It gets a little tougher......

[SCBoiler1]

I hadn't checked the standings in awhile, but I just noticed that 7 out of our 11 B1G wins have come against the worst 4 teams. Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Penn State 2, and Ohio State. In fact we're only 2 and 2 against teams in the top half of the league.

We're good enough to beat anyone in the country but we've really ended up having a favorable schedule up until now.

Five our last 7 games are against upper division teams. I think we'll win them all (maybe lose one or two) but it should be a good gauge on how ready we are for the tournament,

 

[rgarlitz]

I hadn't checked the standings in awhile, but I just noticed that 7 out of our 11 B1G wins have come against the worst 4 teams. Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Penn State 2, and Ohio State. In fact we're only 2 and 2 against teams in the top half of the league.

We're good enough to beat anyone in the country but we've really ended up having a favorable schedule up until now.

Five our last 7 games are against upper division teams. I think we'll win them all (maybe lose one or two) but it should be a good gauge on how ready we are for the tournament,

Yeah, a few others have noted this as well. The back half of Purdue's B1G schedule has more home games but tougher opponents. We'll see how it plays out. I'm confident this team can handle it. It starts with taking care of Iowa tonight.

 

[New Pal Boiler]

I hadn't checked the standings in awhile, but I just noticed that 7 out of our 11 B1G wins have come against the worst 4 teams. Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Penn State 2, and Ohio State. In fact we're only 2 and 2 against teams in the top half of the league.

We're good enough to beat anyone in the country but we've really ended up having a favorable schedule up until now.

Five our last 7 games are against upper division teams. I think we'll win them all (maybe lose one or two) but it should be a good gauge on how ready we are for the tournament,

I think we’re only 1-2 against the top 7 teams of the conference: beat Michigan, lost to IU and Rutgers. Haven’t played Iowa, Illinois or Northwestern.

 

[FirstDownB]

One could say that teams like Illinois, Iowa, and Northwestern are in the top half of the standings in part because they haven't had to play Purdue. Michigan St could easily be in in 2nd place right now if they had played Minnesota and Nebraska instead of Purdue 2x. Most of the conference is a giant cluster.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Must be nice. I'd say Indiana has the toughest schedule left.
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Illinois
At Michigan State
At Purdue
Iowa
Michigan

But for whatever reason, ESPN has them going 6-1 over that span which I believe would be an absolute miracle. I never had Indiana winning the B1G because of their schedule and considering teams like Purdue and Illinois had WAY easier schedules. But that's the Big Ten for ya.

 

[DrEss]

I’ll take going 4-0 vs MSU, UM and OSU every year no matter when we play them. Sometimes it is when you catch teams. Those that played IU, Iowa and Illinois earlier benefited at bit as well.

 

[Gemini95]

PSU has been and still is an NCAA bubble team. That they are currently "bottom 4" is arbitrary and pretty meaningless. And @MSU was as tough a game as any of the remaining games. Doesn't mean we will win them all but as was said above most of the conference is a cluster... a 2 game winning or losing streak away from 2nd or 11th place.

 

[depthcharge623]

Must be nice. I'd say Indiana has the toughest schedule left.
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Illinois
At Michigan State
At Purdue
Iowa
Michigan

But for whatever reason, ESPN has them going 6-1 over that span which I believe would be an absolute miracle. I never had Indiana winning the B1G because of their schedule and considering teams like Purdue and Illinois had WAY easier schedules. But that's the Big Ten for ya.

It would have been kind of hard to compare pre-conference since you had teams like OSU who were ranked going in and dropped like a rock. In retrospect I think we can accurately compare, but it was kind of a crap shoot going in.

 

[mathboy]

Must be nice. I'd say Indiana has the toughest schedule left.
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Illinois
At Michigan State
At Purdue
Iowa
Michigan

But for whatever reason, ESPN has them going 6-1 over that span which I believe would be an absolute miracle. I never had Indiana winning the B1G because of their schedule and considering teams like Purdue and Illinois had WAY easier schedules. But that's the Big Ten for ya.

That does not look too tough. You just beat MSU, but I guess you could struggle at MSU. Northwestern is a paper tiger. Illinois at assembly hall should be an easy victory the way IU plays defense. IU vs Michigan will be the only untested match up, and I think IU is well position to beat then twice. At Purdue will be your toughest test, but considering the way IU dominated the first half of the first game, you have a punchers chance to win there too.

I think 5-2 over the last 7 would be an easy goal to reach considering how well IU is playing right now.

 

[rgarlitz]

And fully healthy Wisconsin could still make a late push. They shot really well from 3 in picking up a plucky OT road win @ PSU last night. That trip to Madison wasn't looking so tough a week ago.

 

[Middawg]

The rest of the Big Ten is well aware of the Boilers very easy schedule. Lucky break I suppose.

Adding more schools to the Big Ten in the near future will further diminish the accomplishment of finishing first in the regular season. Does anyone believe Clemson is a better team than Virginia in the ACC this season?

Teams finishing first in the standings with these unbalanced schedules should be given an asterisk to differentiate them from the true champions that faced every opponent twice.

 

[HoosierTim]

Adding more schools to the Big Ten in the near future will further diminish the accomplishment of finishing first in the regular season. Does anyone believe Clemson is a better team than Virginia in the ACC this season?

No probably not but Miami is the best team in that conference any way.

 

[Dryfly88]

The rest of the Big Ten is well aware of the Boilers very easy schedule. Lucky break I suppose.

Adding more schools to the Big Ten in the near future will further diminish the accomplishment of finishing first in the regular season. Does anyone believe Clemson is a better team than Virginia in the ACC this season?

Teams finishing first in the standings with these unbalanced schedules should be given an asterisk to differentiate them from the true champions that faced every opponent twice.

I agree with you that the unbalanced schedules takes away from the regular season title and the reason I didn't want us adding more schools. That said, I think you'd have a hard time finding anyone outside of Bloomington that would say PU isn't the best team in the conference this year.

 

[depthcharge623]

I agree with you that the unbalanced schedules takes away from the regular season title and the reason I didn't want us adding more schools. That said, I think you'd have a hard time finding anyone outside of Bloomington that would say PU isn't the best team in the conference this year.

Right. If you wanted to make an argument that IU or maybe even Iowa is playing better *right now* than Purdue, then that would be one thing (still probably wrong imho, but at least not absurd).

But the conference title goes to the best team throughout the B1G season, and Purdue was firing on all cylinders early while IU and Iowa were floundering, trying to figure things out. That’s not schedule, thats players, coaching, personnel, etc. Our team came into the B1G season ready to play, and theirs did not. Not much more you can say about that…

 

[PaBoiler78]

I hadn't checked the standings in awhile, but I just noticed that 7 out of our 11 B1G wins have come against the worst 4 teams. Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Penn State 2, and Ohio State. In fact we're only 2 and 2 against teams in the top half of the league.

We're good enough to beat anyone in the country but we've really ended up having a favorable schedule up until now.

Five our last 7 games are against upper division teams. I think we'll win them all (maybe lose one or two) but it should be a good gauge on how ready we are for the tournament,

this was my whole premise on that total prediction thread a couple of weeks ago, I said def 2 losses at iu and Maryland and it wouldn't be a surprise to see a 3rd

 

[boilernuke]

I hadn't checked the standings in awhile, but I just noticed that 7 out of our 11 B1G wins have come against the worst 4 teams. Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Penn State 2, and Ohio State. In fact we're only 2 and 2 against teams in the top half of the league.

We're good enough to beat anyone in the country but we've really ended up having a favorable schedule up until now.

Five our last 7 games are against upper division teams. I think we'll win them all (maybe lose one or two) but it should be a good gauge on how ready we are for the tournament,

There are 6 teams with 5 BIG losses, Purdue plays 4 of them in this final stretch and 3 are at home. With a 3 game cushion, losing the BIG title is not a concern, but I agree maintaining that overall #1 seed would be nice for the ncaat. Will be a lot of fun watching the Boilers as it has been so far.

 

[ChoiceBeef]

Well you can also look at predictions for how the season might have played out for all of our games up to this point.

OSU was top 25 when we played - they are a disaster now. Illinois, Michigan & MSU were ranked at one point this year.

 

[rgarlitz]

Must be nice. I'd say Indiana has the toughest schedule left.
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Illinois
At Michigan State
At Purdue
Iowa
Michigan

But for whatever reason, ESPN has them going 6-1 over that span which I believe would be an absolute miracle. I never had Indiana winning the B1G because of their schedule and considering teams like Purdue and Illinois had WAY easier schedules. But that's the Big Ten for ya.

Come on...
Purdue's already played @ Michigan. Purdue will play @ Northwestern this weekend. Purdue will play Illinois to close out the regular season. Purdue has already played @ MSU and @ Indiana. Purdue played Iowa last night. The only difference here is that home game against Michigan.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Come on...
Purdue's already played @ Michigan. Purdue will play @ Northwestern this weekend. Purdue will play Illinois to close out the regular season. Purdue has already played @ MSU and @ Indiana. Purdue played Iowa last night. The only difference here is that home game against Michigan.

Lol. You really wanna compare schedules? They aren't even. By any means.

 

[BoilerJS]

Lol. You really wanna compare schedules? They aren't even. By any means.

I couldn't agree more.
If last years team had this years schedule they win the BIG.
If this years team had last years schedule they would win the BIG.
These what if games are fun!!

 

[IMSKRONG]

I couldn't agree more.
If last years team had this years schedule they win the BIG.
If this years team had last years schedule they would win the BIG.
These what if games are fun!!

It is definitely great timing to have a good team.

 

[lovelyblonde]

Must be nice. I'd say Indiana has the toughest schedule left.
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Illinois
At Michigan State
At Purdue
Iowa
Michigan

But for whatever reason, ESPN has them going 6-1 over that span which I believe would be an absolute miracle. I never had Indiana winning the B1G because of their schedule and considering teams like Purdue and Illinois had WAY easier schedules. But that's the Big Ten for ya.

You wouldn't of known it was necessarily "easier" until half of these games are played out, because who had Northwestern as one of the better teams in the big 10?

 

[IMSKRONG]

You wouldn't of known it was necessarily "easier" until half of these games are played out, because who had Northwestern as one of the better teams in the big 10?

Indiana already projected with one of the toughest schedules while Purdue and and Illinois had two of the weakest. Northwestern and Ohio State basically swapped. Michigan is something no one can explain.

 

[lovelyblonde]

Indiana already projected with one of the toughest schedules while Purdue and and Illinois had two of the weakest. Northwestern and Ohio State basically swapped. Michigan is something no one can explain.

Well ya know Indiana just had an easier schedule last season. They got most of the weak teams twice and the tougher teams they always played once or at home for most of the big ten. IT seems it's jammed in the middle with several teams tied right now, so I don't really think your assessment is right.

 

[Schmedly_Whiplash]

The rest of the Big Ten is well aware of the Boilers very easy schedule. Lucky break I suppose.

Adding more schools to the Big Ten in the near future will further diminish the accomplishment of finishing first in the regular season. Does anyone believe Clemson is a better team than Virginia in the ACC this season?

Teams finishing first in the standings with these unbalanced schedules should be given an asterisk to differentiate them from the true champions that faced every opponent twice.

said the bitter loosier

 

[rsomm]

Indiana already projected with one of the toughest schedules while Purdue and and Illinois had two of the weakest. Northwestern and Ohio State basically swapped. Michigan is something no one can explain.

Congrats! The real reason IU probably won't win the BT is because they get out of ASS Hall they have trouble winning! They are 2-4 with butt smackings at Penn St, Rutgers and Maryland, and choked away a 21 point lead at IOWA! Hell Northwestern has won 5 games on the road!

 

[IMSKRONG]

Congrats! The real reason IU probably won't win the BT is because they get out of ASS Hall they have trouble winning! They are 2-4 with butt smackings at Penn St, Rutgers and Maryland, and choked away a 21 point lead at IOWA! Hell Northwestern has won 5 games on the road!

Cool bro. Yea they struggled at the beginning of the year. They happens.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Congrats! The real reason IU probably won't win the BT is because they get out of ASS Hall they have trouble winning! They are 2-4 with butt smackings at Penn St, Rutgers and Maryland, and choked away a 21 point lead at IOWA! Hell Northwestern has won 5 games on the road!

And you do know that Indiana has two road wins better than any of Purdues right?

 

[lovelyblonde]

Cool bro. Yea they struggled at the beginning of the year. They happens.

Maryland and Minnesota were not that long ago. People forget because you had two home wins more recent.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Maryland and Minnesota were not that long ago. People forget because you had two home wins more recent.

Yup. Won at Minnesota so oh well. And I believe Maryland has only lost once at home so.

 

[purduedavie]

Indiana already projected with one of the toughest schedules while Purdue and and Illinois had two of the weakest. Northwestern and Ohio State basically swapped. Michigan is something no one can explain.

That’s the luck of the draw, Purdue is 3.5 games ahead, maybe Purdue has 1 more loss at this moment if they had IU’s schedule.

 

[IMSKRONG]

That’s the luck of the draw, Purdue is 3.5 games ahead, maybe Purdue has 1 more loss at this moment if they had IU’s schedule.

Maybe? It's hard to say. Big Ten better figure it's crap out eventually because they are screwing themselves over.

 

[lovelyblonde]

Yup. Won at Minnesota so oh well. And I believe Maryland has only lost once at home so.

Well this does factor in if Iu has trouble on the road, which they have. Minnesota was Totally depleted in that game and iu barely won. We have so many fan bases pointing out Purdues close games, so why can't we point out iu's struggles on the road? Michigan is not a "great" team, so we will see how iu does against them this weekend.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Well this does factor in if Iu has trouble on the road, which they have. Minnesota was Totally depleted in that game and iu barely won. We have so many fan bases pointing out Purdues close games, so why can't we point out iu's struggles on the road? Michigan is not a "great" team, so we will see how iu does against them this weekend.

Cool. They also beat Xavier and whooped Illinois on the road. Things happen. Purdue whooped Minnesota on the road and then lost to Rutgers at Mackey. Sh!t happens. Greatness of college basketball.

 

[rsomm]

Maybe? It's hard to say. Big Ten better figure it's crap out eventually because they are screwing themselves over.

Nobody is getting screwed! Give me a break, the schedule came out at the beginning of the season, nobody was complaining because nobody knew what would happen, in fact everyone was patting the IU team on the back as the team to beat! It still comes down to winning! PERIOD!

 

[Gemini95]

Lil boo boo still in here crying for attention? Lol. What a loser.

 

[IMSKRONG]

Nobody is getting screwed! Give me a break, the schedule came out at the beginning of the season, nobody was complaining because nobody knew what would happen, in fact everyone was patting the IU team on the back as the team to beat! It still comes down to winning! PERIOD!

Of course Purdue fans weren't complaining.

 

[SCBoiler1]

The rest of the Big Ten is well aware of the Boilers very easy schedule. Lucky break I suppose.

Adding more schools to the Big Ten in the near future will further diminish the accomplishment of finishing first in the regular season. Does anyone believe Clemson is a better team than Virginia in the ACC this season?

Teams finishing first in the standings with these unbalanced schedules should be given an asterisk to differentiate them from the true champions that faced every opponent twice.

Purdue is so superior to the other B1G teams it wouldn't matter if they only played the top 8 teams twice. So may teams like Iowa trying to guard Edey with guys that are 8 inches shorter than him! Its not a mystery why Edey and Furst combined for 24 rebounds.

 

[buffboiler]

I think 5-2 over the last 7 would be an easy goal to reach considering how well IU is playing right now.

But, but, but..

IU has had a throw away game to build up a win against Purdue at home.
The case in point was the Maryland game. (from their fanbase)

They may lose all games leading upto Purdue,
only to get spanked, with no calls going their way like home.

Boiler Up!!

 

[boilernuke]

I seem to remember some other BIG teams winning the BIG with favorable schedules as well. There is imbalance, yes, which none of us like, but you play the games assigned. Looking at the entire season played to date (not just BIG), kenpom shows Purdue at 32nd ranked SOS and iu 27th. Pretty close.