Leaders And Best

April 19th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^

I don't know if I would go that far. I don't think that schedule gives us any advantage to winning the Big Ten. Rutgers and Illinois are going to be two of the worst teams in the B1G, and those are both single plays. OSU may not be very good either--another single play. I think the only favorable single-plays we get are Nebraska and Purdue at home, and that is assuming their key players don't stay in the Draft. Most of our Home/Away matchups are teams that should be in the top 10 of the B1G.

The new 20-game schedule helps even out the competition so it is not as big a deal.

TrueBlue2003

April 19th, 2018 at 6:53 PM ^

for the reasons you pointed out.  Maybe even slightly more difficult than you'd expect from the average schedule given that our single plays are probably going to have an overall losing conference record, i.e. worse than the average team, and our double plays project to be better than the average team.

I think it appears easier based on this years teams but OSU and Purdue lose a ton of key pieces and Wisconsin, Maryland, IU project to improve next year.

But as you point out, much more difficult to get a really favorable schedule now that there are only 6 single plays instead of 8.  

trueblueintexas

April 19th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^

The single plays are a very nice home & away difference assuming the teams perform somewhat the same as this year.

Based on this, I'm going with undefeated B1G Champs.

Alton

April 19th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^

So what you are proposing...#7 plays 12 games against the top 6 and 6-7 games against the bottom 6, while #8 plays 6-7 games against the top 6 and 12 against the bottom 6.

That's a huge disadvantage to be giving the #7 finisher compared to the #8 finisher--you are giving #8 about a 4 or 5 game boost over #7, and it might be just because they happened to lose a tiebreaker the year before.  I don't think the Big Ten would be promoted by having such wildly divergent schedules.

 

sarto1g

April 19th, 2018 at 3:14 PM ^

It is a shame we only get Purdue once.  Beilein vs Painter is one of the more fun tactical matchups to watch in the B1G. What a damn shame

trueblueintexas

April 19th, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^

Looking at the other schools, I don't really see anyone getting screwed or receiving a significant benefit with the schedule. My goodness, could the B1G have done something right?

BJNavarre

April 19th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^

I would put MSU, Purdue, Nebraska and Maryland as the top contenders in next years Big Ten, so it seems like this is a slightly favorable schedule. Michigan is the clear favorite.

Big Ten could be pretty bad again next year, unfortunately.

Wolverine Devotee

April 19th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^

Maryland ain't winning shit as long as Turgeon is around. It's shocking he's still there. 

MSU lost their best two players and has to actually play *gasp* good B1G teams on the road. 

Purdue is losing Haas, Matthias and Vince Edwards

Nebraska, while bringing back everyone, is still Nebraska. Let's see what they can do first. They were terrible on the road this past season. 

Leaders And Best

April 19th, 2018 at 4:02 PM ^

Number is national ranking projection. I think Indiana could be a contender if they land Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan withdraws from the Draft.

6     Michigan St.

19     Wisconsin

20     Michigan

21     Maryland

29     Iowa

31     Indiana

33     Nebraska

36     Northwestern

38     Purdue

45     Penn St.

50     Ohio St.

53     Illinois

68     Minnesota

115     Rutgers

Leaders And Best

April 19th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^

They return 3 junior players who have been 2-year starters from a top-10 team (statistically) with a top-25 recruiting class. These projections are based off analytics from returning players and projections of recruits. Not a perfect science, but I will take it over most of the early top 25 lists being put out there by writers.

I am not a KenPom subscriber, but I think he has MSU a little lower. I think KenPom had Maryland as the highest rated team in the B1G at #11 after the NCAA Tournament ended, but that may have assumed Justin Jackson was returning (he is not).

A Lot of Milk

April 19th, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^

Wow that actually looks...ok? Playing at Iowa sucks because I think they might actually be pretty good next year, but everything else looks pretty favorable.

GoBlueInIowa

April 19th, 2018 at 3:35 PM ^

The ones we only have at home (Nebraska, Ohio State, and Purdue) should be in the top half of the league, and the ones we have only on the road (Illinois, Iowa, and Rutgers) don’t concern me. Iowa can score but cannot defend at all.

Ihatebux

April 19th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^

The way I see it the best schedule has:

Best teams 1-offs at Home - if you gotta play them might as well be at home

Worst teams 1-offs Away - don't want to play good teams at their site

Home/Away - If you happen to lose to a team on the road at least you will have a chance to get back at them at home.   We would have killed Nebraska at Crisler this year.  

I think next year the B1G is going to be pretty hard to predict, but could be worse than this year.

Other than us, MSU will be MSU.  They lose a lot, but have a good class.   Purdue will drop a little, but still have some talent and a very good coach.  Maryland has an incredible incoming class and a mediocre (ok, terrible) coach.   OSU loses a lot, but has a very good coach.   

After this group, IU, PSU, Nebraska and Wisky could be good.

The rest of the league is pretty much interchangeable.

 

goblue16

April 19th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^

Basketball is hard to predict sometimes. U never know who’s gonna turn out really good. Iowa might be great next year so we don’t really know. Regardless though a 20 game schedule evens it out a lot more which is always good

Larry Sellers

April 19th, 2018 at 5:16 PM ^

He turned Oklahoma State around pretty well in his year there. Though, he was arguably working with a better base than he had last year. Nevertheless, that could be a tough road game next year and they could make a big leap next year. 

This is mainly based on his work at SFA where he had some time to bring in his own players. At OSU, he was basically handed a good but underachieving group with enough speed to play his system. 

 

 

stephenrjking

April 19th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^

There's a much better chance of me seeing MIchigan in person when they play in Minneapolis.

So it's good to see that MIchigan will be going to Minneapolis twice next season.

Stuck in Lansing

April 19th, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^

Jim Delany hates MSU so much he is making them return to the site of their worst loss since 2008...........Crisler Center. And based on the recruiting rankings he is making them do it with a class ranked below M after losing two lottery picks. I think I might enjoy this.