2019-20 big ten basketball

We talked about these in advance and came to a consensus on the following:

ALL-DISAPPOINTMENT TEAM

Other candidates were Gabe Kalscheur, Trent Frazier, and to a much lesser degree Aaron Henry and Franz's three-point shooting only.

Brian: We're not trying to dump on guys but it is worth noting the surprises on the other side of the ledger. No one was more cursed than Poor Damn Aaron Wheeler, who had a miraculously bad year. He went from a 58/37 shooter to 34/22 and hit 8 of his 55 twos in Big Ten play. This was a guy who both Ace and I expected to have a breakout season.

Ace: He’s both the most obvious choice and the one I hate mentioning because it was sad to watch him play. The misses clearly got into his head.

Brian: Watching a Wheeler three hit every part of the rim and then bounce out was agonizing even when Michigan was playing Purdue.

Seth: He remained a solid defender and board presence but yeeesh.

Ace: Painter had no choice:

Brian: We entered the year talking about Jon Teske as a guy neck and neck with Tillman for best C in the league. Fast forward to now: Brendan Quinn put nine centers on his three ABT teams, and Teske didn't make it.

Ace: You could’ve knocked me over with a feather if you’d told me that this offseason but now there’s no argument. He got put in the tough position of having his role increase while also being asked to do a lot of new things for a new coach but the strong crop of centers were also responsible for exposing his limitations.

Brian: Michigan is 15th percentile in post-up D per Synergy, which is up from 2nd midseason. Teske dropped 30 points of ORTG as he went from a no TO roll guy to a very awkward post player.

Seth: Juwan Howard: Post Whisperer is one of many things we got wrong about the transition.

Ace: Uh. Big Country, man.

Seth: At least insofar as Teske was concerned.

Brian: Teske was... wait for it... shoehorned into a role that he was very unsuited for. Probably the biggest issue with Howard's year 1.

[After THE JUMP: We are done with that word promise]

1 hour and 41 minutes

The Sponsors

We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be writing for The Athletic if we're lucky.

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1. Hoops vs Maryland

starts at 1:00

Why is scrub city always so good against Michigan? Part of it of course is they needed to guard Jalen Smith at the arc and that creates space for the other guys. Nothing Michigan can do about Cowan hitting those shots: the guards contested but they're shorter. Michigan hasn't shot above 30% for six games: Eli and Livers are 0/8 from three, meanwhile the guys the scouting report says to let them shoot are 6/8. Maryland looks good: cut to the sideline and (former Michigan assistant) DeAndre Haynes is calling all the shots. Franz! D.J. Carstenson gets to litigate another ripped jersey, after X hits a free throw, which means he fouls out halfway through his free throws and Teske has to take the 2nd.

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

The women's Big Ten Tournament is [checks watch] under way today with the 12/13 and 11/14 games, so the order of operations is flipped this week.

Final WBB Regular Season Standings

Maryland and Northwestern shared the conference title, though the Terps were easily the more dominant team—they're a likely one-seed in the NCAA Tournament while the Wildcats are projected as a three-seed on ESPN. The Terps came close to doubling up any other Big Ten team with their +21.3 average scoring margin in conference play.

Michigan finished alone in seventh after beating Illinois and losing to Indiana last week, setting up a Thursday evening conference tournament game against ten-seed Nebraska. A victory in that game would give them a quarterfinal matchup with Northwestern and a better opportunity to play their way above the 8/9 line for the NCAA Tournament. For the moment, the Wolverines project as a nine-seed, though their adjusted net rating on the season (28th nationally, per Her Hoop Stats) suggests they have the quality of a seven-seed. 

The BTT Bracket

click for big

Michigan-Nebraska tips off at 6:30 ET tomorrow on BTN; they'd face Northwestern at the same time Friday if they advance.

[Hit THE JUMP for a breakdown of the WBB tourney competition and an update on the men's side heading into the last few days of the regular season.]