Ohio State has been impressive since their loss to Michigan. I was surprised that Michigan won that game. Yep. Ohio State was pressing. It is going to be interesting see the final few games of the Big Ten regular season.
Ohio State and Stanford might be the best teams in their leagues, but the league offices in both cases gave them the easier path to the conference championship. OSU playing IU only once, at home, is a huge break vis-a-vis both Iowa, who plays IU and OSU twice, and IU, who had to go to Columbus. And Stanford, getting single plays with the currently 3rd-6th teams in the league, Colorado, USC, UCLA, & Utah, and double plays with teams 7-12, is a real break as well.
I could be wrong, since I have not gone back to check on the schedules over the past few years, but I would be surprised if Stanford was given a "walk in the park" to the Pac-12 tournament over the past 5 years. If its path was favorable this year, perhaps that was just the "luck of the draw" this year. Feel free to rebut with the schedules from the recent seasons, since I did not go back to check and am relying on general impression, versus actual statistics.
Re Ohio State, that was a big head scratcher to me. Had assumed it was a given considering how both teams performed last season.
The BIG schedule makers predicted a top tier of OSU, Iowa, IU and Maryland, rather than a top tier of OSU, Iowa, & IU. With a 4-team top tier, you play 5 games (2 double plays, 1 single play) against the other top tier members. With a 3-team top tier, you would play double plays against both of the other top tier members. It wasn't bias to predict a top tier with Maryland in it, but it was a reasonably foreseeable (not obvious) bad prediction. A lot of BIG fans were predicting pre-season that this was finally the year Maryland was not elite, by BIG standards.
I get that, but considering how these teams battled last season, having a home and home between OSU and Indiana seemed like a better match up for viewing to me.
If the Terps win the Rutgers and Wisconsin games at home, they're in the tournament. Currently their SOS is 3rd in the country.
Very surprised by that. Would not have thought PSU was that turnover prone.
Pretty much. Ohio controls their destiny. Four games left between Ohio State, Iowa, and Indiana, who just happens to be in the mix. But I agree, Ohio State controls their destiny.
The score held up! Does this mean the jinx streak is over??!!??
That would be monumental!The score held up! Does this mean the jinx streak is over??!!??
Well we have data that your predictions don't always correlate into a jinx now. Let's see what happens for the balance of the season
They didn't explicitly say what, but she was out with a foot injury [wore a boot for a bit] that happened during a practice. She wasn't playing when I tuned into the game yesterday but I saw her face was red, so I'm sure she worked hard and was just on minutes limit.
Per the box score, she played 6 minutes which makes sense. Ease her back versus pushing too hard, especially considering it's a foot injury.
Re Illinois, no clue. Could it be like the groundhog coming out in February seeing tourney time is around the corner?
Jada Peebles went out with a knee injury, which I missed among all the other injuries in WCBB. That probably threw them off, given that Makira Cook was coming back off an injury herself. Gretchen Dolan, for a frosh, has stepped up as a sub and Camille Hobby and Kendall Bostic (how did MSU let her go?) have done good work together. Maybe, as you and the Groundhog might say, they could make a run in the latter part of the season.Re Illinois, no clue. Could it be like the groundhog coming out in February seeing tourney time is around the corner?
The Valladay injury was huge for PSU. Valladay had played great in conference play. They have been poor since she went out.
Good intel, thanks. Is she out for the year?
Yes she is unfortunately. No insight on her eligibility however.
This was year 5 for her. Don’t know if she has a 6th year of eligibility.
Losing Braun really hurt their momentum. Based on how things were going, Gopher fans should be excited about the future potential of this program.
Braun is still due to back this season I read, unless this has changed?