BTT starting now and predictions

Submitted by Eli on March 13th, 2019 at 6:36 PM

The tourney starting now with Nebraska and Rutgers. Northwestern and Illinois to follow. Who’s watching? Probably not many tonight lol. Who is your dark horse for the tourney (someone not seeded in top 5)? Who is your favorite? Illinois is my dark horse. Michigan is my favorite. Go Blue and all that, but favorable draw, not losing to Msu 3 times (if they get there) and most of all JB owns March so let’s get it. Enjoy the tourney everyone. 

footballguy

March 13th, 2019 at 6:40 PM ^

PSU is my dark horse. I think statistically speaking MSU is the favorite.

But I think Michigan goes 3-0, and only has one game decided by single digits. The team in the beginning of the year talked about how much they wanted to win this again, and I think they get it done.

DJMich23

March 13th, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^

I honestly don't want Michigan to play Iowa again. They seem to be a mismatch issue for us somehow and I don't trust Big Ten refs. It would be ridiculous to get swept by Iowa. It could happen.

TrueBlue2003

March 13th, 2019 at 7:29 PM ^

So I'm trying to figure out who to root for and looking at who is either close to moving a quadrant or who is close to moving down a quadrant and the flaws with NET are deeply exposed when you look at teams at the bottom of good conferences.

The NET uses a margin of victory component AND an efficiency component in the formula and neither are opponent adjusted, which is completely bonkers.

So teams that are at the bottom of a good conference losing games to elite teams get killed in those components of the formula.  Look at Illinois, Rutgers and Northwestern compared to kenpom:

Rutgers Kenpom; 77 NET: 100

Illinois Kenpom: 78 NET: 105

Northwestern Kenpom: 69 NET: 88

All three of those teams should be knocking on the door of being top 75 and thus making a road game against them a Q1 game.  But none are close.

Compare that to comparable quality teams in bad conferences that have been able to boost those MoV and efficiency components against bad teams.

UNCG kenpom: 81 NET: 57

Vermont kenpom: 83 NET: 73

UC Irvine: kenpom 84 NET: 76

So you have these teams of similar quality except the ones that played very difficult schedules get killed in NET and the ones with easy schedules against which they had high margin wins get boosted.

TL;DR, unfortunately, it doesn't really matter who wins this first game for Michigan and we want Northwestern to beat Illinois (also since we played NW twice compared to Illinois only once a win by NW boosts our SoS on net).

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 13th, 2019 at 7:41 PM ^

Rutgers beats Nebrasketball.  Illinois beats NW.

Indiana over OSU.  Maryland knocks out Rutgers.  Penn St. over Minnesota.  Illinois knocks out Iowa to continue their skid.

Sparty finally beats IU.  Maryland beats Wisconsin this time around.  Penn State also gets Purdue this time around.  We beat Illinois again.

Sparty murders Maryland.  We beat Penn St. this time around to get the revenge.

We...can't lose a fucking 3rd game to Sparty.

We get to championship again due to matchups but if I'm wrong above I think we'd lose to Purdue on Saturday, unfortunately.  I think we could handle Iowa this time around though if we see them....I really hope anyway, would be nice to see some revenge there or again, against Penn St..

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 13th, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^

Yea Illinois is definitely playing well, that Dosunmu kid is a helluva player...and the team in general is a frenetic monster to go against.  I don't exactly want to play them but I feel we are THE B1G team who can handle them the best and relax and not try to track-meet it up.  I could be wrong.  Iowa is losing steam, per usual, but for some reason the matchups with them still scare me a tad more than Illinois...also thinking Illinois is the better playing team now and will just smother Iowa.

Hotel Putingrad

March 13th, 2019 at 7:42 PM ^

I predict a third consecutive BTT championship for Michigan.

I predict Chris Collins will bark like a dog at some point tonight.

I predict Fran McCaffrey will call somebody a motherfucker at some point tomorrow or Friday.

I predict Tom Izzo will have no fewer than seventeen excuses ready when MSU loses on Saturday.

I predict Michigan will be a #2 seed in the South (Virginia's bracket) come Sunday evening.

greymarch

March 14th, 2019 at 1:30 PM ^

Michigan's locked into a #2 seed in the NCAA tourney, no matter how Michigan crushes the combo of Iowa/Purdue/Sparty.

 

Really dont want Michigan in Virginia's bracket.  Prefer Michigan in Gonzaga's bracket or if UNC gets a #1 seed, in UNC's bracket.  Oh sure, UNC is a much better team than when Michigan mauled UNC early in the season.  UM has improved a bit since dismantling the Tar Heels.  THE GAMES MATTER, even the games early in the season.  UNC is still a good matchup for Michigan.

 

Let me put it another way....I am predicting Michigan DOES NOT reach the Final Four, if Michigan is in any of these situations:

 

- Zion is healthy, and Michigan is in Duke's bracket.   No Final Four for Michigan.

- Michigan is in Virginia's bracket.  No Final Four for Michigan.

- If Michigan defeats Sparty to win the B1G tourney, and Michigan is in Sparty's NCAA bracket, no Final Four for Michigan.

- If Michigan is in Kentucky's bracket, no Final Four for Michigan.

True Blue 9

March 13th, 2019 at 8:14 PM ^

I was really looking forward to the state of Illinois showdown in Chicago tonight but Vic Law's injury for Northwestern pretty much means that game is gonna be a bust. 

I actually think that if Indiana finds a way to get past OSU and MSU, there's a good chance we meet them on Sunday, so I'm taking Indiana as my dark horse. 

Taking the boys in Maize and Blue as my champions. Go Blue!

Hold This L

March 13th, 2019 at 8:59 PM ^

Michigan ain’t beating state. I’ve seen this movie twice now. Been embarrassed twice. Unless beilein finally tweaks something they aren’t winning.