Tell me about the NEW Big Ten | Page 12 | The Boneyard

Tell me about the NEW Big Ten

cancontent said:
Definitely, but the reliance on Williams for scoring is concerning. That will be key for them during Big 10 conference play.
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Wisconsin has a few options out there besides, Serah Williams. Carter McCray and Natalie Leuzinger can help with scoring. Defensively is where Wisconsin, like a lot of teams, struggle. I am sure they will get better as the season progresses and we move into conference play.
 
JellyBean said:
Wisconsin has a few options out there besides, Serah Williams. Carter McCray and Natalie Leuzinger can help with scoring. Defensively is where Wisconsin, like a lot of teams, struggle. I am sure they will get better as the season progresses and we move into conference play.
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They have no choice. I hope it happens as it's a shame Williams doesn't have more support.
 
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TerpWomenFan said:
MSU with a huge win at home against Iowa. Stay undefeated.
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It's looking better and better for MSU with its hire of coach Fralick after each win. Fralick appears to have brought some fresh life back to the program that had seen a downturn over the last few years (probably due in part to coach Merchant's health issues). And, the best players in the state were no longer picking MSU. If Fralick can grab Agot Takeer (#4 ranked player in the 2025 recruiting class) it
would be a huge coup for her and her team!
 
Meh...not really impressed by MSU (I have questions about their guard play) and Fralick. Let's see what they do against UCLA, Southern Cal, and Maryland.
 
WBBTakeover said:
Meh...not really impressed by MSU (I have questions about their guard play) and Fralick. Let's see what they do against UCLA, Southern Cal, and Maryland.
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Well, MSU will be more than tested in it's BIG10 schedule as the Spartans will play 6 conference games on the road against ranked teams which is more than other BIG10 team except Oregon which also plays 6. Maryland, in contrast, only has to play 2 road games this season against ranked BIG10 teams!! (AP team ranking as of today and not what the opponent was ranked when game was played). Nothing against Maryland, but they are getting off easy within the conference. The average is just under 4 road games against ranked BIG10 foes. So much for fair and balanced scheduling!!!
 
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newfrontier said:
Well, MSU will be more than tested in it's BIG10 schedule as the Spartans will play 6 conference games on the road against ranked teams which is more than other BIG10 team except Oregon which also plays 6. Maryland, in contrast, only has to play 2 road games this season against ranked BIG10 teams!! (AP team ranking as of today and not what the opponent was ranked when game was played). Nothing against Maryland, but they are getting off easy within the conference. The average is just under 4 road games against ranked BIG10 foes. So much for fair and balanced scheduling!!!
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Yeah that doesn't make sense or is fair, but it seems typical of the BIG10.
 
newfrontier said:
Well, MSU will be more than tested in it's BIG10 schedule as the Spartans will play 6 conference games on the road against ranked teams which is more than other BIG10 team except Oregon which also plays 6. Maryland, in contrast, only has to play 2 road games this season against ranked BIG10 teams!! (AP team ranking as of today and not what the opponent was ranked when game was played). Nothing against Maryland, but they are getting off easy within the conference. The average is just under 4 road games against ranked BIG10 foes. So much for fair and balanced scheduling!!!
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If Michigan State and Fralick are who you believe them to be, then they should be fine--right?

I don't see Sparty being any better than a "best of the rest" type in the Big Ten this year and for years to come.

As for Maryland's schedule, they finished behind Michigan State in the conference last season. So they probably received a lighter schedule this year based on that.
 
WBBTakeover said:
If Michigan State and Fralick are who you believe them to be, then they should be fine--right?

I don't see Sparty being any better than a "best of the rest" type in the Big Ten this year and for years to come.

As for Maryland's schedule, they finished behind Michigan State in the conference last season. So they probably received a lighter schedule this year based on that.
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You are entitled to have your own opinions about MSU, but I am not sure why you are trying to put words in mouth about my expectations for MSU + Fralick going forward. I believe Fralick et. al, will refresh the program, but I have not defined "who I believe MSU to be", other than improved. I've have expressed my hopes (as foolish and unrealistic as they may be) for MSU to get very, very lucky and sign Takeer (which, by the way, has nothing to do with my personal expectations or hopes for MSU against ranked opponents in the Big10 during the 2024-25 season...which I also have yet to define) I'll express more specific expectations and hopes for the future of MSU+Fralick in my own words and on my own timetable.
 
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newfrontier said:
You are entitled to have your own opinions about MSU, but I am not sure why you are trying to put words in mouth about my expectations for MSU + Fralick going forward. I believe Fralick et. al, will refresh the program, but I have not defined "who I believe MSU to be", other than improved. I've have expressed my hopes (as foolish and unrealistic as they may be) for MSU to get very, very lucky and sign Takeer (which, by the way, has nothing to do with my personal expectations or hopes for MSU against ranked opponents in the Big10 during the 2024-25 season...which I also have yet to define) I'll express more specific expectations and hopes for the future of MSU+Fralick in my own words and on my own timetable.
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You're exactly right. I am entitled to my opinion. My opinion is that Michigan State is no better than a "best of the rest" team and will not seriously challenge for a Big Ten title. I do not think that Fralick and their guard play is sufficient enough for them to make a serious push against the LA teams and Maryland.
 
Wisconsin receiving 15 points in the coaches poll is a surprising development. Places them 31. Wonder when the last time Wisconsin received a poll vote?
 
cancontent said:
Yeah that doesn't make sense or is fair, but it seems typical of the BIG10.
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Actually it is very atypical of BIG WBB scheduling. Before this season, the BIG had a long-standing practice of using predicted order of finish to schedule double plays, i.e. the top teams would play more double plays against other top teams, etc. It wasn’t a perfect system, and teams still ended up with the tougher schedule (e.g. Iowa the last 2 years), but schedules were not terribly unbalanced.

This year, with 18 teams and 18 game, there is only 1 double play. So the way to balance the schedule is the home-and-away allocation. The BIG dropped the ball massively here. UCLA and USC should have been split from Maryland and OSU, so teams that played 1 pair at home would play the other pair on the road. These are not only the top 4 predicted teams this year, but also likely the 4 best recruiting/talent acquisition schools in the BIG, going forward.

Instead, 5 teams in the league will play UCLA, USC, OSU & MD all at home or all on the road. This threatens to skew conference standings. MSU, MN & Illinois play these 4 teams all on the road, which is a plus for them, IMO, setting themselves up with a very favorable home schedule.

Wisconsin and Indiana get the BIG 4 at home. Seems like a real negative for Wisconsin, who will now play less winnable games at home. Impact for Indiana is less clear to me.
 
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cancontent said:
gohuskies.com

Women's Basketball - Forever 10 - Kelsey Plum

Forever 10 - Kelsey Plum for University of Washington Huskies Women's Basketball
gohuskies.com

@nwhoopfan not sure if you've seen this. I think Washington did a phenomenal job on the promotion of Plum's jersey retirement here.
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Yeah, good stuff. I got tickets to the Purdue game, my dad and uncle are coming in from out of town to watch with me.
 
BigTenGuy said:
Actually it is very atypical of BIG WBB scheduling. Before this season, the BIG had a long-standing practice of using predicted order of finish to schedule double plays, i.e. the top teams would play more double plays against other top teams, etc. It wasn’t a perfect system, and teams still ended up with the tougher schedule (e.g. Iowa the last 2 years), but schedules were not terribly unbalanced.

This year, with 18 teams and 18 game, there is only 1 double play. So the way to balance the schedule is the home-and-away allocation. The BIG dropped the ball massively here. UCLA and USC should have been split from Maryland and OSU, so teams that played 1 pair at home would play the other pair on the road. These are not only the top 4 predicted teams this year, but also likely the 4 best recruiting/talent acquisition schools in the BIG, going forward.

Instead, 5 teams in the league will play UCLA, USC, OSU & MD all at home or all on the road. This threatens to skew conference standings. MSU, MN & Illinois play these 4 teams all on the road, which is a plus for them, IMO, setting themselves up with a very favorable home schedule.

Wisconsin and Indiana get the BIG 4 at home. Seems like a real negative for Wisconsin, who will now play less winnable games at home. Impact for Indiana is less clear to me.
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But wasn't there something wonky either last season or the season prior where Indiana's schedule didn't jive with what they should have had for double plays? I recall a thread where this was discussed because they had a more favourable path to clinching the conference title because they had fewer double plays than the rest of the top 4.
 
I like how Iowa waits about 5 minutes to retire the jerseys of players when it's a no brainer. As opposed to say 8 years like they do it here in Seattle.
 
BigTenGuy said:
Wisconsin receiving 15 points in the coaches poll is a surprising development. Places them 31. Wonder when the last time Wisconsin received a poll vote?
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It has been a long time since Wisconsin has received any type of positive vibes for the WBB program. 2009 range, I think.
 
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cancontent said:
But wasn't there something wonky either last season or the season prior where Indiana's schedule didn't jive with what they should have had for double plays? I recall a thread where this was discussed because they had a more favourable path to clinching the conference title because they had fewer double plays than the rest of the top 4.
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The issue the last two years is that the league settled into a clear top 3, but the schedules were based on a predicted top 4, with each predicted top-4 team playing double plays against 2 of the other 3 predicted top 4 teams. So last year the double plays among the predicted top 4 were:

OSU double plays: Iowa, MD (OSU 16-2)
Iowa double plays: OSU, IU (15-3)
IU double plays: Iowa, MD (15-3)
MD double plays: OSU, IU (9-9, lost at home to Iowa, OSU, IU).

But Maryland cratered, so Iowa among the top 3 ended up with the short straw. The home team won every head-to-head game among the top 3, and OSU got to skip going to Bloomington, and OSU won the league by 1 game. (Same thing happened the year before when the top 3 were IU, Iowa and MD, and Iowa played IU and MD twice, but IU only played MD once. Home team won all head to heads.).


Maryland cratering hurt Iowa last year, but the scheduling design wasn’t horribly unbalanced, from the get go. This year, the 5 teams that play UCLA, USC, OSU & Maryland, either all at home, or all on the road, have obviously unbalanced schedules.
 
cancontent said:
For the Syla Swords fans. Came across this article about her father Shawn and his coaching journey, by Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. Great article and insight on one of Swords' biggest influences. Not behind a paywall from what I can tell.

www.thestar.com

A Canadian basketball coach is one step away from the NBA — after an assist from a legend

Shawn Swords, who cut his coaching teeth at Laurentian, is associate head coach of the G League’s Long Island Nets.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
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@Stagnant

Sorry for being late to the station on this one.
So, this explains how the Swords daughters ended up playing in Long Island at Long Island Lutheran (LuHi). Never understood how that one transpired.

As for the Savvy Swords/Michigan/UConn talk, I'll throw another school in the mix: Notre Dame has offered the younger Swords and she's (unofficially) visited NDs campus, probably spending time wifh LuhHi's former center, one Kate Koval, during her stay there. Both Swords sisters are all-round wings/forwards and I'm positive Coach Ivey is looking to land one to be somewhat like Sonia (Soni) Citron.
 
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Some quick hitters on Friday games involving B1G Teams:

- Alabama Hands Michigan State 1st Loss in West Palm, Fla, 82-67.
Alabama has some pretty good backcourt players in Zaay Green, Aaliyah Nye and Sarah Ashlee Barker. Kind of a SEC Utah with a lot of ball movement and shooting. Whole game got down to a 31-11 Alabama thumping in the third. MSU is well coached, but last night only Julia Ayrault and Grace VanSlooten looked top shelf.

- UCLA 70 - Creighton 41. Holy unexpected smush. What was in the locker rooms? The Bruins outscored 26-4 in the first and 20-8 in the third. And UCLA did this without Lauren Betts playing (she's another big with "soreness."). Kiki Rice is back though: 20 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 assists.

I've noticed Janiah Barker has moved into the starting lineup over Timea Gardiner, but Gardiner played more minutes last night. Angela Dugalic was the big though, with a double 13 in pts, rebounds. She's another of the Oregon transfers from that class that included Kylee Watson, Maddie Scherr, Pao Pao, etc.

- Michigan 96 - Akron 55. Expected this outcome, but I'm always interested in how Kim Barnes Arrico tinkers together a roster to stay competitive in Ann Arbor. Frosh Syla Swords had an off night, but Oliva Olsen is a frosh who seems to be a keeper. While her shooting was off (4-11), she had 6 assists. And another one of the Oregon/Oregon St. transfers -- Greta Kampschroeder -- finally had a big night: 23 points on 9-16 overall shooting and 5-9 from three. Been awhile since I've seen numbers like that from the Naperville, Ill., native.

- Smush #2. Ohio St. 84 - Stanford 59. As noted, this was on the Left Coast, too. Six Buckeyes -- all five starters and one sub -- were in double figures and only two Cardinals/Trees were in double figures. Be physical. Run on this year's Stanford.
 
Dillon77 said:
- Michigan 96 - Akron 55. Expected this outcome, but I'm always interested in how Kim Barnes Arrico tinkers together a roster to stay competitive in Ann Arbor. Frosh Syla Swords had an off night, but Oliva Olsen is a frosh who seems to be a keeper. While her shooting was off (4-11), she had 6 assists. And another one of the Oregon/Oregon St. transfers -- Greta Kampschroeder -- finally had a big night: 23 points on 9-16 overall shooting and 5-9 from three. Been awhile since I've seen numbers like that from the Naperville, Ill., native.
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KBA is always an interesting coach and how she goes about building and developing her players.
 
I hadn't been overly impressed by UCLA--until today. Yes, they were playing against [one of] the least athletic teams in the conference (coached by someone who should've been pink-slipped a long time ago, but I digress). However, they hit a gear midway through the second quarter that most teams aren't capable of hitting. They're really good! I still see some losses coming their way given how tough the conference is (and where they have mismatch issues), but they are excellent.

Shout out to Kiki Rice!
 
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