Is the next game the most important in the reg season?

[SqueakyClean]

I'm leaning towards yes.

I admit, I'm greedy. I want an outright Big Ten title.

If Purdue loses though, it puts them 3 games behind 1st place Iowa and we would need Iowa to lose 4 games while Purdue wins out to overtake them. Frankly, they've already gone through the "perceived" toughest part of their schedule, but they have 5 games left after ours against the upper half of the conference (@MD, @IU, @OSU, IU, @MI). Off-the-cuff, I see them going 2-3 in those games, so getting the win this weekend would put Purdue in a much better place to catch up with them.

In the grand scheme of things, losing this game does not kill our season and we could still have significant success in the tournament this year, but if we want to win the Big Ten, this is pretty much a need-win game

 

[Mcluck]

Always.

 

[*4purdue*]

We are 2/3 the way to a great week. We need to close it out. We can't let up next week, but the schedule looks alot better.

 

[Gold&Black]

Agree with Mcluck. The next game is always the most important...until the one after that. Marylandx2, IU, MSU are all important games but losing to Northwestern would be just as bad or worse.

 

[big10best]

I hate to say it, but I think this is a must-win game if we want a sniff at the B1G regular season title. I also see it as a big game to see what type of fire and heart this team has. After the way they lost the game at Mackey, they should have a fire in their belly like they never have!!!

 

[BoilerNGold013]

I see a great effort in this one from the team but dang its hard to see a win against them. I think Vince will come to play and Biggie will have a way better game than he had against them in Mackey. BUT I think it will be heart breaker against them 74-73 OMHR. The african dude is playing at a "conference of the year player" level right now and I think their 5 man will pull H&H away from the bucket allowing Gesell to have his way in the paint.

 

[TopSecretBoiler]

this 6 game stretch is going to decide whether or not we give ourselves a chance at this conference title. Starting with Iowa. So yes. Most important so far.

 

[mathboy]

I see a great effort in this one from the team but dang its hard to see a win against them. I think Vince will come to play and Biggie will have a way better game than he had against them in Mackey. BUT I think it will be heart breaker against them 74-73 OMHR. The african dude is playing at a "conference of the year player" level right now and I think their 5 man will pull H&H away from the bucket allowing Gesell to have his way in the paint.

Wait, I thought Valentine had POY rapped up? TIC

 

[FirstDownB]

Simply put, this is a "must win" game in terms of regular season conference championship hopes. A win does 2 things: (1) prevents an early 3rd conference loss (2) hands Iowa their first loss. We can afford another loss or two, but not this early on and not against a fellow contender. It is just too hard to run off the last 10 in a row and if Iowa beats us again they probably only pick up 2-3 losses the rest of the way.
I think the next game game that we can lose and legitimately feel like we're still in the hunt is the @Maryland game on 2/6.

 

[proudopete]

Simply put, this is a "must win" game in terms of regular season conference championship hopes. A win does 2 things: (1) prevents an early 3rd conference loss (2) hands Iowa their first loss. We can afford another loss or two, but not this early on and not against a fellow contender. It is just too hard to run off the last 10 in a row and if Iowa beats us again they probably only pick up 2-3 losses the rest of the way.
I think the next game game that we can lose and legitimately feel like we're still in the hunt is the @Maryland game on 2/6.

I agree with this. I have Maryland as our only other loss but even now I'm not sure we can't win that one.
Chances are we lose a couple more. I hope Sunday isn't one of them.

 

[dumpsterFyre]

I think this game and the games against Maryland are the most important for our Title campaign. It could give us a win and our other contenders a loss.

We could become 1 game behind Iowa or 3 games behind Iowa.

 

[boiler62]

Always.

Right on Mcluck, the next game is always the most important!

 

[Frankie611]

I see a great effort in this one from the team but dang its hard to see a win against them. I think Vince will come to play and Biggie will have a way better game than he had against them in Mackey. BUT I think it will be heart breaker against them 74-73 OMHR. The african dude is playing at a "conference of the year player" level right now and I think their 5 man will pull H&H away from the bucket allowing Gesell to have his way in the paint.

Peter Jok is an amazing story too. If I heard correctly, his dad was killed fighting in the Sudanese army when Peter was really young. Sometimes we forget that kids live in these conflict areas around the world. Definitely hoping we win a statement on Sunday, but I am glad to see a guy who has been through more than most of us ever will get a chance to shine in the spotlight.

 

[lbodel]

Simply put, this is a "must win" game in terms of regular season conference championship hopes. A win does 2 things: (1) prevents an early 3rd conference loss (2) hands Iowa their first loss. We can afford another loss or two, but not this early on and not against a fellow contender. It is just too hard to run off the last 10 in a row and if Iowa beats us again they probably only pick up 2-3 losses the rest of the way.
I think the next game game that we can lose and legitimately feel like we're still in the hunt is the @Maryland game on 2/6.

It's hardly a must win (but yes it CERTAINLY helps). A couple weeks ago people thought nobody would be touching Michigan State...

 

[DrEss]

I believe Iowa will come back to the pack and I am pretty optimistic this begins this Sunday.
Purdue 87 OMHR 82

 

[Heller]

For a conference championship it's critical. Being three games down to Iowa would pretty much eliminate us unless they go in the tank.

 

[soybean]

We see it as a critical game from over here as well. When you look at the Purdue remaining schedule it bodes well for what we know is a very good team.

 

[Chuchumutha]

Believe it or not, this will be the first game this year where we will be the underdog (at Pitt we were a 1 pt. favorite). I agree if the goal is the B1G regular season championship, then this is a must win. But I'm even more anxious to see how they compete in this game. We are usually at our best when general expectations are low. I wouldn't be shocked to see us play our best game of the year.

 

[boiler-deuce]

If we wish to have a chance at a Conference Title...this is a must win. Anything less than a win or very good showing and close contest is another reason to consider us over rated. This is the time for the team to prove they belong in the discussion with the very good teams. We can no longer just beat the cupcakes and lose to the good teams if we wish to get recognition. IU is entering a tough stretch and won't have a bunch of barely 500 teams, especially at the very end. This is a big game for us at Iowa. It'd be a good time to gel and start to trend up. We've hit a valley and must get this thing figured out. It starts with Painter.

 

[mathboy]

If we wish to have a chance at a Conference Title...this is a must win. Anything less than a win or very good showing and close contest is another reason to consider us over rated. This is the time for the team to prove they belong in the discussion with the very good teams. We can no longer just beat the cupcakes and lose to the good teams if we wish to get recognition. IU is entering a tough stretch and won't have a bunch of barely 500 teams, especially at the very end. This is a big game for us at Iowa. It'd be a good time to gel and start to trend up. We've hit a valley and must get this thing figured out. It starts with Painter.

I agree that this Iowa game will determine our chance at BIG champs. If we lose, it is not the end of the world. Iowa is a bad match up for us in particular. That doesn't mean we are over rated, because the game is all about match ups - no linear transitive property can be determined.

 

[threeeputtt]

It is ALWAYS one game at a time-the next one.

 

[boiler-deuce]

I agree that this Iowa game will determine our chance at BIG champs. If we lose, it is not the end of the world. Iowa is a bad match up for us in particular. That doesn't mean we are over rated, because the game is all about match ups - no linear transitive property can be determined.

This game is huge IMO. This match up concept, I think, is busted. We dominated them for a half and were out coached. It's ridiculous to say, after we lit them up for 20 minutes, it's a bad match up. I think we must win the game to have a shot at the league title...we must be a very tough win for Iowa to show we aren't over rated. I get the impression that you're preparing for a loss by not having the fortitude to call this game what it is. Crucial. Don't start laying the foundation for excuses a day before the game. I'm telling you...we can win this game. And, it's 100% on Painter to get it done. He needs to stop jacking around and put together a strategy to take Iowa out. Or, at the very least, make them sweat like crazy getting out of that arena with a win. It's time to stop making excuses and preparing to explain/minimize losses and get that signature win. :-D
BOILER UP!!
HAMMER DOWN!!

 

[Hans81]

Hawks have a season long chip on their shoulders and win this game in front of a frenetic crowd, as their pursuit of B10 title continues.