Wisconsin beat a good USDSt team that made the NCAA's last year by 2. Penn St beat WNIT champ Kansas by 6, Uill lost a close game at WNIT qualified Marquette by 4 at Marquette, and OSU, IU, and Md have all gotten pole axed by USCal, Stanford, and USCar respectively. Only Rutgers has a bad loss and MSU and UM have slaughtered the poor teams they have played. Nothing definitive in any of this other than the top of the conference looks weak compared to the top of other conferences, and the bottom feeder teams seem to have improved a great deal year over year. Could be a really tough conference race, especially in the middle.
Around the Big Ten so far
- Thread starter MichaelRR
- Start date
Iowa isn’t as good as the pundits seem to think. After Clark they don’t have a ton. If she has an off game shooting, which she shot 9/32 that game, they are very susceptible to teams with good posts - which Kansas state has. Ayoka Lee was absolutely dominating last year before her injury. She will prob be a top 5 draft pick after having a monster year.
Iowa will certainly be good but right now at #2 in the country you need to have more than Clark going 40 every night to beat good teams - I think KSU was underrated. I don’t take rankings too seriously 2 weeks into the season. A lot of it is projecture based on last season and apparently pollsters forgot Lee existed - out of sight, out of mind I guess.
Iowa will certainly be good but right now at #2 in the country you need to have more than Clark going 40 every night to beat good teams - I think KSU was underrated. I don’t take rankings too seriously 2 weeks into the season. A lot of it is projecture based on last season and apparently pollsters forgot Lee existed - out of sight, out of mind I guess.
Conference standings through last night in OOC play:
Iowa 7-1 and avenged themselves on KSU. Not often you see a team play an OOC team twice in one year, but they met in a tournament the second time. They also have a win over #8 VaTech and a pretty good Drake team.
PSU 7-1 with wins over Kansas, St Johns, and PkSU and a one point loss to USCal. They seem MUCH improved year over year, and Owusu is not playing for them yet even.
IU at 6-1 with a win over #19 UTenn and a shellacking from Stanford. Other 5 wins are various flavors of cupcakes including Murray St.
UMich 6-1 Their loss is to #24 Ole Miss and none of their wins are over a quality opponent.
MSU 6-1 Loss to Creighton, wins over DePaul and Murray St, and a bunch of even bigger cupcakes. Hard to say how good they might be, they are certainly untested going into conference play as they only have cupcakes left on the schedule.
UMinn 6-1 loss is to UConn at UMinn, best win is over a decent NDSt, then 5 easy cupcakes. See MSU note.
OSU 5-1 big loss to start the season against USCal, notable win is over OKSt and they play UTenn tomorrow.
UNeb 5-2 Losses to Creighton and TCU and no wins over a team with a pulse. See MSU note
UWisc 5-2 with losses to KSU and 7-1 Arkansas with their best wins over N Ill and BC. Seem to be much improved, but we will see once conference play starts.
UILL 4-2 with losses to Marquette and ND and 4 wins over cupcakes. See MSU note but they seem like they may be down from last year.
UMd 4-3 played three very good teams, lost 3 times to UConn, USCar, and #23 WSU. Seem to continue to slide from their hieight but still likely to be formidible in the conference play.
Purdue 4-3 with a win over TxA&M and Dayton. We are going to need a strong conference season to make the NCAA's.
Rutgers 5-5 with one of the losses to Fairfield. In the running for worst in the conference with
Northwestern 3-4 on a 3 game losing streak including Belmont.
So I think the BT is breaking into 4 tiers as follows:
Top: IU, Iowa, and OSU.
Second tier: UMich (could be top tier), UMd, and 3 that may be second or third tier; MSU, UIll and I am putting PSU up here, but that may be premature.
Third tier: Purdue, UNeb, UMinn, and UWisc
Bottom of the barrel: Rutgers and Northwestern.
To make the NCAA's we need to get to that second tier and knock off several of the teams I put there to build up our resume IMO
Iowa 7-1 and avenged themselves on KSU. Not often you see a team play an OOC team twice in one year, but they met in a tournament the second time. They also have a win over #8 VaTech and a pretty good Drake team.
PSU 7-1 with wins over Kansas, St Johns, and PkSU and a one point loss to USCal. They seem MUCH improved year over year, and Owusu is not playing for them yet even.
IU at 6-1 with a win over #19 UTenn and a shellacking from Stanford. Other 5 wins are various flavors of cupcakes including Murray St.
UMich 6-1 Their loss is to #24 Ole Miss and none of their wins are over a quality opponent.
MSU 6-1 Loss to Creighton, wins over DePaul and Murray St, and a bunch of even bigger cupcakes. Hard to say how good they might be, they are certainly untested going into conference play as they only have cupcakes left on the schedule.
UMinn 6-1 loss is to UConn at UMinn, best win is over a decent NDSt, then 5 easy cupcakes. See MSU note.
OSU 5-1 big loss to start the season against USCal, notable win is over OKSt and they play UTenn tomorrow.
UNeb 5-2 Losses to Creighton and TCU and no wins over a team with a pulse. See MSU note
UWisc 5-2 with losses to KSU and 7-1 Arkansas with their best wins over N Ill and BC. Seem to be much improved, but we will see once conference play starts.
UILL 4-2 with losses to Marquette and ND and 4 wins over cupcakes. See MSU note but they seem like they may be down from last year.
UMd 4-3 played three very good teams, lost 3 times to UConn, USCar, and #23 WSU. Seem to continue to slide from their hieight but still likely to be formidible in the conference play.
Purdue 4-3 with a win over TxA&M and Dayton. We are going to need a strong conference season to make the NCAA's.
Rutgers 5-5 with one of the losses to Fairfield. In the running for worst in the conference with
Northwestern 3-4 on a 3 game losing streak including Belmont.
So I think the BT is breaking into 4 tiers as follows:
Top: IU, Iowa, and OSU.
Second tier: UMich (could be top tier), UMd, and 3 that may be second or third tier; MSU, UIll and I am putting PSU up here, but that may be premature.
Third tier: Purdue, UNeb, UMinn, and UWisc
Bottom of the barrel: Rutgers and Northwestern.
To make the NCAA's we need to get to that second tier and knock off several of the teams I put there to build up our resume IMO
Really nice summary. Thanks for doing all this research and posting the info.
Some interesting results the first weekend of BT play.:
IU 66-Rutgers 56 IU was behind in the first quarter 10-9 and only beat Rutgers by 10, less than they beat UTenn at UTenn.
Nebraska 80-MSU 74 at MSU. Interesting and makes me wonder how good either program is now.
Iowa 87-UWisc 65 at Madison. No surprises here EXCEPT Iowa was the only of the top three teams in the BT to not have to struggle all the way through their game.
PSU 84-OSU 94. PSU took OSU to OT in Columbus.... color me impressed.
Northwestern 58-MD 71 no surprises, NU is bad this year.
UMich 84-UILL 48 at Champaign. Another one where I wonder how good either program is now considering the beatdown UMich took from Toledo earlier in the week.
Purdue 58-UMinn 60.... the door isn't completely closed on Purdue's NCAA hopes, but there is no room left for error. Purdue has to win the rest of the 50-50 games on the schedule to get back onto the bubble. WE are 1-3 in those games to date.
UMinn, OSU, and Md only home teams to win in the first set of games, could be a wild ride through conference play this year.
IU 66-Rutgers 56 IU was behind in the first quarter 10-9 and only beat Rutgers by 10, less than they beat UTenn at UTenn.
Nebraska 80-MSU 74 at MSU. Interesting and makes me wonder how good either program is now.
Iowa 87-UWisc 65 at Madison. No surprises here EXCEPT Iowa was the only of the top three teams in the BT to not have to struggle all the way through their game.
PSU 84-OSU 94. PSU took OSU to OT in Columbus.... color me impressed.
Northwestern 58-MD 71 no surprises, NU is bad this year.
UMich 84-UILL 48 at Champaign. Another one where I wonder how good either program is now considering the beatdown UMich took from Toledo earlier in the week.
Purdue 58-UMinn 60.... the door isn't completely closed on Purdue's NCAA hopes, but there is no room left for error. Purdue has to win the rest of the 50-50 games on the schedule to get back onto the bubble. WE are 1-3 in those games to date.
UMinn, OSU, and Md only home teams to win in the first set of games, could be a wild ride through conference play this year.
Last update on non-conference season, all non-con games are in the books. This is my take on where teams fall out at this time:
First tier
Iowa 12-1 with wins over VaTech and KSU, both now ranked top 20. They are mostly crushing the lesser teams they play and seem to be the top of the conference.
OSU 10-2 with wins over UTenn, OkSU, PSU and a Belmont team by almost 30 that had beaten Northwestern and UGa. Their only two losses are to USC and UCLA and they were close in both games.
IU 10-1 loss to Stanford by 32, a win over UTenn and a whole lot of cupcakes. That Rutgers played them tight concerns me, IU doesn't seem to really be hitting on all cylenders yet and not as good as last year, but they have time to get it pointed the right direction.
Second tier ???
UMinn 11-1 Best wins are UK, Drake, and us. The loss is to UConn, and the rest of their schedule is meh. MUCH improved now that they have a coach with D1 experience instead of one learning OJT. May slip to third tier, but right now I really like the heart and intensity they are playing with. Talent wise they are not upper half of the BT, but their intensity and attitude could make up for it.
UMich 10-3 blasted UILL at UILL by nearly 40, but have lost to Toledo, Florida, and Ole Miss. Could be second tier, could be third, right now I have no idea what to expect from them.
UMd 10-3 and got skull drug all three losses to UConn, USCar, and #23 WSU. Best win is Harvard? Broken record here, but I have no clue how good they might be and could easily be a third tier team.
MSU 10-2 they have played two games with less than 10 points win or loss. Lost to UNeb 80-74 at home and beat Richmond 83-76. Got blown out by Creighton 83-69 and have crushed everyone else they have played, which is a pretty meh list headed by DePaul. Still no idea if they are second tier or third.....
UNeb 10-3 with losses to ranked Creighton, Kansas by 17, and undefeated TCU, but TCU's second best win is Rice? They handled MSU at East Lansing, so like eveyone else in this tier, WHO KNOWS how good they are.
PSU 9-3 with losses to USC, WVU, and at OSU. they were within 10 to everyone but WVU who is 11-0 and now ranked 25th Honestly they may be the best of the second tier, but its hard to believe they got that much better that fast just with a coaching change. Their best wins are Kansas, St Johns, and OkSU.
Third tier
Purdue 7-5 and honestly not looking very good even in the wins. Turnovers are a bad problem, shooting is down from last year, and the offense is flowing like molasses. Good win against TxA&M but bad losses to UGa and UF and potentially a bad loss to UMinn depending if they return to last years form.
UWisc 7-4 Vastly improved but still undermanned. Losses to KSU, Butler, Arkansas, and Iowa. Best win is BC or SDSU. I really like their coach and how she is building this program from recruiting and not relying on the portal, but they still have a long way to go .
UILL 6-5 and really not looking good. Got skull drug at home by Michigan, so I gotta say they are way down from last year pending hearing they were down a couple starters for that game.
Northwestern and Rutgers bring up the rear in fourth tier and are just bad.... no more analysis needed.
I think between 2-4 of the second tier teams seperate themselves and earn NCAA bids, but I have no guess on who it will be.
First tier
Iowa 12-1 with wins over VaTech and KSU, both now ranked top 20. They are mostly crushing the lesser teams they play and seem to be the top of the conference.
OSU 10-2 with wins over UTenn, OkSU, PSU and a Belmont team by almost 30 that had beaten Northwestern and UGa. Their only two losses are to USC and UCLA and they were close in both games.
IU 10-1 loss to Stanford by 32, a win over UTenn and a whole lot of cupcakes. That Rutgers played them tight concerns me, IU doesn't seem to really be hitting on all cylenders yet and not as good as last year, but they have time to get it pointed the right direction.
Second tier ???
UMinn 11-1 Best wins are UK, Drake, and us. The loss is to UConn, and the rest of their schedule is meh. MUCH improved now that they have a coach with D1 experience instead of one learning OJT. May slip to third tier, but right now I really like the heart and intensity they are playing with. Talent wise they are not upper half of the BT, but their intensity and attitude could make up for it.
UMich 10-3 blasted UILL at UILL by nearly 40, but have lost to Toledo, Florida, and Ole Miss. Could be second tier, could be third, right now I have no idea what to expect from them.
UMd 10-3 and got skull drug all three losses to UConn, USCar, and #23 WSU. Best win is Harvard? Broken record here, but I have no clue how good they might be and could easily be a third tier team.
MSU 10-2 they have played two games with less than 10 points win or loss. Lost to UNeb 80-74 at home and beat Richmond 83-76. Got blown out by Creighton 83-69 and have crushed everyone else they have played, which is a pretty meh list headed by DePaul. Still no idea if they are second tier or third.....
UNeb 10-3 with losses to ranked Creighton, Kansas by 17, and undefeated TCU, but TCU's second best win is Rice? They handled MSU at East Lansing, so like eveyone else in this tier, WHO KNOWS how good they are.
PSU 9-3 with losses to USC, WVU, and at OSU. they were within 10 to everyone but WVU who is 11-0 and now ranked 25th Honestly they may be the best of the second tier, but its hard to believe they got that much better that fast just with a coaching change. Their best wins are Kansas, St Johns, and OkSU.
Third tier
Purdue 7-5 and honestly not looking very good even in the wins. Turnovers are a bad problem, shooting is down from last year, and the offense is flowing like molasses. Good win against TxA&M but bad losses to UGa and UF and potentially a bad loss to UMinn depending if they return to last years form.
UWisc 7-4 Vastly improved but still undermanned. Losses to KSU, Butler, Arkansas, and Iowa. Best win is BC or SDSU. I really like their coach and how she is building this program from recruiting and not relying on the portal, but they still have a long way to go .
UILL 6-5 and really not looking good. Got skull drug at home by Michigan, so I gotta say they are way down from last year pending hearing they were down a couple starters for that game.
Northwestern and Rutgers bring up the rear in fourth tier and are just bad.... no more analysis needed.
I think between 2-4 of the second tier teams seperate themselves and earn NCAA bids, but I have no guess on who it will be.
This weekends results gave us a few surprises. UMich outscoring OSU in the 4th quarter by 12 to win by 9. MSU manhandling PSU at Happy Valley after having lost at home to UNeb. IU struggling at home with UIll and only winning by 6 was a shocker too. Nebraska took care of business at home against UMd, we won against a deplete UWisc to preserve our home court, and UNorth held up at home against Rutgers. Iowa demolished UMinn as expected.
Iowa, IU, UNeb and UMich sit atop the standings at 2-0
Iowa, IU, UNeb and UMich sit atop the standings at 2-0
The Illini guards will keep them in a lot of games. Was very impressed today with their ability to both get to the hole or pull up and hit 10’- 16’ footers. It was tight throughout today. Too much McKenzie Holmes (30 points) and a big Garzon 3 late (she did very little today), got IU over a very tenacious Illinois team.
UILL was coming off a near 40 point beat down at home to Michigan. I'm very unimpressed that IU once again played down to the level of a mediocre to bad team. Rutgers is awful this year as well but stayed close to IU throughout. What's IU going to do when they actually play a good Big Ten team?
Coming off?? That Illini beat down by UM happened 3 weeks ago already. UM’s much improved from the looks of their recent win over OSU. IU should definitely have their hands full with them this week, so I guess we will see.
IU definitely misses the steady rock of a leader Grace Berger was. CMM tends to dribble too much in her place as pg, but hit some big shots. Wish Garzon would be more selfish with the ball as she can flat out ball.
As for The Illini, they lost to ND by 11 and Marquette by 4. Their guards were better than IU’s today and from what I saw, are better than PU’s.
IU definitely misses the steady rock of a leader Grace Berger was. CMM tends to dribble too much in her place as pg, but hit some big shots. Wish Garzon would be more selfish with the ball as she can flat out ball.
As for The Illini, they lost to ND by 11 and Marquette by 4. Their guards were better than IU’s today and from what I saw, are better than PU’s.
IU has one goodish win, against UTenn that has lost 5 games including to MTSU. IU got completely flattened by Stanford. IU's second best win is Murray St or Princeton. And against two lower half BT teams they have a 10 point win over Rutgers that was closer than that throughout and a 6 point win over 6-6 Illinois at IU that was tight to the end. Right now if you are an IU fan and not worried about how this years team is underperforming and untested, you are not paying very close attention. I still think they finish in the top 5, but the way they are playing right now, I don't see them winning the conference.
IU will have to show something if they are going to finish in the upper half of the B10. They struggled against far smaller teams AT HOME and play like five individuals not on the same team. Their non-conference schedule is below weak yet they wonder why others don't take them seriously. Per IU posters on the board...they need to find their identify as a team, generate an offense, shore up their defense, and play with a lot more aggressiveness/passion.
Michael, I come in peace…but do two 20+ point wins this week vs teams undefeated in the league like UM and at Nebraska count as “goodish” wins? 😉…
If they can win the next one at home vs PSU, then the one after that Saturday night at Iowa on Fox Prime Time, then MAYBE I will say they can win the conference.
When will PU women make-up yesterday’s MD game? And where?
If they can win the next one at home vs PSU, then the one after that Saturday night at Iowa on Fox Prime Time, then MAYBE I will say they can win the conference.
When will PU women make-up yesterday’s MD game? And where?
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I watched part of the Nebraska game, that was certainly a far more impressive game than the 10 previous before Michigan. It seems that IU was playing down to the competition, which is going to bite them in the butt if they don't get over that. But with those last two wins, I am pretty much convinced barring injuries the title will come down to IU or Iowa. But even you have to admit that IU played very uninspired against a mediocre to poor UILL team that is currently down 4 at home to UWisc., only winning by 6 at IU. IU no9w has two good wins back to back and that should move them up the rankings after a lot of feasting on cupcakes. What does IU's recruiting class look like for next year, and will Parrish be back for a 5th year?
I’d be lying if I said I know anything of their respective games, other than their names and heights, but both are post players. A 6’3” girl from AZ by last name Fenn. Never saw her ranking, so assume is not a top 100.
Closer to home, they got a girl from Indian Creek, 6’4” Sarah Wiseman, who was ranked 55 by ESPN.
Assume they will hit the portal for a guard or 2 come spring, but i do feel Parrish will be back. Hoping CMM has another year as pg, but can’t keep track who has extra Covid year and who doesn’t. Current back up PG, Bargasser can handle the ball, but is quite the bricklayer.
Closer to home, they got a girl from Indian Creek, 6’4” Sarah Wiseman, who was ranked 55 by ESPN.
Assume they will hit the portal for a guard or 2 come spring, but i do feel Parrish will be back. Hoping CMM has another year as pg, but can’t keep track who has extra Covid year and who doesn’t. Current back up PG, Bargasser can handle the ball, but is quite the bricklayer.
Thank you very much for that info and I appreciate the intelligent conversation. I really hope IU continues to play well and gets Moren to the FF, she deserves it for the job she has done so far. I feel next year IU falls back to the middle of the pack until Terri can restock the shelves.
Out of 7 games this weekend, home team wins 5 of them. Notable results;
Iowa skull drug IU, winning by 27 84-57. IU seems to be in trouble after this year, they had three good players in this game, McNeil-Moore, Parrish, and Holmes, all seniors. Only Parrish has a 5th year available.
MSU took OSU to the wire, losing 65-60, but for a donut team they are TOUGH and I don't think Purdue beats them home or away.
Illinois finally gets a conference win pounding Northwestern at Evanston 93-52
PSU wins at Piskataway 94-80, that is our next game, at Happy Valley and that is our best chance of avoiding a 7 game losing streak.
UMinn wins at home against UNeb 62-58. UMinn's hopes for an NCAA bid are still alive.
UMich wins at home against UWisc, no surprise there.
Conference standings as of today:
First tier looks to just be Iowa, and MAYBE IU.
Second tier OSU, MSU, UNeb, UMich, UMary and UMinn.
Third tier PSU, Purdue and PSU could still move up to the second tier.
Fourth tier: UILL, Northwestern, Rutgers, and UWisc, even though UWisc when healthy looks better than this, the results just aren't there yet.
Iowa skull drug IU, winning by 27 84-57. IU seems to be in trouble after this year, they had three good players in this game, McNeil-Moore, Parrish, and Holmes, all seniors. Only Parrish has a 5th year available.
MSU took OSU to the wire, losing 65-60, but for a donut team they are TOUGH and I don't think Purdue beats them home or away.
Illinois finally gets a conference win pounding Northwestern at Evanston 93-52
PSU wins at Piskataway 94-80, that is our next game, at Happy Valley and that is our best chance of avoiding a 7 game losing streak.
UMinn wins at home against UNeb 62-58. UMinn's hopes for an NCAA bid are still alive.
UMich wins at home against UWisc, no surprise there.
Conference standings as of today:
| Iowa | 6-0 | - | 17-1 |
| Indiana | 5-1 | 1 | 14-2 |
| Ohio State | 4-1 | 1.5 | 13-3 |
| Nebraska | 4-2 | 2 | 12-5 |
| Minnesota | 3-2 | 2.5 | 13-3 |
| Michigan | 3-2 | 2.5 | 12-5 |
| Maryland | 3-2 | 2.5 | 11-5 |
| Michigan State | 2-3 | 3.5 | 12-4 |
| Penn State | 2-3 | 3.5 | 11-5 |
| Purdue | 2-3 | 3.5 | 9-7 |
| Northwestern | 2-4 | 4 | 7-10 |
| Illinois | 1-4 | 4.5 | 7-8 |
| Wisconsin | 1-5 | 5 | 8-8 |
| Rutgers | 0-6 | 6 | 6-13 |
First tier looks to just be Iowa, and MAYBE IU.
Second tier OSU, MSU, UNeb, UMich, UMary and UMinn.
Third tier PSU, Purdue and PSU could still move up to the second tier.
Fourth tier: UILL, Northwestern, Rutgers, and UWisc, even though UWisc when healthy looks better than this, the results just aren't there yet.
