Illinois and Wisconsin both have only 6 losses. I could see Wisconsin winning its final two, although at IU should be tough.
Wisconsin winning the B1G this year would be the most 2020 thing in college hoops.
Wisconsin has been the Rasputin of basketball programs over the past 20 years. They refuse to die. I begrudgingly admire it, but it's super annoying. There's no way in hell this Badger team should be sniffing at a championship, especially since they've done it without breaking backboards.
Yeah because the regular season championship is sooooo important in college basketball.
I mean, who doesn't know who was the ACC or SEC or Big Ten regular season champion last year?
If I can only have one, I would much rather win the regular season championship than the tourny. One shows excellence over a 20 game period. One is a very fun, but fluky weekend.
Well I THINK that the tournament title is very cool AND important. I think it's a better barometer of how good a team is versus how they did during the season. As proof, I refer you to the results of the Big Ten Tourney and how the winner of the Tournament has fared in the NCAA Tournament. I don't remember all the results, but aside from State getting beat early in the first round that one year, I'm fairly certain all the other winners have made it to the Sweet Sixteen or better, in a few cases the National Championship game. Of the years that I remember.
So there.
I hold the one true answer to all of this.
Both are important, but neither are as important as where you finish in the NCAAs. A Final Four is inarguably more important than either and even a Sweet 16 appearance could be considered more important.
As far as which one is more important, I think that's completely a matter of personal preference, but the regular season title is obviously more indicative of being the best team.
Historically the Big Ten has cared more about the regular season title than the BTT (since we were the last conference to have one) but I think even that history has mostly faded.
If you can hang a banner, then it's important. Fin
You can just say you don't like college basketball. Its okay.
I care about our basketball team way more than our football team.
I just care the whole season, not just a couple weekends in the early spring.
Funny, "a couple weekends in the early Spring" is starting to be about how long I care about the football team.
Kidding! Am I?
College basketball comes down to a couple weekends in March though. You can dislike it. But in a month no one will care who won the regular season of any condense. It will just be who went farther in the tournament. It sucks in a way. But it makes the tournament a ton of fun.
i remember the 2014 regular season quite well. 2013 vs IU and 2019 vs MSU for a title still sting.
final fours and national titles trump all, but conference titles still are really damn important. it wasn't a coincidence that Virginia won a title after dominating the ACC regular season for years. Same with Nova.
I care about our football team just as much as our basketball team it's just that I have PTSD when it comes to the football team...
Looking at the current standings, it's entirely possible that there could be a four-way tie for first. That's a watered down regular season championship IMO.
you mean like 2013 when a jordan morgan missed tip at the buzzer against IU prevented like a 4 way tie for first? what a bad year.
All of those teams at the top of the conference in 2013 were Final Four contenders. We finished in fourth place, got bounced by Wisconsin in the BTT and still ended up a 4-seed.
I don't think anyone expects Illinois, Wisconsin or PSU to sniff the Final Four this year.
I know there were shares, but off the top of my head, Virginia, LSU , MSU, Purdue
Apparently unc also won a share, which I did not know, so I guess your point is valid
Me in HS: (listens to the MgoPodcast)
My crush: What ya listening to?
Me: Uh, a podcast.
My crush: Cool. What kind of podcast is it?
Me: Oh uh, it's a 'adult' podcast.
You feel the need to lie about what podcast you're listening to?
Penn State blew a 19 point lead vs MSU tonight on senior day. Way to go assholes.
PSU missed so many layups. Refs sure do love Izzo. I don’t get it.
psu: 10-17 3pt in first half
0-13 3 pt in second half ?
Shout out to the people a few days ago who down voted me for saying that Maryland is a free fall again
I'm sure you don't feel foolish for trusting a Mark Turgeon team not to blow a three game lead in the big ten with like five games left. Don't forget, they needed a miracle win at Minnesota to not have already given up a share of the big ten
Impressive stuff
Disagreed but did not downvote, fwiw. You may be right, tonight was not a good look. Even a close loss would've been semi-acceptable but a butt spanking I did not expect. I also don't necessarily think the world of Turgeon but Cowen and Smith et.al seemed to have been negating anything negative about Turgeon this season (though I don't think he's as bad a coach as you seem to).
i've said for years that turgeon is an awful coach. he and pitino are easily the BIG's worst. this doesn't surprise me. hell, a week ago, i thought UM had a chance to catch MD.
To be fair, a week or so ago UM dud have a chance to catch Maryland... then they didn't
...UM dud...
Freudian slip or intentional?
I thought MSU would finish 2-2 but they are going to finish 4-0. I’m going to be annoyed if they get hot and make the the final 4.
Take solace in the fact that they shouldn’t have needed to get hot at the end of the year. They should have been dominant all year as they brought back most of a final four team from last year, including a preseason all American, on their way to a preseason #1 ranking
I’ll mostly be annoyed because I know MSU fans who booked hotels and flights for the final 4 before the season started since they were preseason #1. I don’t appreciate that smugness.
It's not smugness, just being opportunistic. I haven't done flights, but I've booked hotels for the Rose Bowl before the past 5 seasons even though most years I don't really think we have a chance to make it there. I just book hotels that let you cancel up to 2 days in advance, which allows me to cancel with no penalty if (when) we don't make it. Then, on the off chance we do make it, I get a better deal than most people who waited until the end of the season. Or if there are better deals available at the end of the season, I can always switch.
I did the same thing for the Final Four this season because I figured we had a shot, but I'm not going to lose anything if we don't make it and I have to cancel.
Historically, Izzo perform oddly compared to their preseason rankings. In the regular season they significantly under-perform compared to it. In the tourney they get as far as the preseason ranking would suggest.
here’s to hoping that that doesn’t hold true this year
PennSt collapsed. Bleeping horrible
Holy Fuck Maryland is a total joke. Michigan won at Rutgers without Livers!!!! Maryland went in there and completely crapped the bed! Fuck Staee. Izzo belongs in jail. I would rather see Michigan lose to Maryland and not help Staee. Not joking.
No it would be good to beat Maryland. Who cares if it wins MSU a regular season title ? We want to get some momentum and confidence headed to the NCAA tournament.
Get a grip man......
If State beats OSU they get a share of the title either way. Us beating/losing to Maryland has zero effect on "helping" MSU.
This remains the most volatile, unpredictable college basketball season I can remember-in my 67 years.The fact remains that Michigan, with all its warts, could end up a National Champion.
MSU wins Sunday and we could be facing them next Friday in the BTT. They’d be the 1 and us likely the 8.
You're saying it like that's a bad thing. I want to go 2-1 against Sparty (2-0 with a healthier Livers).
I was looking at that too, are we pretty much guaranteed the 8/9 seed if we beat NE?
If I would prefer to lose to Maryland than help give Sparty the outright Big Ten Title does that make me a bad guy? Although Wisconsin is probably going 2-0 to finish.
This is not gifting MSU a title.
Water is wet
Title feels like some Sparty nut hugging if you ask me.
Given Sparty's earlier struggles perhaps "Sparty improving" would be better.
Meh, I'll still take it. MSU winning another Big Ten championship doesn't elevate their program any higher than where it currently is. They'd have to win it all to become more than what they are now. Which they could do but I wouldn't bet on it.
That, and I'll take any seeding improvements we can get.
Crazy year in the BIG. OSU, MSU, ILL, MINN, RUT, MAR at one point in the drivers seat, everbody tumbled. Two weeks ago, looked like we had the easiest path to a double bye.
Tough call, can't root for the Buckeyes.
Beat the Huskers and Turtles, and have a good run in Indy, and keep it rolling.