What to Expect for Remainder of BIG TEN MBB Season

By HopeInHoke — February 13th, 2014 at 1:28 AM — 7 comments

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Summary:

Team	Record	Home	Home Wins	Home Losses	Home Remaining	Away	Away Wins	Away Losses	Away Remaining	Play Once
UM	10-2	5-0	NW, PSU, IOWA, PURD, NEB	N/A	WISC, MSU, MIN, IND	5-2	MINN, NEB, WISC, MSU, OSU	IND, IOWA	PURD, ILL	NW, PSU, @OSU, @ILL
MSU	9-2	4-1	OSU, MINN, IND, PSU	UM	NW, NEB, ILL, IOWA	5-1	PSU, IND, NW, ILL, IOWA	WISC	PURD, UM, OSU	MINN, @WISC, NEB, @PURD
IOWA	7-4	4-2	NEB, NW, MINN, UM	MSU, OSU	WISC, PURD, ILL	3-2	OSU, NW, ILL	WISC, UM	PSU, IND, MINN, MSU	NEB, @PSU, IND, PURD
WISC	6-5	3-3	IOWA, ILL, MSU	UM, NW, OSU	MINN, IND, PURD	3-2	NW, PURD, ILL	IND, MINN	UM, IOWA, PSU, NEB	OSU, MSU, @PSU, @NEB
OSU	6-6	3-3	NEB, ILL, PURD	IOWA, PSU, UM	NW, MINN, MSU	3-3	PURD, WISC, IOWA	MSU, MINN, NEB	ILL, PSU, IND	@WISC, UM, NW, @IND

Team-by-team mini-analysis:

UM:

· Holds tie-breaker with MSU currently and ½ game advantage over MSU at the moment

· Perfect at home in conference but very difficult set of home games left

· Beat all other top 5 teams except Iowa on the road (makes that lop-sided affair even stranger)

· Easy road slate left

· Screwed over playing NW, PSU, and ILL only once and OSU only on road (except that worked out just fine!)

MSU:

· Best road record of group- but only beat Iowa from top-tier and lost @WISC

· Tough road games left- especially @UM

· Iowa home game could be hugely critical- beat only 1 of 2 top teams at home so far

· Neutral-ish set of teams only played once

IOWA:

· 1/3 at home against top teams- test against WISC is critical- absolute must-win

· 1/3 on road against top teams also- game against MSU has same stakes as WISC game

· Screwed over terribly by playing 4 mediocre/bad teams only once

WISC:

· Only play OSU and MSU once and both at home (it seems their schedule is always favorable…)

· 2/4 at home against top group

· Yet to play road game against top group- UM and Iowa games are absolute must wins

· Hard to see 5 losses winning conference- and hardest away games left of any top team (MSU is also hard but only 3 games left, and @NEB is no easy game)

OSU:

· Most erratic top team (which is obvious since they are 6-6 I suppose) with 3-3 road and home records

· No major home victories and beat 2 of top 3 teams on the road

· MSU game at home only top team left but has lost to both top teams played at home so far

· Avoid 2 top teams for second game – can only blame inconsistency and lack of home-court dominance for why they have almost no chance of winning conference

My random internet guy projections:
UM	14-4	I see UM losing one of the road games in disappointing fashion and one of either MSU or WISC game
MSU	14-4	Iowa at home could be tough, and OSU an UM at home- will lose 2 of those 3
IOWA	12-6	Likely 2 more away losses or at home against WISC
WISC	10-8	Only beating PSU on road and winning all at home or dropping another at Kohl and an upset on road
OSU	10-8	Other than home at MSU they play all winnable games- but its OSU this year so it seems like they will lose at least one other game