BIG TEN Regular Season | Page 5 | The Boneyard

BIG TEN Regular Season

cancontent said:
Yes, they will be a handful, but I believe Indiana has more balance as a team in comparison to Iowa. Holmes and Czinano, cancel each other out, unless one gets into foul trouble. I think Indiana's guards also have an advantage over Iowa when you look at Garzon, Moore-McNeil and Scalia coming off the bench. The defensive match ups will be very entertaining.
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Last year, IU was a good team that just ran into UConn at the wrong moment. They looked ready for the Elite Eight. But the crazy seeding because of Paige’s injury had us as a #2 and IU suffered for it. Could they have won against NC St or ND? Maybe.

This year, they look like a better team. Holmes is a bit stronger and maybe even more dominant and they're overall bigger across the backcourt. They also have better perimeter shooting. But they retain their scrappy hustling team spirit. I don’t think this team would have beaten last year’s UConn team either, but it wouldn’t be fair for them to meet us (healthy) in the Sweet Sixteen again. They should be a #1 seed who plays someone like LSU or Utah or UCLA in the Elite Eight, and they’ll have an excellent chance of advancing.
 
TerpWomenFan said:
Also, have to mention the great victory by Purdue over Illinois. Very big for them. The Big 10 at this time have 7 teams clearly in the tournament.
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No doubt there is some great basketball being played in the Big10 this year but maybe on Jan27 the Big10 has 7, but by the end of the year only 6 will clearly be "in" the NCAAT-Indiana, tOSU, Iowa, Maryland, Mich and Nebraska. The currently slipping fast Illinois has 8 games left and are only favored in 3 including Sunday's game @ Rutgers which is essentially a toss up (66-63). A 19-10 Illinois and a >#51 rating will leave them on the outside.

What has to be considered for the field of 68 is the 32 Conference bids, meaning only 36 at large bids can be accepted and if any of the mid-Majors have an upset that gives away one of the 32, that lessens spots for teams like Illinois. The current cutoff point in Massey Rating would be any school with a rating of >46 is out.

Math is simple- There are 10 conferences whose top team fits easily in the top 50. That means 22 additional bids for Automatic qualifiers fall outside of the top 46. 68 total teams minus 32 AQs=36. 36 remaining bids plus the 10 AQ =46 top rating school will qualify. By Massey #46 is Missouri, who would be in, but #47 Columbia would be out.

Now the "Bracketology" uses combos of NET, RPI, playing trend, injuries and conjecture/subjective posturing by the committee which is ruled by the P5 so maybe Illinois gets in if they can maintain their #51 rating. But that is not "clearly".
 
cancontent said:
Michigan is a perplexing team. There turnover issue drives me batty as they're usually due to overdribbling or panicking. For the number of articles talking about how they've built a culture and have improved since Naz graduated, I don't see it when I see a game like this.
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I'm with u on Michigan. I've watched them a lot and they are pretty up and down. I'm big on Leigha Brown but I wonder if playing point guard takes a toll on her, no different from last year for Stanford we saw increased turnovers for Haley Jones. Yesterday her and the rest of the team seemed to continuously pick up there dribble and force passes.
But big credit to Maryland. I don't think they get enough love for how well they played this season. A top 4 seed is definitely attainable and I didn't expect that with their losses in the portal and lack of size. They've pretty much been in every game and they still have a bit of upside. Sellers ceiling is through the roof and Briggs and Faith are only getting better as the season goes on.
 
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jdote33 said:
I'm with u on Michigan. I've watched them a lot and they are pretty up and down. I'm big on Leigha Brown but I wonder if playing point guard takes a toll on her, no different from last year for Stanford we saw increased turnovers for Haley Yesterday her and the rest of the team seemed to continuously pick up there dribble and forcr passes.
But big credit to Maryland. I don't think they get enough love for how well they played this season. A top 4 seed is definitely attainable and I didn't expect that with their losses in the portal and lack of size. They've pretty much been in every game and they still have a bit of upside. Sellers ceiling is through the roof and Briggs and Faith are only getting better as the season goes on.
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Here are my thoughts:

1) Michigan Guards: The guard position has been an issue for some time. Dilk was expected to pair well with Hillmon but something happened after her injury. She wasn't the same player. Rauch (now graduated) and Nolan are serviceable, however they're prone to defensive lapses and going cold when they need to score. They added Phelia and Wiggins last year, however Wiggins hasn't caught on for whatever reason. Phelia, in my opinion, should have been given more opportunities as point guard last season to be prepared for this season.

2) Leigha Brown: I don't think playing point guard is the issue. Brown was also turnover prone last season from what I recall. To me, her motor/energy is what takes a toll on her. She tries to do more than required which gets the best of her. She can handle a point guard role, as seen with her 15 assists in a recent game. Finding the right balance is the challenge.

3) Maryland: I think it's because the BIG10 is more of a slugfest at the top than previous seasons. The conference is having their best season with respect to ranked teams, where it used to be Maryland, then everyone else. And even with the transfers out, the expectation was that Maryland would remain on of the top teams in the BIG10. This isn't new to the program.
 
TerpWomenFan said:
Also, have to mention the great victory by Purdue over Illinois. Very big for them. The Big 10 at this time have 7 teams clearly in the tournament.
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Yeah, that was a huge win for Purdue over Illinois. I can see a strong six getting into the tournament. Possibly seven or eight teams. A lot just depends on the rest of the season and how teams do in the Big Ten tournament.
 
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TerpWomenFan said:
Terps pulls it out thanks to 24 Michigan turnovers and a great performance by Diamond Miller.
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Michigan looked rough against Maryland. Maryland's press just took Michigan apart and they never recovered. Great win for Maryland. Not sure what is up with Michigan.
 
cancontent said:
Michigan is a perplexing team. There turnover issue drives me batty as they're usually due to overdribbling or panicking. For the number of articles talking about how they've built a culture and have improved since Naz graduated, I don't see it when I see a game like this.
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Yeah, those articles are slightly misleading. I think the program is still trying to find their true identity and the culture is still developing. They have talent on the Michigan roster. They just have to believe that they can do it as a unit.
 
cancontent said:
Here are my thoughts:

1) Michigan Guards: The guard position has been an issue for some time. Dilk was expected to pair well with Hillmon but something happened after her injury. She wasn't the same player. Rauch (now graduated) and Nolan are serviceable, however they're prone to defensive lapses and going cold when they need to score. They added Phelia and Wiggins last year, however Wiggins hasn't caught on for whatever reason. Phelia, in my opinion, should have been given more opportunities as point guard last season to be prepared for this season.

2) Leigha Brown: I don't think playing point guard is the issue. Brown was also turnover prone last season from what I recall. To me, her motor/energy is what takes a toll on her. She tries to do more than required which gets the best of her. She can handle a point guard role, as seen with her 15 assists in a recent game. Finding the right balance is the challenge.

3) Maryland: I think it's because the BIG10 is more of a slugfest at the top than previous seasons. The conference is having their best season with respect to ranked teams, where it used to be Maryland, then everyone else. And even with the transfers out, the expectation was that Maryland would remain on of the top teams in the BIG10. This isn't new to the program.
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Per #1, Michelle Sidor was asked to switch over from shooting guard to point guard this season and was working on it, according to multiple write-ups and posts I've read. Then, she promptly got injured. Don't know if she would've done well enough to start, but even offering some degree of relief to Brown would've helped.

I agree with you that Brown sometimes tries to be all things to all people and it catches up to her. Barnes Arico needs to work with her on that and the checklist could vary depending on the opponent.

This Maryland team has a little bit of McGuff's OSU in them: rather than stuff it with offensive stars, there are some good team fits that might make the whole better, starting with Faith Masounius. BTW, she played with Mabrey's growing up, so she knows something about getting along with A-types!
 
If Michigan was in a bit of slump, playing Minny was the obvious antidote for that. Put a major hurtin' on the Gophers today.
 
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Apologies if this has been discussed already, but the Big 10 sure has back-loaded its schedule for games between the conference's top teams. Should make for an exciting February.

Indiana: Iowa (2/9), Ohio State (2/13), Michigan (2/16), @Iowa (2/26)
Iowa: Maryland (2/2), @Indiana (2/9), @ Maryland (2/21), Indiana (2/26)
Ohio State: @ Maryland (2/5), Indiana (2/13), @Michigan (2/20), Maryland (2/24)
Maryland: @Iowa (2/2), Ohio State (2/5), Iowa (2/21), @Ohio State (2/24)
 
UConnCat said:
Apologies if this has been discussed already, but the Big 10 sure has back-loaded its schedule for games between the conference's top teams. Should make for an exciting February.

Indiana: Iowa (2/9), Ohio State (2/13), Michigan (2/16), @Iowa (2/26)
Iowa: Maryland (2/2), @Indiana (2/9), @ Maryland (2/21), Indiana (2/26)
Ohio State: @ Maryland (2/5), Indiana (2/13), @Michigan (2/20), Maryland (2/24)
Maryland: @Iowa (2/2), Ohio State (2/5), Iowa (2/21), @Ohio State (2/24)
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Just got lucky that things worked out so February will be some exciting basketball for the Big Ten and its fans.
 
JellyBean said:
Just got lucky that things worked out so February will be some exciting basketball for the Big Ten and its fans.
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I don't know about luck. Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland and Michigan were preseason #1 through #5 as picked by the Big 10 coaches. Seems the schedulers knew exactly what they were doing.
 
UConnCat said:
I don't know about luck. Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland and Michigan were preseason #1 through #5 as picked by the Big 10 coaches. Seems the schedulers knew exactly what they were doing.
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100%, they know casual fan interest peaks at the end of the season and they want good games for TV for that reason. It was the same way last year with 5 of Iowa's last 7 games being against Maryland, Indiana x2, and Michigan x2. Iowa @ Rutgers would have also been an exciting game during that stretch, but that game was scheduled before it was known just how bad of a dumpster fire Rutgers was gonna shape up to be last season.
 
undersized said:
100%, they know casual fan interest peaks at the end of the season and they want good games for TV for that reason. It was the same way last year with 5 of Iowa's last 7 games being against Maryland, Indiana x2, and Michigan x2. Iowa @ Rutgers would have also been an exciting game during that stretch, but that game was scheduled before it was known just how bad of a dumpster fire Rutgers was gonna shape up to be last season.
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Good national ESPN game Thursday with Maryland at Iowa in a Top 10 matchup. Brenda seems to have her house in order again after all of the roster turmoil. Should be another big crowd on hand in IC, they have really been turning out for these big matchups the last couple of years.
 
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ISUnorth said:
Good national ESPN game Thursday with Maryland at Iowa in a Top 10 matchup. Brenda seems to have her house in order again after all of the roster turmoil. Should be another big crowd on hand in IC, they have really been turning out for these big matchups the last couple of years.
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Sellers is going to need to reign herself in a bit for this one. She can't afford to get into foul trouble in this game for Maryland to win in my opinion. If she's guarding Clark, Clark will look to take advantage of her aggressiveness.
 
cancontent said:
Sellers is going to need to reign herself in a bit for this one. She can't afford to get into foul trouble in this game for Maryland to win in my opinion. If she's guarding Clark, Clark will look to take advantage of her aggressiveness.
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Both Sellers and Miller can't get into foul trouble. Especially Miller. The winner of the game probably will not be decided between Miller, Sellers, Czinano or Clark (but Clark could explode for 40 points, Czinano too because the Terps have NO inside presence). I think the secondary players will decide this game. Myers, Briggs and Alexander could be huge for the Terps.
 
TerpWomenFan said:
Both Sellers and Miller can't get into foul trouble. Especially Miller. The winner of the game probably will not be decided between Miller, Sellers, Czinano or Clark (but Clark could explode for 40 points, Czinano too because the Terps have NO inside presence). I think the secondary players will decide this game. Myers, Briggs and Alexander could be huge for the Terps.
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One thing about inside presence and Czinano. It could be an issue, but Iowa has the same challenge with Czinano and players who are more athletic than her.

A few aggressive drives that turn into fouls could put her on the bench for extended periods of time. Stuelke has been good coming off the bench as well, however I think Maryland can manage if Czinano gets into foul trouble.
 
Phelia is out for the Michigan - Illinois game tonight. Lower leg injury is being reported. That's all that has been put out to Big 10 media.
 
Well, the 13,000 Iowa Hawkeye fans in Carver got their money's worth tonight with Clark and Czinano combining for 70 points to take down #6 Maryland 96-82. Same for the nation viewers on ESPN.

Rival or not (Iowa State alumni here) Iowa is pretty fun to watch when they are clicking like that.
 
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Michigan gets the nice win over Illinois. Leigha Brown had a pretty solid game tonight. Jordan Hobbs stepped in and played some decent ball out there.
 
JellyBean said:
Michigan gets the nice win over Illinois. Leigha Brown had a pretty solid game tonight. Jordan Hobbs stepped in and played some decent ball out there.
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Watched that game. Illinois was dumbfounded by the zone defence Michigan ran last night. Found it somewhat surprising. Their guards a crazy creative when driving to the basket. They figured out how to attack the gaps too late to help them stay in the game.
 
Question for the Hawk fans here. What's the deal with Gabby Marshall? She's struggled all year long from three, shooting 24%. That shot was sort of her jam her first three years. Is this related to injury? I seem to recall her having a shoulder injury last season.
 
cancontent said:
Watched that game. Illinois was dumbfounded by the zone defence Michigan ran last night. Found it somewhat surprising. Their guards a crazy creative when driving to the basket. They figured out how to attack the gaps too late to help them stay in the game.
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Yeah, it was an interesting game. From the play of both teams. I am sure Illinois has some plays to handle zones. I was impressed with Michigan and their shooting. This was one of their better shooting games.
 
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