Hope everyone had a good Christmas and survives being back to work after a 4 day weekend. I was taking a look at ESPNs BIG power rankings and Tremendous and was wondering what everyone else's looks like.
Here's Mine:
1. Michigan
2. Indiana
3. Ohio
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan State
6. Illinois
7. Wisconsin
8. Iowa
9. Northwestern
This is where the teams are just plain awful:
10. Nebraska
11. Purdue
12. Penn State
Mine...
I'll take a stab at it:
1.
I'll take a stab at it:
1. Michigan - Obviously
2. Indiana - Really a 1a, I will be shocked to see them lose at Assembly Hall this year.
3. Michigan St. - Too much talent and coaching to continue to look mediocre all year.
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4. Ohio St. - Same as I'm sure everyone else feels - how do they score if Thomas is taken away?
5. Minnesota - Scary talent that could move up the list if they put it together. Coaching is obviously good here, too.
6. Illinois - Can they continue to be as explosive as they have? Unlikely.
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7. Iowa - Talented young team. Will scare people.
8. Wisconsin - Go away Bo Ryan.
9. Northwestern - Crawford injury really hurts this team.
This is where the teams are just plain awful:
10. Nebraska
11. Purdue
12. Penn State
Is MSU really that talented
Is MSU really that talented overall? I feel like they're heavily reliant on two players for their scoring.
I think Minnesota might emerge as the third contender, although they've had a tendency to fade in the second half of the season under Smith.
I dunno, good question I
I dunno, good question I suppose. Appling is damn good. Dawson is talented but a little gimpy after his injury last year. He is getting stronger. Nix and Payne are definitely talented big men, but also look lost at some points (as most big men under Izzo do). Harris is as talented as he was billed. I mean, they have pieces, it is just a matter of putting it together. Izzo tends to make it work once February/March roll around.
I agree on Minnesota, I do like their team. I actually think that Iowa may come up and not Illinois down another peg. I am not sold on that Illini team.
Does Izzo work his magic in March and make a good/great team
out of average talent? Or, does he spend all Sept-Jan screwing up talented players and then finally gets it sorted out in March. If it happened once in a while, I would think that he was a good problem solver. But, why does it seem to go this same route every year? Maybe Izzo isn't so much a problem solver as he is a problem.
By contrast, Beilein took 5 Freshman and blended them in with the returning players and had them clicking on game one and getting better every game.
"I hate losing more than I like winning." - Zack
MSU definitely has talent at
MSU definitely has talent at a few spots, most notably Appling, Harris and Payne. However, they dont have a true PG or any pure shooters (besides Harris) and they seem to have a really low Basketball IQ which jumps out to me whenever I've watched them. Draymond was one of the smartest basketball players in the country last year and without him they seem lost.
They average 15.6 Turnovers per game which ranks #267 nationally. MSU's Assist - Turnover ratio is 0.9 which ranks #195 nationally. This is a dumb team. Great athletes but not great basketball players.
For comparison's sake UM averages 10.3 Turnovers per game which ranks #21 nationally. UMs Assist - Turnover ratio is 1.56 which ranks #5 nationally.
Using the eyeball test you can see how much smarter UMs team is compared to MSU and the stats prove it to be true.
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?
Oddly as Illinois played bad
Oddly as Illinois played bad and lost I finally bought into them. They shot brutally bad from 3 and Paul was off, way off and they were still right in it against a damn good Missouri team. Previously I didn't think they could hang around if their shooting is off. I was wrong and I'm now saying don't sleep on Illinois, that team can play.
In my opinion...
One thing that I think us Michigan fans seem to discount is how much experience Indiana has compared to us. I think this will give them a slight edge in B1G play. My rankings:
1. Indiana
2. Michigan
3. Michigan State (not overly intimidating right now but if they find a consistent shooter from the perimeter then watch out)
4. Minnesota (Crazy athletic)
5. Ohio (They seem to have a lot of individually talented pieces that don't fit together very well)
6. Illinois (ZERO inside presence)
7. Wisconsin (Any Bo Ryan coached team will play good defense and at least be competitive)
8. Iowa
9. Northwestern
10. Purdue
11. Nebraska
12. Penn State
yep
I was wondering if anyone had the balls to put Indiana #1 here...
I figure we will split with them (both teams with home wins, this is the Big Ten officiating after all...) and how we do against the rest of the league will settle who wins the conference.
jdon
We are the dead.
Minnesota
Minny is, I think, the darkhorse to win the conference, mainly b/c they only play us and OSU once during the conference schedule (and are athletic and tough at home).
I agree
wholeheartedly about Minny being a darkhorse. Another team to watch is Iowa. While I don't believe that they'll compete for a league championship, this is a team that has a lot of talent and seems to be moving in the right direction under Fran McCaffery. They get Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota and Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. My early prediction is that they win at least two of those games, therefore impacting the league championship race.
MSU may get better but right
MSU may get better but right now illinois and minn are better, and I bet illini finish 4th...UM/IU is a toss up at the top
"Slappin' the Bass" - Matt Vogrich (maybe)
and OSU lost to 2 top-10
and OSU lost to 2 top-10 teams, they arent a final 4 team yet,, but they are better than every non UM/IU team right now and will get better
"Slappin' the Bass" - Matt Vogrich (maybe)
Purely Informational...
Just for the edification of the board, below is a thumbnail link to a table I prepared of the various power rankings for the Big Ten that are tracked by TeamRankings.com. I sorted the table by the average of the individual rankings, and it yields some interesting results.
In summary, if you ranked Big Ten teams by the average of the eleven individual power rankings, you would get a top four of Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana in that order, followed by Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State and finally Purdue.
LINK:
"Funny isn't it, how naughty dentists always make that one fatal mistake."
Follow the random tweets of a Michigan alum - http://twitter.com/#!/LorneEC3
I believe Northwestern
lost Crawford for the year. They should probably be in the awful category.
If an OSU fan divorces his wife are they still brother and sister?
It was tempting. But NW
It was tempting. But NW always finds a way to be mediocre.
“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” - Bo Schembechler
MSU should be 6th. Anyone
MSU should be 6th. Anyone who puts them 3rd hasn't watched the Miami and Uconn games.
903 wins most in college football
MSU really?
Anyone who would rank MSU third in the conference has not seen them play. Squeeking by MAC teams by 8-10 points makes them the third best team in the Big Ten?
1. They have no point guard.
2. Appling and Harris are solid, but both are 2 guards and one disappears when the other is on the floor.
3. Nix would be cheerleading with Vogrich on our bench, I will take Morgan, McGary and even Bielfeld any day. Nix and Lurch would be a dead heat in a forty yard dash.
4.Dawson has some game, except he cannot hit a shot outside of 8 feet.
5. MSU is seven deep at best, Izzo doesn't get the worship of Big Ten officials the way he does on the pre-season.
Merry Christmas and welcome to the happy New Year filled with Sparty tears and excuses!
Bigscotto68
ohowihateohio.....
God Bless his cotton pickin' Maize and Blue heart
Here's Mine:
1. Michigan
2. Indiana
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3. Ohio
4. Michigan St.
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5. Minnesota/Illinois
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7. Wisconsin
8. Iowa
9. Northwestern
This is where the teams are just plain awful:
10. Nebraska
11. Purdue
12. Penn State
“True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise — the other, loyalty.”