2020-21 indiana wbb

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1 hour and 13 minutes. Don’t forget: Next Saturday is our Roast of John U Bacon

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. They're also behind our Ann Arbor Institutions t-shirt program. They have awesome custom tees and hoodies and low, affordable prices. They also have tons of great Michigan apparel that you can wear proudly to support the maize and blue! Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, and introducing the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders.

1. A Tribute to Louis Nix, and Indiana

starts at 1:00

We pay tribute to the life of one of our favorite players from a rival. Used the same gameplan as Iowa because why not. Hunter Dickinson: one of the best offensive big men but also one of the best defensive big men? Player of the Year? Franz also playing out of his mind. IU made some weird decisions. Was the first half clunky?

[The rest of the writeup and the player after The Jump]

Results since the last post (home team listed second):

• Illinois 58, Maryland 103
• Nebraska 71, Northwestern 64
• Minnesota 56, Rutgers 83
• Michigan 65, Indiana 70
• Purdue 85, OSU 100
• PSU 78, Iowa 96
• Minnesota 62, Maryland 94
• Wisconsin 54, Northwestern 67
• Illinois 46, Rutgers 75
• OSU 66, Michigan 75
• Purdue 73, MSU 76
• PSU 72, Nebraska 87
• Iowa 93, Maryland 111 (!!!)

Maryland is looking increasingly difficult to catch even though their lead over Indiana only stands at one game. The Terps offense is one of the most explosive in the country—they averaged over 102 points per game in their three wins this week.

The Standings

Per-100-possession efficiency numbers, which I've limited to Big Ten games, are pulled from Her Hoop Stats. I've added records for games against Q1 teams in the NET rankings and HHS's adjusted team rankings.

After Michigan easily dispatched Ohio State on Sunday and Northwestern dropped another game they should've won, Rutgers has emerged as the most dangerous team outside of the top three contenders.

A lengthy COVID pause means the Scarlet Knights are well behind the rest of the league in games played, which has put a hard cap on their rankings in the polls, but the advanced stats love them. Led by top-ten WNBA prospect Arella Guirantes, who's averaging 22 points per game, RU has a top-ten adjusted offense and top-20 defense on Her Hoop Stats. They're going to be a tough out in the conference tourney.

[Hit THE JUMP for the Indiana and OSU games in review (with GIFs!), the possible return of a key piece, and this week's tiers/schedule.]

Results since the last post (home team listed second):

• OSU 70, Wisconsin 75
• PSU 65, Indiana 90
• Illinois 73, Minnesota 83
• Michigan 62, Purdue 49
• Rutgers 70, Northwestern 54
• Iowa 88, Nebraska 81
• MSU 78, PSU 65
• Maryland 95, Nebraska 73
• Indiana 58, Illinois 50
• Wisconsin 63, Minnesota 68
• Rutgers 75, Purdue 57
• MSU 82, Michigan 86

Conference contender Ohio State saw my "auto-win" designation for Wisconsin in last week's post and decided to lose to them that very evening. I'd be upset for looking foolish but if that's how it happens I'm cool with it.

The Standings

Per-100-possession efficiency numbers, which I've limited to Big Ten games, are pulled from Her Hoop Stats. I've added records for games against Q1 teams in the NET rankings and HHS's adjusted team rankings.

For the moment, the Maryland/Michigan/Indiana trio are a cut above the rest of the league in efficiency margin with the three packed within 1.5 points per 100 possessions of each other. The Terps are a more offensive-oriented team while M and IU have remarkably similar offense/defense splits.

Rutgers is a team to keep an eye on. They've played even fewer games than Michigan because of COVID postponements, which have created a big gap between the human polls and computer-generated rankings. It's going to be difficult to get a read on the Scarlet Knights until the Big Ten Tournament, if ever; the last four games currently on their schedule are Illinois, at MSU, at PSU, and finally a big test in the finale at home versus OSU. They did play Maryland close back in December but unless games are made up they won't face M or IU in the regular season.

Bracket Watch: Postponements Are A Factor

KBA was not pleased with the early NCAA bracket reveal [Scott]

The looming question heading into Monday's official top-16 mock bracket reveal was how the selection committee would take postponements into account. Would teams be punished for not playing as many games others? In large part by leaving Michigan off the list, the committee answered with a resounding 'yes':

But one of the unknowns heading into this reveal was how the committee would look at teams that haven't played as much. We now have our answer: Playing fewer games was a significant negative to the résumé.

"We looked at Michigan but ultimately felt that their body of work didn't warrant a top-16," King said. "It is difficult to gauge the full capabilities of a team when they haven't played as much."

The Big Ten fared poorly in general. While Maryland got placed as the seventh overall seed, in line with their NET ranking, Indiana ended up 15th despite being ninth in NET. Both issues got a rise out of Kim Barnes Arico:

“The (Southeastern Conference) was really rewarded last night. I’m upset for our league, as I am for our team. It totally feels uphill,” Barnes Arico said about the Big Ten conference and the NCAA selections. “I’ve kind of been outspoken all year long about our conference, and nationally I thought it took a turn, until last night.” ...

“For us to be penalized for (postponing) doesn’t seem fair,” Barnes Arico said.

She added that the snub was a "slap in the face," in case she hadn't been clear enough. Her frustration is warranted, since one knock-on result of the committee evaluating teams this way is programs like Michigan and Rutgers will feel pressure to make up a large number of games in a short period of time. It's a tough choice between adding games to potentially move up one or two seed lines or standing pat and hoping the final resume holds up better while keeping the players more rested.

It doesn't seem like the Wolverines are in a hurry to cram a bunch of games into the last couple weeks of February. Given they play Indiana and Ohio State this week and travel to Iowa next week, that's the right call. They have a chance at a couple statement wins before the Big Ten Tournament, and a run there could propel them to the same seed line a couple extra regular season games—it's not like there's a guarantee the committee will give M a great seed anyway given how they're looking at the Big Ten.

For now, ESPN has dropped the Wolverines from their previous perch on the three-seed line down to a five-seed to match the committee's outlook.

[Hit THE JUMP for scheduling frustrations, recapping the Purdue and MSU wins, and more.]