Big Ten Conference Season Tip -off. Who's #1?

[nwhoopfan]

84-48 final for the Wolverines over the Illini. Wow.

 

[JellyBean]

Still no sign of Owusu

I wonder if she has to wait until after the Christmas Break in order to play.

 

[Vowelguy]

I wonder if she has to wait until after the Christmas Break in order to play.

The coaches have said she's injured or not ready or "almost there." Nothing about not being allowed to play.

 

[JellyBean]

84-48 final for the Wolverines over the Illini. Wow.

Jordan Hobbs had her best game of her Michigan career. She can play and I am glad that she is getting some minutes. Tough loss for Illini.

 

[LoTrader]

Michigan is just destroying Illinois.

Wasn't Illinois ranked in TOP25 at one point? Not sure how these rankings get cooked, but they need a different recipe

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wasn't Illinois ranked in TOP25 at one point? Not sure how these rankings get cooked, but they need a different recipe

They had a fairly nice season last year and I think brought back most of their team, so it was reasonable to have them in the preseason Top 25. They haven't done much yet this year and obviously fell out of the polls. Sometimes the rankings are a little slow to react to the realities of the new year. But look at NC State, started unranked and have rocketed up to #3/#5 depending on which poll you look at, in only a month.

 

[Dillon77]

Lauren Jensen is currently leading Creighton Blue Jays to a 6-1 record with an 18.1 ppg average as they head up to undefeated Marquette this week. What does that have to do with the B1G?

Well, remember, Ms. Jensen was initially an Iowa Hawkeye before she saw a player named Clark was THE ballhandler (and shooter and passer). She got a measure of revenge the next year in the NCAA's, but imagine if she had stuck around to give CC a bit more reliable option in the backcourt? (Maybe she had to leave to grow, but you never know...)

 

[JellyBean]

Lauren Jensen is currently leading Creighton Blue Jays to a 6-1 record with an 18.1 ppg average as they head up to undefeated Marquette this week. What does that have to do with the B1G?

Well, remember, Ms. Jensen was initially an Iowa Hawkeye before she saw a player named Clark was THE ballhandler (and shooter and passer). She got a measure of revenge the next year in the NCAA's, but imagine if she had stuck around to give CC a bit more reliable option in the backcourt? (Maybe she had to leave to grow, but you never know...)

Pretty smooth. But, for Ms. Jensen, transferring is working out well. Who knows what would have happened if she stayed at Iowa.

 

[JellyBean]

Minnesota sitting pretty, and quietly, at 10-1, while also holding down a 7-game winning streak. One more game before the official Big Ten season starts, even though we played a Big Ten game already. Let at them Gophers. Coach Plitzuweit got the Gophers playing well.

 

[ISUnorth]

Couple rivalry games on tap Saturday. I am way more interested in my hometown Gophers at Iowa than the Buckeyes/Wolverines tilt.

Gophers have the top defense in the Big Ten and, of course, Iowa has a top offense. Even though it's non-conference stats it's still a big change for Gophers who were #13 in the league in defense last year. I think it's going to be a good game.

 

[DefenseBB]

Minnesota sitting pretty, and quietly, at 10-1, while also holding down a 7-game winning streak. One more game before the official Big Ten season starts, even though we played a Big Ten game already. Let at them Gophers. Coach Plitzuweit got the Gophers playing well.

Wait, what? That is completely due to the 126 ranked OOC schedule Lindsay Whalen put together try to save her job. While I like Dawn P and think she will have along and successful career there, let’s not get carried away on the 10-1 record where the best opponent they beat was Purdue 60-58 at home.

 

[cancontent]

Couple rivalry games on tap Saturday. I am way more interested in my hometown Gophers at Iowa than the Buckeyes/Wolverines tilt.

Gophers have the top defense in the Big Ten and, of course, Iowa has a top offense. Even though it's non-conference stats it's still a big change for Gophers who were #13 in the league in defense last year. I think it's going to be a good game.

View attachment 94484

I have both of these games on my radar for my weekend of being a sloth prior to celebrating New Year's Eve. Add in NFL football and it's going to be a fun keeping track of everything.

 

[GoldenGophs]

Wait, what? That is completely due to the 126 ranked OOC schedule Lindsay Whalen put together try to save her job. While I like Dawn P and think she will have along and successful career there, let’s not get carried away on the 10-1 record where the best opponent they beat was Purdue 60-58 at home.

Not to nitpick but they're 11-1 The schedule is not ideal but I like how they played against Connecticut and they beat a very good Drake team. Dawn has this team playing night and day better than Lindsay did. Dawn didn't have a chance to schedule better teams is what I heard so can't fault her for the weaker schedule.

 

[wbbhoops278]

I have both of these games on my radar for my weekend of being a sloth prior to celebrating New Year's Eve. Add in NFL football and it's going to be a fun keeping track of everything.

Best animal ever!

 

[cancontent]

Best animal ever!

I was thinking of using the word slothness too. This is hilarious.

 

[ISUnorth]

Not to nitpick but they're 11-1 The schedule is not ideal but I like how they played against Connecticut and they beat a very good Drake team. Dawn has this team playing night and day better than Lindsay did. Dawn didn't have a chance to schedule better teams is what I heard so can't fault her for the weaker schedule.

And why would you make it tougher even if you could? She's implementing her own system and not sure the best way to do that would be to immediately get the team routed versus a bunch of ranked teams. It's a very young team adjusting to a new approach. And she had her hands full coming into the job: keeping the current freshman from transferring, getting her own HS recruits to MN and hitting the recruiting portal herself.

I am cautiously optimistic. They have played three P6 teams and those teams have scored 62, 57 and 58. The defense is WAY better. The only defense outlier was Drake with the score 74-74 at end of regulation and Drake did score 90 at Iowa and 85 at Iowa State.

 

[Bigboote]

I was thinking of using the word slothness too. This is hilarious.

In my reckless youth, I briefly dated a girl who called herself "the queen of slothdom."

I have seen a few sloths in the wild. They are just so cool. And cute.

 

[Vowelguy]

I absolutely dont criticize newer coaches scheduling soft OOCs. They gotta get wins and confidence somewhere. Look at Shea at Vandy. They should finish 13-1 in OOC, meaning they need just 3 or 4 conference wins to have a winning season and probably post-season appearance. There's no way you can build a program if you're not making post-season.

Which is not to say that I think Vandy is very good. I hope they are, but fear they are on a sugar high.

 

[wbbhoops278]

In my reckless youth, I briefly dated a girl who called herself "the queen of slothdom."

I have seen a few sloths in the wild. They are just so cool. And cute.

Yes! I went to a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica. It was absolutely amazing but while we were there, the police brought in a baby sloth. The lady held it right next to me and I was like "if I die tomorrow, I'm good". Probably one of the most memorable things I've ever done.

 

[JellyBean]

Not to nitpick but they're 11-1 The schedule is not ideal but I like how they played against Connecticut and they beat a very good Drake team. Dawn has this team playing night and day better than Lindsay did. Dawn didn't have a chance to schedule better teams is what I heard so can't fault her for the weaker schedule.

Thanks for the correction. The Gophers are 11-1 and playing some pretty inspired basketball under Coach P. As for the schedule. I don't get caught up on that stuff. You play who you play. You schedule who you can schedule. If the Gophers, with this same schedule, were 1-11, Coach P would get a pass and Coach Whalen would get the blame for leaving the program in a complete mess and the schedule would be a nonfactor.

 

[JellyBean]

Wait, what? That is completely due to the 126 ranked OOC schedule Lindsay Whalen put together try to save her job. While I like Dawn P and think she will have along and successful career there, let’s not get carried away on the 10-1 record where the best opponent they beat was Purdue 60-58 at home.

Whoa. So, the 11-1 record is not something to be proud of?

I never get caught up in the ranking of a team's OOC because the narrative always changes. If Minnesota would have been 1-11 under Coach P, the narrative would have been nothing about the schedule but about how Coach Whalen left the program with limited talent and Coach P is doing the best with what she has available.

Now as I am watching the Pistons shock the Celtics at the half; 66-47, what will the narrative be if the Gophers shock the world and win against Iowa this Saturday? It won't be about the schedule that's for sure.

 

[Darwin]

Indiana is not a deep team, but their top 7 are good enough to win the conference again with a little luck injury wise. I think Iowa and OSU will finish 1-2 in no particular order with IU right on their tails. The conference is deeper this season, so I expect all three to face some stiff challenges and drop a few games here and there along the way.

 

[JellyBean]

Indiana is not a deep team, but their top 7 are good enough to win the conference again with a little luck injury wise. I think Iowa and OSU will finish 1-2 in no particular order with IU right on their tails. The conference is deeper this season, so I expect all three to face some stiff challenges and drop a few games here and there along the way.

Yeah, Indiana's top 6-7 players are pretty good and I think they could push for the conference regular and tournament Big Ten crown. The Big Ten pretty much is Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana as the top three teams and Maryland is always dangerous and could slip into that mix for the Big Ten crown. The rest of the field is interesting. My Minnesota squad is like Illinois was last year at the start of conference play, that team that was playing good basketball and winning. Nobody was talking about Illinois and their schedule last year

But I love that we are in conference play now and I hope to see programs like Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, and Minnesota push top three or four teams. Penn State could make some noise as well. I really am hoping that Wisconsin (Coach Moseley) can make some noise and get into that 2nd tier of the Big Ten.

 

[Darwin]

Michigan is going to beat OSU, less than 2 min left in that game and Wolverines in control.

 

[Hester42]

Didn't Michigan just get blown out by Florida?

I know Michigan is in a bit of a rebuilding year but thats a heck of a win early in conference play. Ohio St has work to do. They definitely miss Mikesell and her scoring. McMahon hasn't seemed as good this year as last at least thus far.