Rutgers has 4 B1G conference wins for the first time ever

Submitted by Bambi on January 30th, 2019 at 9:29 PM

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.

kehnonymous

January 30th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^

Also, as someone else pointed out...

Indiana's next game will be against an MSU team that's probably still brassed off about losing to Purdue.  And it's at East Landfill.  That's gonna be a bloodletting.

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 33110

Zeke21

January 30th, 2019 at 10:04 PM ^

Whoever says the big ten is the best conference has not seen rutgers, indiana, nw, osu, neb, psu, ill, minn play,  they are all terrible. m msu mary wisc pur only good teams.  who'd i miss,,,, oh iowa, probably good at home, we will see.

Joined: 12/20/2016

MGoPoints: 8751

J.

January 30th, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^

Either that, or they've actually used data to back up their opinion, instead of just spouting off things about "seeing them play."

KenPom's computer rankings rate the Big Ten as the most difficult conference in the country.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

J.

January 30th, 2019 at 11:09 PM ^

There's no such thing as a sure win on the road in the Big Ten.

That said, I cannot fathom how Rutgers can score on Michigan.  If Michigan can score 60, I think they'll win.

Rutgers has a good defense, but it's not elite (and it's downright bad in conference play).  Michigan just needs to avoid a Murphy's Law game.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

Mike Damone

January 30th, 2019 at 11:11 PM ^

Glad you did.  Rutgers last year in BIG tourney was fun to watch.  They are not great - but a road win there, or anywhere in the BIG - is not a given.

Tired of these negative tools who think teams like Rutgers, Illinois and Penn State are pushovers, and if we dont rout them, we somehow suck.  Pure idiocy.

Joined: 09/02/2017

MGoPoints: 24252

mgoblue98

January 31st, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^

I have no narrative.  Nor did I use the word idiot in my post.  Did you read what I wrote?  Maybe it's you with the narrative, since your answer reflects something that you chose to make up rather than what was actually said.  If you read the game threads, especially the IU thread, you will see that there are plenty of people who don't think that the team was very good.  That was the reference.   

Joined: 11/10/2013

MGoPoints: 9356

J.

January 31st, 2019 at 1:31 AM ^

Well, let's see.  They're 12-9, which is obviously not a great record; 2-8 in Quadrant 1, 3-1 in Q2, 1-0 in Q3, and 6-0 in Q4.  But, here's the thing.  They have 7 Q1, 2 Q2, and 1 Q3 game remaining (vs. Rutgers at home).

Let's suppose they beat the Scarlet Knights in the big IU Revenge Tour game.  That's the only possible bad loss on the schedule.  If they go 5-4 in the 9 Q1 games, they'd be 18-13 overall (9-11 in the Big Ten), with at least 5 Q1 wins, and they'd probably be looking at about a 7 or an 8 seed in the conference tournament.  It could easily be a bubble vs. bubble matchup against a team like OSU or Nebraska, each needing a win to shore up their résumé.

The Big Ten is really, really deep this year.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

Reggie Dunlop

January 31st, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^

I was just looking at their schedule. Unless they show drastic improvement, I'm not sure I see 6 wins in there.  MSU twice. Purdue and Wisconsin. That's probably your 4 losses right there.

That means they have to run the table vs Iowa, Ohio State, @ Iowa, @ Minnesota, @ Illinois & Rutgers to get to 18 wins. Yikes. Better get it together fast.

Joined: 10/24/2018

MGoPoints: 4389