Tell me about the NEW Big Ten

[packwrap]

5 to go for Iowa including tOSU, UCLA and Michigan. I've followed them closely this season. Olson had a slump during the losing streak, but has played great in past 2 v USC and NE. (60 points). Could still end up 9-9 in conference.

With nice development of freshmen, they now go 9 deep. Freshman Guyton is a quick guard in KK Arnold mode. Guyton can be paired next year with recruit Addie Deal to make a solid young backcourt. Stuelke back next year too as senior post. Add in a couple returning shooters, and they will have a similar team to current.

 

[cancontent]

5 to go for Iowa including tOSU, UCLA and Michigan. I've followed them closely this season. Olson had a slump during the losing streak, but has played great in past 2 v USC and NE. (60 points). Could still end up 9-9 in conference.

With nice development of freshmen, they now go 9 deep. Freshman Guyton is a quick guard in KK Arnold mode. Guyton can be paired next year with recruit Addie Deal to make a solid young backcourt. Stuelke back next year too as senior post. Add in a couple returning shooters, and they will have a similar team to current.

Exactly. So for those on the Iowa board saying Jensen can't coach, they need to "touch some grass" as they say. It's not that I'm a huge Iowa fan but man, give Coach Jensen a chance to get settled into her role and let's see how things play out. She hasn't been a head coach for a full season, let alone a few years.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Michigan St. thumped Wisconsin by 20.

Purdue over Northwestern by 15. With several recent games between them, bottom 5 of the Big 10 are now 8-57 in conference.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Michigan outscored Indiana 31-21 in Q4 for the come from behind win 70-67. Could we be seeing a little bit of separation among that huge blob in the middle of the B1G standings?

 

[BigTenGuy]

Exactly. So for those on the Iowa board saying Jensen can't coach, they need to "touch some grass" as they say. It's not that I'm a huge Iowa fan but man, give Coach Jensen a chance to get settled into her role and let's see how things play out. She hasn't been a head coach for a full season, let alone a few years.

Agree with you on Iowa fans needing to give Jensen a chance to settle into the job. Still, among the biggest criticisms of Jensen was her insistence in trying to play Stuelke at the 4, and pairing her with O’Grady at the 5. Iowa has played better after Stuelke was moved back to the 5, and the general abandonment of the combined pairing of O’Grady and Stuelke.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Washington led almost the whole game, but Oregon takes the lead at :12 seconds left and wins 68-67. Washington had a last shot and it was taken by a bench player, Coppinger, who had taken...zero shots this game prior to that. What?! Are you kidding me?

Fire Langley! 5-8 in conference, going absolutely nowhere.

 

[cancontent]

Agree with you on Iowa fans needing to give Jensen a chance to settle into the job. Still, among the biggest criticisms of Jensen was her insistence in trying to play Stuelke at the 4, and pairing her with O’Grady at the 5. Iowa has played better after Stuelke was moved back to the 5, and the general abandonment of the combined pairing of O’Grady and Stuelke.

Had no problem with Iowa trying to see how Stuelke would do at the 4. Considering her size and the challenges tweeners have at the pro level, it made sense to me. Obviously it wasn't working and they adjusted accordingly.

My only hope is that Stuelke continues to work on stretching her game if she has hopes of the WNBA, or that she works her tail off like Naz Hillmon to carve out a role if she gets drafted.

 

[cancontent]

Michigan outscored Indiana 31-21 in Q4 for the come from behind win 70-67. Could we be seeing a little bit of separation among that huge blob in the middle of the B1G standings?

Possibly, which destroys my whole chaos enjoyment .

Should know for sure after next week. There still are teams who haven't faced each other yet this season.

 

[BigTenGuy]

Had no problem with Iowa trying to see how Stuelke would do at the 4. Considering her size and the challenges tweeners have at the pro level, it made sense to me. Obviously it wasn't working and they adjusted accordingly.

My only hope is that Stuelke continues to work on stretching her game if she has hopes of the WNBA, or that she works her tail off like Naz Hillmon to carve out a role if she gets drafted.

Stuelke to the 4 is a good idea that had no hope of succeeding this season. Stuelke’s off-season knee surgery kept her from practicing last summer. There are no stories about her getting x-hundred shots up a day in the summer because it didn’t happen.

The idea that Stuelke was going to become a threat from 3 or the mid-range during her third season was doomed from the beginning this season. Per Bart Torvik, Hannah is 7-29 from Far 2 this season (.241) and 2-17 from 3 (.118). These numbers come as no surprise. Her presence on the floor at the 4 killed the offense. Jensen finally abandoned the Stuelke-to-the-4 experiment in game 18. Better late than never, but not sure I would call that adjusting accordingly.

Iowa would like to think that its raised profile is going to allow it to become (remain) a top 15 program, where Sweet 16s are a common occurrence. An earlier pivot by Jensen may very well have allowed Iowa to get to something like a 6 seed this season, where a Sweet 16 is a more viable opportunity than what Iowa will now face, assuming it makes the tournament. A missed opportunity.

 

[Floridaduck]

Oregon reaching a remarkable mark in first Big Ten season. With last night's one point win at home over the Washington Huskies the Oregon Ducks have moved into the Big 10 First Division (8th) with 8-6 league record (17-8 overall).

So what is remarkable? This is the worst shooting team I've ever followed. A study in frustration. 17th in League overall shooting percentage and dead last (18th in 3 point percentage). Despite all this, they may get to 20 wins and an NCAA bid. Three (maybe) winnable road games remaining (Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington) and a relative gimme at home vs Rutgers.
Kind of amazing. On the rare occasions they do shoot well (plus 40% and 40%) they can be formidable, ie, road win against Michigan State.

 

[YoDore]

Oregon reaching a remarkable mark in first Big Ten season. With last night's one point win at home over the Washington Huskies the Oregon Ducks have moved into the Big 10 First Division (8th) with 8-6 league record (17-8 overall).

So what is remarkable? This is the worst shooting team I've ever followed. A study in frustration. 17th in League overall shooting percentage and dead last (18th in 3 point percentage). Despite all this, they may get to 20 wins and an NCAA bid. Three (maybe) winnable road games remaining (Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington) and a relative gimme at home vs Rutgers.
Kind of amazing. On the rare occasions they do shoot well (plus 40% and 40%) they can be formidable, ie, road win against Michigan State.

I do believe Kelly Graves got the Mark Twain treatment last season. Rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I do believe Kelly Graves got the Mark Twain treatment last season. Rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

I'd say he's had a really nice bounce back, but criticism last year was fully deserved, they were awful. The year before that wasn't good either. The trend definitely has not been good ever since Sabrina and Co. left. It wasn't lack of talent either, but for whatever reason the pieces never seemed to fit and he kept losing outgoing transfers at an alarming rate.

 

[JellyBean]

Minnesota gave Ohio State a nice run. Well done, Gophers!! Even though we lost. Ohio State had to earn that win. No easy wins anymore when you are playing Minnesota!!

 

[BigTenGuy]

Minnesota gave Ohio State a nice run. Well done, Gophers!! Even though we lost. Ohio State had to earn that win. No easy wins anymore when you are playing Minnesota!!

Ohio State is a 1-trick offensive pony: scoring off the press. Otherwise a mediocre offensive team. In league play, OSU is 13th in eFG%, 16th in 3P%, and 16th in ORB%. Ohio State is also a bad defensive rebounding team, 17th in the league. Not a recipe for NCAA tourney success.

 

[cancontent]

Ohio State is a 1-trick offensive pony: scoring off the press. Otherwise a mediocre offensive team. In league play, OSU is 13th in eFG%, 16th in 3P%, and 16th in ORB%. Ohio State is also a bad defensive rebounding team, 17th in the league. Not a recipe for NCAA tourney success.

Yikes. Just yikes. Need to go back and review previous years. Initial gut feel is that some of the drop off in some areas could be due to losing players like Mikesell and Sheldon.

 

[JellyBean]

I am excited to attend the Minnesota/Oregon game tomorrow. Curious to see how Minnesota plays against Oregon, and I have always been a low-key Oregon fan. So, I am excited to see them play live.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Penn St. lost at home to Wisconsin. They just can't win any games this year. 1-14 in the B1G. Only other 1 win team is Northwestern. They are only 1-11 though since they cancelled their LA road trip.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Gophers starting to lose some close games. Oregon goes on the road and gets a win against Minny.

 

[nwhoopfan]

BTN missed an opportunity the other day, but a bunch of games airing today. Nebraska-Illinois is at halftime, later on they have USC @ Washington and Michigan St. @ UCLA.

 

[cancontent]

BTN missed an opportunity the other day, but a bunch of games airing today. Nebraska-Illinois is at halftime, later on they have USC @ Washington and Michigan St. @ UCLA.

Has been a fun one to watch overall. Great energy and play on both ends.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Has been a fun one to watch overall. Great energy and play on both ends.

Illinois answered every run by Nebraska.

Hated seeing Prince being helped off the floor after an injury late in the game. Close out on a 3. Hopefully an ankle sprain and nothing worse, although those can take a while to heal completely.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Illinois is gritty. Very short handed, only have 6 players. Just set a program record with their 8th straight Big 10 win.

 

[Floridaduck]

Nice Oregon road win. That makes four Big Ten road wins so far: @ Northwestern, Penn State, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Still two to go: @ Nebraska, @ Washington. Home game vs Rutgers. 18-8 overall, 9-6 in League.
On the rare occasions that they shoot well (45%+ and 40% from 3) they can be pretty good. But they live and die with defense.

 

[JellyBean]

Penn St. lost at home to Wisconsin. They just can't win any games this year. 1-14 in the B1G. Only other 1 win team is Northwestern. They are only 1-11 though since they cancelled their LA road trip.

Wow. Way to go Coach Marsia and Wisconsin!!

 

[cancontent]

Michigan State had their chance at an upset with Betts out of the game yesterday. Went cold during the last couple minutes and UCLA was able to hold them off. A little surprised that UCLA had their struggles though. Thought their depth was good enough to manage a double digit win even without Betts. Credit to Michigan State's tenacity for keeping it close.