Rutgers has 4 B1G conference wins for the first time ever
They just beat IU in NJ to win their 4th conference game, moving to 4-6. Their previous high for conference wins was 3 in each of the past two seasons. They have also won 3 straight conference games for the first time since 2003-2004, and sent IU to their 7th straight loss in doing so.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:31 PM ^
Word on the street is Archie Miller won’t last until the end of the season.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:57 PM ^
He may need to find his own travel means back to Bloomington after tonight’s game.
Tonight hasn’t been a pretty night of b-ball; Indiana contributed greatly to the ugliness.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:20 PM ^
Seems like he would at least make it to a third year. RR went three years. Its not like indiana has a lot of talent outside of Morgan and Langford.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:32 PM ^
They do have a fair amount of talent but most of it is young or injured (or young and injured in the case of Jerome Hunter).
January 30th, 2019 at 10:20 PM ^
Any night that features Minnesota’s gray court is an ugly one. That monstrosity makes my eyes bleed.
January 30th, 2019 at 11:09 PM ^
I actually like it...looks clean/fresh.
So much better than their old floor or even our floor that has gone from awesome to butter-looking because we keep putting an oil-based finish on it and we won't pay the money to re-sand it, paint it and start over.
Same thing with the stadium...took waaay too long to replace the field turf or paint the bleachers.
Minnesota's old floor was so dark, everything was golden brown. It was awful.
January 31st, 2019 at 6:03 AM ^
No, Minnesota's court is ugly and hard to look at. It ranks up there with EMU's gray field. Makes it look like you are watching an old movie that was only partially colorized and re-released. Horrible
January 31st, 2019 at 10:57 AM ^
It's a little cheesy that they painted "The Barn" on the floor. Nicknames are nicknames.
January 31st, 2019 at 12:43 AM ^
That “court” is the easily the ugliest sport venue imaginable...
January 31st, 2019 at 1:19 AM ^
Says somebody from Oregon?!
Have you ever seen the Ducks' court? :)
Between that, the Smurf Turf in Boise, and Colin Cowherd's Red Ripoff at EWU, the Pacific Northwest has a pretty good stranglehold on ugly sports venues. ;)
ETA: Or do you mean, Oregon, Ohio? In which case, everything I said is still true, but it's less relevant to your location. :)
January 31st, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Have you seen the Northern Illinois court?
January 31st, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
I hadn't. That thing's pretty hideous too. :)
January 30th, 2019 at 10:00 PM ^
That seems hard to believe in his first year.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^
Archie has been so bad that you didn't even realize that this is his second year lmaoooo
January 30th, 2019 at 11:40 PM ^
Haha. Oops.
January 31st, 2019 at 9:30 AM ^
Well, Steve Alford needs a job.
January 31st, 2019 at 10:05 AM ^
I can't imagine they'd fire him this soon. For one thing they'd presumably owe him a huge buyout.
January 31st, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
Unless they just absolutely fall apart, I assume Miller will stick around for another year but it will be incredibly uncomfortable.
January 31st, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
I don't think he's going to get fired and I don't think he should. But they've lost 7 straight. It'll be 8 straight after they leave Breslin on Saturday. They are absolutely falling apart. There's no "Unless".
January 30th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
Dude... we’re 20-1... I think we have more to be jacked up about than just beating Indiana.
Not to mention winning AT Indiana in the manner that we won, is something to get jacked up about.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:55 PM ^
I won't say that game was reason to get "jacked up", but it was reason to be relieved. Indiana is an absolute dumpster fire right now and their offense is putrid. I really don't know how OSU and IU have just completely fallen off the face of the earth.
If we go into Iowa and blow them out, I will be jacked up about that. It will be like Trohl Center B - an annoying team, a loud arena, but a legit tourney team that's a notch below wisconsin
January 30th, 2019 at 11:17 PM ^
What happened to OSU and IU is called scouting. There's enough film on both teams now so they can't surprise anyone. It's hard to win in conference play with only two scoring options. I'd rather have IU's roster though. If they can get fully healthy, they will be a tough matchup.
January 31st, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
Michigan has now won at Indiana 7 times in your lifetime, unless you were a doctoral student or postdoc in '89. One of those was an overtime win over the worst Indiana team in recent memory, Tom Crean's first year.
You're dramatically underestimating the accomplishment. I don't care how bad Indiana is; they don't lose by 23+ points at home very often -- it was like the fifth time in the last 60 years. If they're so terrible, why isn't everyone going into Bloomington and beating them by 30?
I'm not saying Michigan will win the national championship -- it's likely that they won't. You could say that about every single team, though -- if I offered you Duke vs the field, straight up, you'd take the field in a heartbeat. But I am saying that what this team has accomplished over the past year is historic for the program, and it's silly to minimize that.
January 31st, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
One of those was an overtime win over the worst Indiana team in recent memory, Tom Crean's first year.
And we had to come back from like 20 down to do that.
January 31st, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Nebraska, who isn't very good, beat them by 15 in bloomington
January 31st, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
Nebraska is actually rather good, currently #23 in KenPom, although trending down now that they’re without their Isaac Copeland for the rest of the season.
January 31st, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Michigan won the NIT in 1983-84, a full five seasons before the 89 National Title, not the year prior. The year prior they made the Sweet 16 where they were bounced by UNC.
I'm not saying anything about your potentially faulty memory nor am I implying that you may lack historical perspective (due to faulty memory) to properly value a win at Assembly Hall. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just pointing out an error.
January 31st, 2019 at 8:18 AM ^
Looking at the schedule before the season, most people would mark the game at IU as a loss, mainly because that’s what usually happens there. Next year I’ll mark it as a most like win. It was a big win, just like it was big when Michigan finally beat Sharty at Breslin.
January 31st, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
"just like"???
No, it was not "just like" beating MSU at Breslin. Not even close. IU may finish with the 13th seed in the conference.
January 31st, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
That MSU team Michigan beat in 2011 was pretty bad. The only reason they made the Tournament was name recognition. They were 19-14 I believe and somehow didn't even get sent to Dayton for a play-in game (if only IU had finished the job and beaten them at Breslin for what would've been six straight losses).
So while the accomplishment of finally winning at Breslin was huge for Michigan, the team MSU fielded that year was junk.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:37 PM ^
I always love bringing up this anecdote when I can because it encompasses the ineptitude of Rutgers basketball and the complete bush league nature of BTN coverage.
After Rutgers won their second big ten tournament game last year to make it to the quarterfinals some BTN announcer (they're all the same to me) proudly announced that Rutgers was the FIRST AND ONLY TEAM IN BIG TEN HISTORY TO REACH THE QUARTERFINALS AS A 14 SEED. WOW, INCREDIBLE.
So I did some very light btt bracket look ups and realized the awesome joke. Not only was Rutgers the first and only big ten team to make the quarters as a 14 seed, they're the only team to be the 14 seed. Full stop. They've been in last place every year since the league expanded to 14. Just beautiful. Gonna be sad if that changes this year
January 30th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
Yeah, BTN went full-on Rutgers troll mode last year since the Big Ten Tournament was at MSG. It was sooooooo annoying.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:31 PM ^
I think Penn State is fully on-pace to be the #14 seed this year. They might actually go 0-20 in conference.
Here's a ridiculous stat: Penn State played on the first day of the B1G tournament every single year for the first EIGHTEEN (18) iterations of the tournament. PSU beat Illinois in double OT in the 2016 season finale to garner the #10 seed and avoid the #11 seed and a 19th straight Day 1 appearance.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:36 PM ^
Anyone in particular you'd want to see roaming the sidelines at the BJC next season? Can't imagine that Pat Chambers survives an eighth consecutive NCAA-less season, much less one with potentially single digit wins.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:40 PM ^
Literally anybody.
PSU is cheap, so they're not going to get a big name. So considering that, I think Dave Paulsen from George Mason would be a good hire. He coached at Bucknell before GMU. A Michigan graduate assistant way back in the day for one year under Steve Fisher.
But, PSU being PSU, they'll probably take a CURRENT Patriot League coach. That's where Penn State gets their basketball coaches come from. That's also the conference their coaches quit to go to.
So, come on down Brett Reed, Waterford Mott grad and current Lehigh head coach! He did beat Duke in 2012! That's 1 more NCAA win than PSU has had in the last 17 seasons.
One side note: back in 2000, PSU appeared ready to fire Jerry Dunn. Hofstra's Jay Wright was the #1 target. But, PSU beat a disinterested Michigan (coming off that brutal MSU game) in a horrible Day 1 (of course!) BTT game, then upset #1 Ohio State, who was equally disinterested because they were prepping for the NCAA. Those 2 wins got PSU an NIT bid, where they beat Ivy, MAAC and MAC schools to make the NIT Final Four, where they got walloped. That "run" was good enough for Dunn to keep his job, and Wright spent another year at Hofstra.
We know how that one ended.
January 30th, 2019 at 11:21 PM ^
I feel bad for laughing but the malaise in your post seriously had me rolling.
January 30th, 2019 at 11:44 PM ^
Thx - there are some school/sports combinations where you have to find the humor in it all.
But I remain a fan. I was at the first game at BJC way back when. And I made the ESPN broadcast that evening (3:40)! I'm pretty sure I am NOT the least ethical man in that screen shot!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY8sqGlKXcc
January 31st, 2019 at 12:11 AM ^
Heh, I get completely where you're coming from. I've been following Michigan basketball since I was a little kid. I've seen the ups and a lot of downs.
Chin up, NF. You're one of the good ones!
January 31st, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
Do you think they will go cheap on this one too now that they have a new AD?
If they want to get a Bucknell coach, Flannery would be better than Paulsen imho. Flannery built up the program, then stepped back to spend time with family (for real!) Paulsen just managed the decent and kept it from being a crash.
An acquaintance has family on the PSU team and it is a given there will be a coaching change. Losing the "Battle for the Bottom" a few weeks back to Rutgers at home was probably the clincher.
I didn't know about Jay.
PS. They have to accept humiliation and move basketball back to Rec Hall. BJC has all the atmosphere of a funeral home for a struggling team.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:37 PM ^
Good for Rutger!
Puts them ahead of OSU in the B1G standings!
January 30th, 2019 at 9:52 PM ^
And they get osu next. Doesn't get any easier for IU, though. They get msu next.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
Good thing Collesh Game Day is going to be in East Landfill for the showdown with IU and Staee.
UNC @ L'Ville and T Tech @ Kansas are both much better games.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:49 PM ^
I think that's because the B1G isn't really on ESPN for basketball. I'm sure they would want A2 or EL for either of those games, but there's no way they'll be on ESPN. So they just chose this mediocre game because they probably won't have any of the marquee matchups
January 30th, 2019 at 10:17 PM ^
The game at Crisler is a Sunday afternoon (3:45p) game on CBS. No time/network yet for the return game in EL, though it is on a Saturday.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:19 PM ^
True. But I think Fox or CBS will grab that matchup.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:36 PM ^
The return game will be on either ESPN. That is known.
Game time will either be 4 PM, 6 PM or 8 PM - ESPN has the rights to all of (1) Michigan @ MSU, (2) Duke @ UNC and (3) Louisville @ Virginia and they'll slot the games as we get closer to March.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:40 PM ^
Just looked at that day on KenPom. In addition to those three games, Tennessee plays at Auburn and Texas Tech plays at Iowa State. What an epic day of basketball.
January 30th, 2019 at 11:03 PM ^
Thanks for that - I didn't know that. That makes the choice for MSU/IU a little curious, but given all those other games I'm sure it would be tough to foretell the best matchup of the day. Although the MSU/UM game is looking like a top 5 (min top 10) matchup between bitter rivals with the B1G on the line.
January 30th, 2019 at 9:46 PM ^
Rutgers sucks ass. I’m not sure what IU sucks.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^
IU sucks Rutgerses’ ass, apparently