2009-10 Big10/ACC Challenge
Dec. 2: Boston College at Michigan
The rest of the Challenge:
Mon., Nov. 30 – Penn State at Virginia
Tues., Dec. 1 – Maryland at Indiana
Michigan State at North Carolina
Northwestern at N.C. State
Virginia Tech at Iowa
Wake Forest at Purdue
Wed., Dec. 2 - Boston College at Michigan
Duke at Wisconsin
Florida State at Ohio State
Illinois at Clemson
Minnesota at Miami
Could this be the first time we win it?
I can see michigan, illinois, ohio state winning 90% for sure.
Purdue, Penn State, Iowa are toss ups, maybe even minnesota
Purdue ought to beat Wake unless Aminu and Teague both come back.
I wouldn't put Illinois as a lock, they lost to Clemson this year in the Challenge and Clemson always seems to play well early in the season.
I do think we win this challenge. The only match-up I really don't like is Wisco against Duke, but other than that I think we have anywhere from a decent to great shot at winning. I like MSU over UNC too, as crazy as that sounds. That should be a great game either way.
Agree with MSU over UNC. UNC may be reloading, but they'll have some growing pains early on and a veteran MSU team will have a score to settle.
The Wisconsin/Duke matchup makes no sense. Why does our 5th-place team face their 2nd-place team? It seems like the ACC gets at least one inexplicable matchup advantage in their favor every year.
See, I think that match-up is good for us. Think of Wisconsin as our sacrificial lamb. Duke has a good shot at beating whichever team they play. This way, we have a team like Purdue playing a much more winnable game than if they played Duke again. I think this works in our favor.
My thoughts exactly.
Big Ten wins: Purdue (especially if Wake loses Teague), Ohio State, Minnesota, Penn State (don't know why cargo thinks this is a tossup)
ACC wins: Maryland, UNC, Virginia Tech, Duke
Northwestern/NC State, BC/Michigan, Illinois/Clemson are the tossups. I think Michigan should have a slight edge since BC loses Tyrese Rice and we lose nobody, but they have a dangerous inside game. Slight edge to Clemson because they're always so good at the beginning of the year and really aren't likely to lose anyone really important to the draft. Northwestern/NC State is just two really bad teams, who the hell even knows?
Most lopsided game: VT/Iowa. Iowa will have a rec team next year.
As bad as Indiana was last year, I think this year they will be a very different team. They are returning so much of their team from this year and adding the top class in the conference. They will be a MUCH better team this year.
IU has six players in the Rivals top 150 coming in.
Are you guys tired of me saying this, yet?
This IU alum is ready for season 2 of the Crean and Crimson.
I'll say it again, IU does no worse than a winning record at home in the Big 10. They should flirt with a .500 league mark, a la Michigan this season.
IU will be better, but even with the frosh coming in, their overall talent level will be just average for the conference (given that they have almost nothing in the other classes), while their experience will be at the bottom. I could see them going .500 overall, but probably not in league play.
Get Off Of My Cloud!!
Eh, you're probably right about that.
I guess with all the Big 10 Boosterism I promoted this last season, I cant fall on the 'yeah, well the big 10 sucks, so that's why they do can do it' meme. Ha Ha.
They will have big time problems winning on the road. And, the Story and Williams transfers do hurt the depth that you point out they dont really have to begin with.
BUT BUT BUT....i will stand by my winning record at home in the Big 10 projection. I've been saying it for awhile. I thought they could have easily had 3-4 more home wins in the league this year, but they just didn't have enough legit guys to make one last push.
With these recruits that will be less of a problem and you know they will have an awesome home court edge with the fans.
I think I may have to return to hoops diary writing to break these down. I am surprised they're out this early.
Quickly:
I like UM's chances at home vs BC. Its a good matchup, very winnable game for us.
Do Not Sleep on FSU!!! This team will be good next year, despite the loss of Douglass. Michigan will get a glimpse of them in Orlando at the Old Spice. The Noles might have the best collection of big men.....this would be an awesome matchup if the Caveman stuck around.
It's impossible to factor the Purude/Wake game until we know what those rosters will be like.
IU will smoke Maryland. Book It.
FSU also loses Echefu. Big leadership void when he departs. Scoring wise that team was so one-dimensional this year, where's it going to come from next year? They like Singleton but he was really, really inconsistent last year. It's not that I'm sleeping on FSU, I just don't think they'll have their shit together by the time the challenge rolls around.
As for Maryland/IU, Maryland was a tourney team last year and the only way they lose anyone is if Vasquez is stupid enough to stay in the draft. (Not impossible, Vasquez has an ego. A big one.) I don't think IU's recruiting class is going to be enough to suddenly vault them so high they're such a lock to beat Maryland.
That can't be right, Duke is playing an away game against a big time school.
In all seriousness though, I wouldn't rule out Wisconsin. The Kohl Center is a very tough place to play!