Iowa State struggled in the first half against Butler but took control in the second half. Emily Ryan has missed their exhibitions and now first game because of an undisclosed illness.
B1G WBB general discussion
- Thread starter cyberhawk
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Multiple ISU people on Twitter/Reddit saying Ryan will be out for the whole season.
Darn you hate to see that for any player. She was my favorite for them the past couple of seasons. Really an unsung hero to how they play. Obviously I want to beat them but would rather beat a full strength squad.
A foul filled game. That may be a problem for OSU, especially if their bench doesn’t develop.
USC 83-74 Ohio State (Nov 6, 2023) Game Recap - ESPN
Expert recap and game analysis of the USC Trojans vs. Ohio State Buckeyes NCAAW game from November 6, 2023 on ESPN.www.espn.com
OSU falls to USC in dramatic fashion.
The Good: OSU is not the invincible juggernaut so many predicted (but many Iowa fans knew this).
The Bad: USC and UCLA may well enter the B1G as the two best teams and stay there for 2-3 years.
Not the best start for the league. Maryland & Indiana losing by 30+ points to South Carolina & Stanford. Purdue by 43 to UCLA (not sure why they scheduled this one). USC over Ohio State, Auburn by 20 over Rutgers, Marquette beats Illinois.
SC and Stanford I can see winning pretty easily given that they’ll likely be 1 seeds going into the tournament
John Wooden connection. The men's teams have a history of playing against each other.
Would be nice for the Big Ten not to finish 5th or worse in conference NET/RPI (last year finished 5th in both). Didn't hurt the top of the league last year in terms of seeding, but matters more for middle and bubble teams. It's early, but Big Ten already down to 6th in conference RPI. Ohio State and IU both have non-con dates with Tenn. Would be nice to win both of those games.
No big shock, but the younger Betts committed to UCLA and will be coming to the B1G.
The demolishing of IU was not something I had on my bingo card. I don’t think anyone has ever shut Holmes down so well. But Stanford was (is) motivated to redeem themselves and full of athletic starpower, while IU lost too much to summarize/count in Grace Berger…the play making, clutch shots, just to start. Scalia is definitely a step down from Grace. I’m feeling more optimism looking to our meeting with them. Holmes neutralized Czinano in our loss last year and I think it’ll be tougher to do so to Stuelke. But IU will regroup and their 3 pt shooting will likely be as good as ours once they get it together.
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Charlie Creme now has 9 Big Ten teams making the NCAA, including Penn State and Michigan State, but not Purdue (last season's participant). I guess Penn State's win against Kansas last night impressed him enough. Also, Washington and Oregon are in, too.
Women's Bracketology: All eyes on final projection
Who's in and who's out? Surprises will likely come when the bracket is revealed (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), but not at the top. South Carolina is No. 1 overall.
www.espn.com
Iowa (and a few other schools) need to land some of these top ‘25 recruits or we are gonna get run out of town once UCLA and USC join.
Really trying to manifest a recruiting class of Bourrage, Deal, Houston and Speiser rn.
I really would love to see a matrix of which schools pay their WBB team the way Iowa does and how much. I may make a Reddit post asking around for data.
Hopefully this is nothing. Jaz needs to play 40 MPG to keep them in the running for almost any W.
Happy for her. Wish she were still a Hawk. I really think she's just scratching the surface of her potential.
Went to the UCONN-Gopher game yesterday. A rare opportunity to see Geno/UCONN in this region of the country. Very different than a Big Ten conference game. First, not surprising to have the home crowd give a warm welcome to the returning local player, but was surprising to have the crowd never get on her in any numbers throughout the game. Second, both teams dug in and tried really hard to play sound half-court defense. Looks like the Gophers under their new coach are really going to emphasize half-court D. Indiana was good in half court defense last year, but other than that, it was an offensive (and pressing [MD, OSU]) league. Will be interesting to see how the new Gopher approach plays out in the BIG.
I think UNI is going to really need her. Their post Boffeli is solid but foul prone, their PG has recurring back trouble and the rest of their guards look as though they're coming off a years layoff. Drake looks much stronger and likely to win the MVC regardless of the preseason poll.
Maryland fell out of the top 25 for the first time since 2013. I knew they’d struggle to replace Miller and Myers. Yes, Frese undeniably “keeps on winning” but having two first round picks helped immensely. She still has athletes on the team but no one is going #2 overall. We may still very well lose to them lol
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Maryland just got handily defeated for the 3rd time this season, losing to #23 Washington State. They now sit at 2-3. When was the last time Maryland had a losing record….ever?
This is not the Maryland we’ve come to know. It’s one thing to lose to ND / SC but they got demolished by them both. WSU is the kind of team that, regardless of rankings, Maryland’s athletes could always easily overcome.
If things keep up this way, I could see them losing to a number of B1G teams. Not to mention next year when the PAC teams arrive.
This is not the Maryland we’ve come to know. It’s one thing to lose to ND / SC but they got demolished by them both. WSU is the kind of team that, regardless of rankings, Maryland’s athletes could always easily overcome.
If things keep up this way, I could see them losing to a number of B1G teams. Not to mention next year when the PAC teams arrive.
Things sure have changed in the Big Ten. Penn State is receiving more votes than Maryland in the latest AP Poll. 4th best team in the league?
shikreto-you are so right about the disaster that is Oregon WBB. Oregon lost to Portland last night 91-60, after earlier losing to Santa Clara 89-50. Seems increasingly likely that when Oregon gets to the BIG, Graves will be gone as coach.
Oregon is really fascinating because on the one hand Graves is far and away the best coach they've ever had. But on the other, they've been trending down significantly and the results this year are so far below acceptable that they're almost forced to make a move.
Bless you for devoting part of your afternoon to Purdue vs Valparaiso! 😂I like Purdue's male student announcer with an Aussi accent on BTN+
I can do a quad view on btn+ so I don't have to waste my time on one school, though I couldn't help but have the audio feed from the Purdue game!
Michigan is hurting (again).
www.espn.com
Toledo 69-46 Michigan (Dec 6, 2023) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Toledo Rockets vs. Michigan Wolverines NCAAW game from December 6, 2023 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
Poor scouting...Michigan is hurting (again).
Toledo 69-46 Michigan (Dec 6, 2023) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Toledo Rockets vs. Michigan Wolverines NCAAW game from December 6, 2023 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
Fun thought experiment: in the next 5 years, which of Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa State will accomplish the most?Michigan is hurting (again).
Toledo 69-46 Michigan (Dec 6, 2023) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Toledo Rockets vs. Michigan Wolverines NCAAW game from December 6, 2023 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
I picked those three because they each have a young class (in Michigan's case its 2024 class) of players that look really good, but how good they are is still an open question. Feel free to add others.
Minnesota will definitely accomplish the most... at least, relative to their performance of the past few years. AKA they'll see the sharpest upward trajectory. They had been terrible for a few years now but Dawn Plitzuweit is an elite coach.
The ceiling of this young ISU team doesn't seem any higher than their 2021-22 team. Wouldn't surprise me if BF never makes it back to the Sweet 16.
Michigan too early to tell. Gotta see that class against college competition before evaluating. I think KBA is great but they've struggled to develop guard play for a few seasons now. Will Olivia Olsen change that?
Nebraska with Britt Prince is another candidate here.
Hell, throw us in the conversation after CC leaves...
Big day in the B1G.
- Minnesota beat Purdue. Impressive W for that brand new coach. A bigger win than anything Whalen did in 5 (?) seasons.
- Penn State took Ohio State to OT. Again, VERY impressive. And they’re still without Owusu…
- Michigan DESTROYED Illinois —after they got demolished by Toledo (see above).
Watched the first half of Purdue at Notre Dame today. Purdue was a tourney team (barely) last year, and has had some injuries in their highly-regarded freshman class. But against ACC size and athleticism (with Notre Dame missing 2 studs), Purdue was pathetic today, losing 76-39. Starting to think Purdue may be in the bottom group in the BIG this year, with teams like Minnesota and Penn State passing them.
Illini guards Bryant and Cook were outstanding today in totally keeping them in the game at IU. Their big, Bostic also very good. Close throughout second half. Lots of ties down the stretch, but I don’t think ever took the lead. The Illini very improved.
Too much McKenzie Holmes down the stretch though. She finished with 30. Garzon did very little for IU, but hit a big 3 late when only up 1 to give a 4-point cushion into the last minute. Final IU 77-71.
Too much McKenzie Holmes down the stretch though. She finished with 30. Garzon did very little for IU, but hit a big 3 late when only up 1 to give a 4-point cushion into the last minute. Final IU 77-71.
Michigan has been pretty inconsistent this season but they got a big W yesterday over Ohio State. That win is better than any of their B1G victories from last year. But I think it may speak more to OSU -- who has been similarly inconsistent. We should still be competitive with both of them this year unless either turns a pretty significant page.
I haven't watched any OSU games but based on chatter from Reddit, it seems the following describes their current season:
I haven't watched any OSU games but based on chatter from Reddit, it seems the following describes their current season:
- They're REALLY missing Taylor Mikesell. They just don't have any stellar shooters.
- Cotie McMahan has found herself in a bit of a sophomore slump.
- Celeste Taylor is clearly a great get for any team but OSU already had stellar defense, so she hasn't raised the ceiling of their team much. I'd venture to say Miksell -- their best shooter -- was their worst defender, so there really wasn't a dire need for those skills. An interesting outcome of perhaps the most notable B1G transfer after last season, to say the least.
