New hope for double bye in Big Ten tourney (thanks, Illinois)
February 18th, 2018 at 9:48 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
2 wins over OSU and a win over purdue? yes, they would immediately move from outside the bubble to right inside, I think.
February 18th, 2018 at 7:26 PM ^
They're in an interesting position. Their RPI is currently in the 70s but their Kenpom ranking is 28 (!) and they've got chances at bigtime wins tonight and Wednesday (Michigan), plus a finale vs. Nebraska. I guess it depends how much the RPI still matters. If they win out I think they're probably in.
February 18th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
I'd say 2 of 3 and PSU is in. They may need to win a couple in the B1G tourney though.
February 18th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
Penn St. is currently out of the tourney rather authoritatively per Bracket Matrix. My guess is they would need a win against Michigan as well to be sure they are in, as they didn't beat anyone OOC (Montana at 100 is their best win and they played a lot of 250+ RPI teams), and they have a couple of bad losses (Wisconsin at 134, Minnesota and IU at 140 and 116, respectively).
They're playing better than they looked to start the year, but the conference is starting to cannibalize itself a bit and so wins against Purdue and OSU aren't as impressive because Purdue, for example, has lost 3 straight games. MSU seems to be the one legitimate national contender of the conference, and so it might hurt their sweep a bit if OSU stumbles and Purdue continues to crap the bed.
February 18th, 2018 at 9:25 PM ^
If they beat Purdue and one of Nebraska or Michigan, I think they’re in as one of the last four. If they get the sweep, they’re for sure in. They’d be finishing the season on one hell of a tear.
February 18th, 2018 at 7:45 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
We have a 19% chance according to kenpom.
February 18th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^
Point spread is highly variable. If there's anything kenpom is especially useful for it would be multi-game aggregate performance predictions. Common sense would say we certainly have worse than a 50% chance (and more like half that) at getting 4th given the remaining schedules.
Edit: FWIW Torvik would say 31% since he likes Mich better.
February 18th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^
We still need to win out and hope Nebraska loses one more.
February 18th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
to saddle PSU with another loss. Next 2 on the road will be tough for us, as we are a likely underdog in each of them.
February 18th, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 9:16 PM ^
We aren't winning the B1G title this year, but we are probably best equipped for a deep run in the tourney of all teams in the conference.
If we get a 6 seed or better going into the Dance, dont be surprised to see this team in the elite 8 or Final 4. There are no dominant teams in college basketball this year, we have a very balanced team, and Beilein's teams always get better as the year goes on.
If we get hot from 3, watch out...could be a deep run.
February 18th, 2018 at 9:56 PM ^
February 19th, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^
As far as who's best equipped, I'd unfortunately have to yield to MSU on that one. They haven't lost since we beat them last month, and Izzo's teams have a knack for peaking come tournament time. They're deep and extremely talented. Talented enough to make the biggest comeback in Big Ten history.
Sure, they can absolutely be beaten. But if you made me bet on who would reach the Final Four first between MSU and Michigan this year, I'd bet MSU.
February 18th, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^
February 19th, 2018 at 2:19 AM ^
February 19th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^