MBB: Now That It's Over, Which BIG Team Had The Best Season?
Now that the season has concluded, I'm wondering what the MGoPundits feel about the season.
Resumes:
Michigan: BIG regular season champions, BIG tourney runner-up, Elite 8.
Wisky: Final 4, beat us handily once and clearly the trolliest of trolls coach not from the LP of Michigan.
Sparty: Big Tourney Champs, E8 and the trolliest of LP troll coaches.
ohio: 1 and done in the tourney, but should be given the macaroni statue due to its 4 year level or Craft-dom.
Thoughts?
get forgotten pretty quickly.
How many years can you go back naming the non championship game participants? (WIthout looking.)
(Qualification: I hafta admit, I can name recent B1G champions by memory only as far back as Michigan has been competitive. Now that we compete for the B1G title every year, I expect I'll be able to name a longer history.)
Also, my wife was shocked that I could name the National Champion back to the mid 70s. Probably could go back further by just guessing UCLA.
Agree, but can't you say the same for B1G Champions? The only teams that usually crystallize themselves in the national memory are the last two standing.
Wisconsin fans will never forget this team and that is worth a lot. Michigan fans shouldn't ever forget this team either because of the circumstances they overcame.
I usually would say F4 > Conf title but not when the same team eliminated the two teams in contention by the same play.
8 years at the "U" and i can't figure out that comment.
My interpretation - Kentucky beat both Michigan and Wisconsin in the tournament with a late, dagger three. Therefore, why should one say Wisconsin had a better season only because they were fortunate to meet the exact same fate as Michigan one round later?
Good win for sure, but irrelevant to the OP's argument.
The OP asked who had the best resume. How is beating a #1 seed (a #1 seed people actually took seriously, unlike UVa and Wichita) NOT a part of that question?
The OP in this case is reanimator and his argument had nothing to do with #1 seeds.
If you want to get technical, Harrison's shot stole the lead from Wisconsin while the one against us merely prevented overtime.
Pretty sure he's referencing Harrison eliminating Michigan and Wisconsin with a 3 at the end.
He's saying Kentucky beat us and Wisconsin on the same play - a long, late three.
You should have gotten out more Cali...
Wrong sport. WAAAAAAY wrong sport.
As a fan, without a doubt, a Final Four appearance trumps Big Ten tournament champ or Big Ten regular season champ. Certainly it is harder to be in Final Four than to be Big Ten regular season or tourney champ. There is only 4 Final Four banners to be won for the whole country but many regular conference championship banner. So Final Four banners trumps regular season championship or tournament championships.
Sad but true.
Purdue has won more Big Ten titles than anybody over the last 25 years. But they always fall short in the NCAA's. They would trade those Big Ten titles for NCAA runs like we've had in a minute.
There's only 4 FF banners, but there's also only 1 B1G Champion. Michigan can't go out there and win multiple conferences. Winning conference requires being consistently good for months and 15+ games, while getting to the Final Four requires a combination of skill, luck, and being hot at the right time for a month, for 6 games.
Final Four > winning most conferences
winning the B1G > Final Four
So being one of in a group of 12 is more impressive than being one of four in a group of 351 because, duh, it's ONE.
Good math.
With POY Terran Petteway and COY Tim Miles
You took my answer. Just to have a dissenting opinion I was going to say Nebraska based on expectations. They were picked to finish last in the Big Ten (I believe) and ended up with a 4 seed in the Big Ten tourney ahead of both Ohio State and Iowa.
2) Tie between Wisky and Braska
We had a great season, and winning by 3 games was a terrific accomplishment. But in a decade I might remember that we won the regular season title, and certainly wouldn't remember that it was by 3 games. No question that I'd remember the final four.
That's the thing with basketball that is completely unlike football: there really are two different seasons and it's difficult to combine them. Did Indiana have the best season of any B1G team last year? Well yeah, the best regular season. But can you really argue against being a couple shots from winning a National Title compared to a team that got bounced in the sweet sixteen? Eh.
So this year, it's clear that Michigan had the best regular season. They also clearly had the best conference season. But the getting to the final four is a big deal, like a really big deal. And if I remember last year correctly, and compared it to this year, I think the enjoyment and excitement is at worst comparable.
So I'm going to cop out and say Michigan had the best regular season and best B1G season, while Wiscy had the best post season.
Yes, non fans would say Final Four is better, but that's because they ignore the whole season outside the tournament. If you're following your team the whole year, the regular season gains importance.
And it's not like Michigan underachieved in the tournament or anything. Would have loved to see them win 3 more games, but losing in the Elite 8, given our expectations going into the season is still a great outcome.
by a combined four points in games that might have gone either way, a seven and eight seed played in the final.
WE'RE the most over-achieving B1G team, we certainly know that. We were at top ten pre-season team, lost McGary, and ended as a top ten team.
I'd give the slight edge to Michigan. Normally I would say that a Final Four trumps a regular season title but here Michigan won the B1G by 3 games, finished ahead of Wisconsin in the conference tourney and was only one game short of the Final Four, losing to the same team that beat Wisconsin. So those other factors tip the balance to Michigan in my opinion. Michigan was ahead of Wisconsin in 2 of the 3 measures and Wisconsin only edged them in the third. My answer would be different if Michigan had lost in the first weekend of the NCAA tourney.
HA HA HA HA HA HA
I believe that it's really debatable between Michigan and Wisconsin.
We split in the regular season, and both lost to MSU in the BTT. We obviously won the Big Ten Regular Season (by 3 games), but it was another Top 4 finish for Bo Ryan and co.
So as of the end of the BTT, Michigan has the edge.
In the NCAAT, look at the teams Wisconsin beat, compared to the teams Michigan beat.
Wisky beat American (a nobody), Oregon (who finished their season winning 8 in a row, including a W over Zona; and finished tied for 3rd in the Pac-12), Baylor (a team with 26 wins, and 5 or 6 really good wins), and Arizona (who was the unanimous #1 almost the entire year until they slipped up a couple times after losing Ashley to injury).
Michigan beat Wofford (a nobody), Texas (a team eerily similar to Baylor (Texas went 2-1 against Baylor)), and Tennessee (whose biggest win was probably beating Iowa..., but looks good on paper).
So just going off of who each team beat, I would give Wisky the edge. Throw in the fact that they got to the Final Four, and that might tip the scale in their favor.
Either way, Michigan and Wisky both had great years. It's a shame one of us couldn't win it all for the pride of the Big-Ten....There's always next year...
You have to take into account the returning players, expecations/projections, and who each team lost. Michigan had the better year.
I would say Michigan. Not on a homer basis but because of the accomplishments this team achieved.
Michigan: Loses TWO 1st-round draft picks(a large % of offense), won the conference by 3 games, Elite 8, and they had a better efficiency rating and all that jazz on offense this year. This is a team projected to finish 5/6 in the B1G. Also, returning starting center was injured for season 8 games in. Outlook looked terrible. Nik m-fing Stauskas.
MSU: Preseason #2 Projected to win the B1G, the whole team returned essentially. Won B1G Tourney. Elite 8. Projected by many entering the tourney to be the favorite other than UF.
Wisky: Projected #2 in B1G. Returned most of their team. Expected to be in the two-team race with MSU. Finished Final Four.
Overall: You have to take Michigan in this stance. What Beilein did with this team is nothing short of amazing. This team was 6-4 and McGary goes down for the year. This team could have threw in the towel and settled for NIT/Middle of the pack B1G but they rose above expectations.
GAME BLOUSES!
Michigan won the Big Ten championship by *three games*. Indiana won last year's Big Ten championship by a missed layup and missed putback. It is entirely reasonable to judge the two seasons differently. If Michigan had been upset by Wofford, then, fine, Wisconsin would have had the better season. As it stands, the answer has to be Michigan this year *and* Michigan last year. If Wisconsin had won the national title, yes, that would trump a Big Ten title. As it stands, they'll hang a banner at Trohl, but nobody really remembers the national semifinal losers anyway.
Nobody could "Win the Game" like Michigan this season. Wisconsin is a close second for me since they did make it to the Final Four. MSU underachieved in my eyes all season long. They were the best team in the conference for about 4 days during the BIG tourney, but that again just speaks to their inconsistencies as a team this year. Go Blue!
But Wisconsin also made the Final Four and beat us pretty handily in our own house. I'd say we have the slightest of edges because Wisconsin was fully healthy all year, but that doesn't diminish their accomplishments.
They get Kaminsky back next year, and if we get McGary back, I think winning this conference comes down to these two teams next year. MSU loses everyone, so does OSU.
I'm going to say Michigan by the slightest margin over Wisconsin. And yes, my personal bias may have decided it for me. I acknowledge that Wisconsin is a fine answer.
I will say that there are so many posters in here who thinks this answer is DERP OBVIOUSLY US DERP is very telling. Still a lot of basketball n00bs in here, obviously. I can only guess it's a lot of people brought up as football fanatics who can't seem to comprehend the conversion rate on the value of a conference title to basketball, which has a totally different tradition and culture.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Michigan had the better conference run, but Wiscy really was a last-second shot from playing (and I suspect winning) the title. I mean, UConn never looked THAT good in its run, and I have to suspect that Bo Ryan could have slowed down the game enough to slug out a win against them.
Agreed. Wisconsin bigs aren't as athletic as Kentucky's, but as a team they would ahve dictated pace much better.
They clearly aren't the best, but I'd put them ahead of Ohio.
Michigan
MSU-Won the tourney and went further in the dance
Wisky
Nebrasketball
Ohio