgHoops]

You can drop from 3rd or 4th to 12th in this league in a week.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

You can drop from 3rd or 4th to 12th in this league in a week.

Indeed - which is why I hope to see more teams start to sink to 5 or 6 losses along with Northwestern and Nebraska. By the end of tonight, Michigan or Iowa will have four losses.

Tomorrow: OSU at PSU, loser will be 2-5. This game is huge psychologically, losing team will feel like their margin for error is disappearing.
Purdue and Maryland: loser will be 3-4.
Northwestern at Illinois: hard to see the Illini losing this one at home.
Indiana at Nebraska: it would not be a shocker to see Indiana lose on the road again. They needed OT to beat Nebraska on their home floor.

A win on Sunday would have us two losses ahead of at least six teams and possibly seven, if Indiana falls tomorrow. On the flip side, it is in our best interest for the rest of the league to do well enough to stay in Q1/Q2 to keep our resume strong.

 

[Scangg]

Last night BTN analyst Shon Morris said we are the 4th best team in the BIG and predicted we would finish as 4th best.

Sounds about right

 

[RUBigFrank]

Based on conference play we could finish 12 and still get a bid to dance.

 

[BuggsyRU]

At this point I would put RU at #4 behind MSU, MD and ILL.

More to come.

GO RU

I think we would take Illinois on a neutral court and beat them handily at home. We led for much of the game against them at their court, and we’re in it right until the very end on the road. Don’t think Illinois would be in it at the end at the RAC.

I rank them as follows:
1) MSU
2) Maryland
3) RU
4) Illinois
5) Iowa
6-12) nearly everyone else
13) NW
14) Nebraska

 

[Scarlet83]

Only Rutgers fans love to punish our team for deficiencies but overlook opposing teams for the same thing.:Unhappy: We have been Rutgersized for so long, we can even see our team as being better than most of the league. :cry:

Offensive efficiency: #115, but no mention of defensive efficiency of #8. Defense wins games. Offense determines by how much.

Correct! I have us tied for 2nd with Illinois. MSU ahead of us.

And Michigan is 4 and wildly inconsistent Maryland is 5.

And, BTW, who gives a F what some Minnesota paper says. Just look at the B1G standings and NET, cause that is all that matters now.