OT: Favorite to least favorite Big Ten teams?

[DanL53]

Of course the Iowa Hawkeyes are #1. And measuring the distance to second place in my case would take the Hubble telescope and mechanisms of measurement otherwise unbeknownst to a schmuck like me. And I want to include that 2nd through 14th are constantly evolving based on who I'm currently ticked off at. But at this moment:

Purdue: They seem like Iowa, their last Final Four, same year as ours. No NCAA violations.
Wisconsin: I admire albeit it reluctantly what Bo Ryan has done. My hats off to him but I'd like to slap him with it as well.
Penn State: This is just basketball related, or they would be near last. But for round ball they often seem relatively harmless. Most of the time.
Michigan: They would be higher if it weren't for their cheating past. But I like Beilein.
Indiana: I don't know why I place them so high. But I admire the confidence of the fan base, too much placed on Crean though. I get kind of envious of all that confidence and hope someday our Iowa fan base has it.
Ohio State: I appreciate that a team that should dominate the Big Ten is often so beatable. They've got the whole state of Ohio and aren't winning the Big Ten half the time? Lazy.
Michigan State: I don't like the style of play nor that they get away with it. I do miss Jud Heathcote.
Minnesota: This is where the official "they annoy me all the time" level begins. Always worse than they've a right to be unless they are cheating.
Northwestern: Spend a little money, act like they want to field decent teams, or Collins will be gone and it will be back to television money welfare checks. Common, build something decent to play in!
Illinois: I used to play a little recreation league basketball in a "B" league. Once in awhile poor "A" league teams would drop down to the "B" league to try to dominate. This reminds me of Illinois. Pretentious proud and with their location they should be ashamed of their historical results.
Rutgers: I don't like newbies, and I have a feeling they might end up going the Northwestern route someday of taking the cash just for showing up.
Nebraska: How dare they try to be good at basketball!
Maryland: It ticks me off to no end that this new member of the league is threatening to win it in their second year. I much prefer Rutgers over them, but would prefer they both settle for NIT level success.

Anyone else have thoughts on the other teams in the league?

 

[nu2u]

My least favorite: Indiana (Crean), Michigan State (Izzo), and Minnesota (for historical reasons / border rival).

I don't know exactly why, but I have a soft spot for Pat Chambers and the uphill battle he is waging at Penn State.

 

[Myvue]

How would your list be different if you ranked them by the way you think they will finish in the Big next season?

 

[DanL53]

How would your list be different if you ranked them by the way you think they will finish in the Big next season?

This is an "unofficial" prediction of course. It will very likely change. But:

Maryland
Michigan State (Should Swanigan land at Purdue, reverse 2nd and 3rd.
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan
Wisconsin
Iowa
Ohio State
Illinois
Northwestern
Nebraska
Minnesota
Penn State
Rutgers

I could see Iowa have an amazing year and end up fourth, or a very unfortunate year and end up tenth. My best guess right now is a 10-8 season.

 

[perryhawk]

Pretty good list or ranking. ...but I think you're giving Indiana too much credit. I'd put them right behind Iowa.

 

[SSG T]

Favorites (aside from Iowa) - OSU, Michigan...I like the way they play ball
Least favorites - MN, WI, IL, MSU...the only reason MSU is on there is their style of play, I understand it wins, but I hate watching it

 

[CanadaHawk]

Anyone else have thoughts on the other teams in the league?

Don't know how anyone's least favorite team as an Iowa fan could be anyone but Illinois. Aside from the bad blood history, not only are they often competitors for talent, they almost always underachieve with that talent. Even Crean is doing better in that regard than Illinois. MI used to be that way but seems better under Beilein. NE has quickly risen on my most hated radar due to the recent recruiting wars and Miles' idiocy in locking out players.

 

[nu2u]

Don't know how anyone's least favorite team as an Iowa fan could be anyone but Illinois.

If you live close to the Minnesota border (or MN itself) you might better appreciate the dislike for the Gophers. The feeling is mutual and it runs deep. Their fans are known to repeat the silly "who hates Iowa" chant at home games no matter the opponent.

 

[nagemj02]

This is an "unofficial" prediction of course. It will very likely change. But:

Maryland
Michigan State (Should Swanigan land at Purdue, reverse 2nd and 3rd.
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan
Wisconsin
Iowa
Ohio State
Illinois
Northwestern
Nebraska
Minnesota
Penn State
Rutgers

I could see Iowa have an amazing year and end up fourth, or a very unfortunate year and end up tenth. My best guess right now is a 10-8 season.

As a fan, Purdue's backcourt play needs to improve for them to have another upper level finish in the B1G. Their guard play is what cost them vs. Cincy in the NCAA Tournament. As you mentioned on another board, they just added grad transfer PG Johnny Hill. He's solid, but not a "WOW that's a good point guard" addition at first glance. Several of them need to improve their perimeter shooting (Rapheal Davis, Dakota Mathias, P.J. Thompson) and Mathias, Thompson, and Vince Edwards (I consider him a very versatile forward/guard) need to improve at getting to the line by attacking off the dribble. If those kind of strides are made and someone like Swanigan takes the final scholarship, then I agree.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

That's difficult to say. There are little things I hate about each school and thus it's hard to pick which stand out, but I'll try:

Rutgers- If we're strictly talking basketball here, then I pick Rutgers because they are the least threatening to Iowa. They hold no advantage to us, do not really compete with us for recruits other than by default of being in the same conference, and just don't do enough in general to warrant any real vitriol against them.

Michigan- After Rutgers it gets tougher. Michigan will always rank high in terms of most arrogant programs. It's just who they strive to be. But despite their history, they're always chasing the true bad guys much like we are, so in a sense they're kind of like the "enemy of my enemy". I'll almost always root for Michigan over Ohio State in the big sports and more and more recently I find myself rooting for them over the pomposery (made-up word) in East Lansing.

Purdue- And now it really starts to get tough and all these reasons to dislike teams start to blur together. Gene Keady's lingering presence alone makes it hard for me to ever really want to see Purdue do well in basketball. But again much like Rutgers, Purdue when they're down, poses very little threat to Iowa. Unfortunately, they just won't stay that way as evident from last year's game and their impending upgrades for this coming season. If they would just go away it'd be much more helpful to us, but oh well. They are our greatest manufactured rivals after all!!!

Maryland- We've beaten them pretty handily the last two times we've played, but they're just something about Maryland that seems "off" to me, and makes me a little happier that we beat them as opposed to the other result. Now they're loading up on recruits and transfers and trying to build a super team to compete right away in their new conference and that will piss off the natives in a hurry. Good luck with that Maryland. Good luck.

Penn State- More to do with them just being a nuisance (a mild version of Northwestern, where even in down years they pester us) than anything else. Oh, that and the recent victory they scored against us in the Big Ten Tournament.

Indiana- In basketball terms, they are the equivalent of Michigan in football. A once proud program that still sees itself as such, but has fallen off the wagon quite a bit. However, what sets them and Michigan football fans apart from Nebraska is the fact that they're too busy dealing with their denial internally, while Nebraska fans spit in the face of anyone questioning their place in the annals of current history. Meanwhile, back in basketball land, Tom Crean makes the Hoosiers hate-able (this seems to be a trend with Indiana coaches if you think about it), and they've also had some turds for players in recent memory. Not to mention, Iowa and Indiana have had some wars on the court over the years.

Nebraska- Only because their basketball program continues to epitomize mediocrity. The thought of them beating us in basketball only infuriates me, and the only thing that could make me angrier would be the day we lose to them in wrestling. They get football because they have their past history, but I just can't bring myself to support a program while knowing that any success they had would bring happiness to their fans. (This is going to be a consistent theme from here on out btw........)

Minnesota- More of a basketball rival than Nebraska. They don't like us in any sport, in fact. While Iowa and Nebraska have a budding rivalry in football, and Iowa and Wisconsin transcend that into basketball season, Iowa and Minnesota's rivalry persists through multiple sports with an intriguing history for each one, it seems. And so it would hold true to form that as a rival, it would behoove me to not wish for the success of the Minnesota basketball team, but rather see it slink about in the lower half of the conference while feeding Iowa a couple wins a year.

Northwestern- F*** Northwestern.

Illinois- Arrogance is one thing, but for schools like Illinois it is particularly unique. Most years they field a quality and competitive basketball team and in the past there have been teams that were ranked contenders. Their fans share a bond with basketball schools like Kansas, Indiana and Duke. They bide their time during football season, knowing that basketball season is right around the corner and they're gonna let their opponents have it for all the misdeeds they brought upon their fanbase during football season, especially in conference play. And usually what happens is they get themselves so worked up that they end up crossing a few lines in the process and go from just annoying to down right despising them. That is often where Illinois falls in. There was also that long period of time where Illinois fans looked at Iowa and its fanbase like it was a joke and that it really was there to fill in space at the bottom of the conference and provide Illinois with a couple wins each season and a thousand or so free seats at Carver for the games. Fortunately, things change......

Ohio State- This is basically part one of a trifecta of hatred. You could list the last three teams however you want in my opinion, but these three are the absolute worst for me and at no point should receive our (Iowa fans') sympathy or support, at least when it comes to athletics. Ohio State only appears first, for me, because much like with them often being off Iowa's schedule in football, they're just not on the radar as much. But you can still hate everything they do from an athletics standpoint, and the way they achieve their success and build a monopoly around that success that people blindly stand by and say "good for them" for. No, not good for them. Bad for us. Want Ohio State to lose more. Don't "give it up for them". Want them to try their hardest only to discover that other teams actually are trying harder AND succeeding against them....like we did this past year in basketball. I have no doubt that other schools are trying just as hard, if not harder than Ohio State, so I call bull sh** on the "well you just need to try harder" commentary. They just aren't succeeding against them. So root for Ohio State's failure. Support it and embrace it and to hell with anyone saying it would be bad for the Big Ten including the front office in Chicago....................There I said it.

Michigan State- Tom Izzo and the 22-year drought......................................................That's just for starters. I suppose, though, since this is running a bit long, I'll try to shorten it up. After all, I think it's been more than well-documented as to the reasons we should hate Michigan State among the most in the conference.

Wisconsin- Aside from them being arguably our biggest football-basketball rivals, few thought it possible for another coach to make his team easier to root against doing what Tom Izzo does...than Tom Izzo. That's where Bo Ryan comes in. Mugs on defense and gets away with it? Check. Barks at officials all game and doesn't get called or questioned for anything while the opposing coach does? Check. Team full of big guys jacks up threes and makes most of them regardless of garbage? Check. Annoying fanbase with a tough home venue that's hard to win at? Check. Off-putting players that take after their coach? Double check. In some cases, Izzo still gets the better of Bo, but at least right now anyway, Bo is having the last laugh with all the conference and national success they've had and the manner in which they've done it. That is why Wisconsin is easily my most hated (least favorite) team in the Big Ten.