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ESPN Bracketology, Updated MARCH 13. IOWA is a 5 Seed in CHICAGO Regional. Bracket Matrix on MARCH 13 has IOWA a 5 Seed. #14 NET Ranking on March 13

The 4 point home loss to Illinois (87-83) still stings.

If we had rebounded, we would have won that game.

Instead, Illinois had:

* +29 rebounding advantage (52-23)

* 19 offensive rebounds

* 24 second chance points


And Illinois is currently sitting on top of the B1G at 6-0. If we had won this home game, Illinois would be 5-1 and Iowa would be 3-2.
Yeah, and if Illinois hadn’t turned it over as much, they would have won by 10-15. “If” game is stupid. Rebounding is one of Illinois’ strengths, you didn’t lose by some fluke performance. :)
 
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Mike DeCourcy is a Sporting News college hoops columnist and a Big Ten Network studio analyst.

He does a Bracket Forecast for Fox Sports.

He has the same 7 B1G teams in the Tournament as Joe Lunardi of ESPN.

Seed/Team:
2 Purdue
2 Wisconsin
4 Michigan State
5 Illinois
5 Ohio State
8 IOWA
10 Indiana


His Full Bracket:


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It will never happen because it seems we’ll always be slotted in the 7/10, but I would much rather get an 11 seed versus getting a 7,8,9, or 10. This team definitely has the talent and makeup to reach the sweet 16 by beating a 5 and 4 seed. 2 seed? Don’t think so.
I want to believe that but they haven’t upset any team yet.
 
Mike DeCourcy is a Sporting News college hoops columnist and a Big Ten Network studio analyst.

He does a Bracket Forecast for Fox Sports.

He has the same 7 B1G teams in the Tournament as Joe Lunardi of ESPN.

Seed/Team:
2 Purdue
2 Wisconsin
4 Michigan State
5 Illinois
5 Ohio State
8 IOWA
10 Indiana


His Full Bracket:


FJZ1Us4VUAM7cQx





FJZ3k7JUcAInJzt






FJZ3Xz4VUAAX6H3
Decourcey is a Wisconsin fan for some reason. Always has been. He has Wisky 2 and Illinois 5! WTF!!
 
agreed. a 2 seed for Connie seems way too high.

note that Lunardi/ESPN has Connie as a 3 seed.
I get that no one likes the Badgers. They're my least favorite team on the planet. That said, they are very, very good and playing really good basketball.
 
As of January 21, 6:00 am CT:


Michigan is one of the NEXT 4 OUT.


7 B1G teams are in.

Seed/Team:
2 Purdue
2 Wisconsin
4 Illinois
5 Michigan State
6 Ohio State
7 IOWA
8 Indiana


The Full Bracket:

 
As of January 21, 6:00 am CT:


Michigan is one of the NEXT 4 OUT.


7 B1G teams are in.

Seed/Team:
2 Purdue
2 Wisconsin
4 Illinois
5 Michigan State
6 Ohio State
7 IOWA
8 Indiana


The Full Bracket:

Man, Rutgers isn’t even on the bubble and they’ve beaten Purdue and Iowa, but lost to Penn State. We got to beat Penn State Saturday. Got to win the games you should.
 
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Man, Rutgers isn’t even on the bubble and they’ve beaten Purdue and Iowa, but lost to Penn State. We got to beat Penn State Saturday. Got to win the games you should.
We have two horrible non-conference losses from when we were playing bad basketball earlier in the year. Even if we had won ugly against Lafayette and UMass (lost both at the buzzer; Geo missed last eight minutes vs. Lafayette and all of UMass, too, or maybe that wouldn't have happened...), we would be bubble at worst and probably in from most projections. Oh well, too bad so sad, just means the team needs to win that much more to get back in the conversation.

I expect Iowa will beat PSU tomorrow.
 
Man, Rutgers isn’t even on the bubble and they’ve beaten Purdue and Iowa, but lost to Penn State. We got to beat Penn State Saturday. Got to win the games you should.

This is what will make or break their season are these types of games. The get Penn St and Nebraska four times; needs to be four wins.

We still have nine games against teams currently beneath us in the conference standings. We need to win the majority of these, say seven, and that will get us to 10 wins in the conference.


Is going 10-10 in conference enough, especially when our nonconference strength of schedule currently is 342 out of 358 teams?

We have 3 conference wins now. Beating Nebby twice, PSU twice, Minny at home, Northwestern at home and Michigan at home gets us to 10 conference wins. But, do we need a signature (or 2?) win also? Examples: Purdue at home, Michigan State at home, OSU on the road, Illinois on the road.

There's not much more room for error, imo.

Iowa, of course, went 10-1 in nonconference. But look at the KenPom rankings of those 11 teams. How much of a factor will our weak nonconference schedule end up being?


KenPom
Rank on:

Nov...Dec...Dec..Dec..Dec..Dec..Dec..Jan..Jan
26........3.......9.....18.....19....22....30.....3......15....Nonconference Opponent

208....200...198....189...191...192....195...197....190....Longwood
193.....220...225....231...232..240...227...225...232....Kansas City
342...339..340...338..328..327..329..328..329....NC Central
332...338..338...340..339..339..333..333..326....Alabama State
320...313..317.....323..323..325..328..327...331.....Western Michigan

254...250..251......268...268..267...270..279...281.....Portland State
47........46....57........58.....57.....58.....71.....66....64.....Virginia
95.......80....64.......50.....47.....44.....44.....41....32.....Iowa State
68.......60....61........48.....55....55......61......61....65.....Utah State
305..318...309...313...314..312...312..307..295....Southeastern Louisiana
202....182....163....162....159...165....168..208..206.....Western Illinois
 
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Mike DeCourcy is a Sporting News college hoops columnist and a Big Ten Network studio analyst.

He does a Bracket Forecast for Fox Sports.

He has the same 7 B1G teams in the Tournament as Joe Lunardi of ESPN.

Seed/Team:
2 Wisconsin
3 Purdue
4 Michigan State
5 Ohio State
5 Illinois
9 IOWA
9 Indiana


His Full Bracket:


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Maryland beat the Ilini at home by 16.

We play at Maryland on Feb 10.

Sparty goes to Madison and wins by 12. They held Wisconsin to just 26 first half points.

We host Michigan State on Feb 22.
 
What's worrisome is our nonconference strength of schedule.

341: Nonconference Strength of Schedule out of 358 teams

90: Overall Strength of Schedule
 
I firmly believe that finishing at .500 in the B1G, will get us a seat. Given our preseason projections, that would be a pretty nice accomplishment for the team and the coach.

We have 4 conference wins now.

Beating Nebby twice, PSU again, Minny at home, Northwestern at home and Michigan at home gets us to 10 conference wins.

Would that be enough? Or, do we need a signature (or 2?) win also? Examples: Purdue at home, Michigan State at home, OSU on the road, Illinois on the road.
 
I just checked the NET rankings from NCAA. We're at 23 and we are the only team in the top 50 without a Q1 win (0-4). UNC is at 51 (0-6). :oops:


Yeah, call me officially confused (yet ok with it) on how we are so high in the NET rankings.

I said this above, but what's worrisome is our nonconference strength of schedule.

341: Nonconference Strength of Schedule out of 358 teams

90: Overall Strength of Schedule
 
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We play Michigan twice yet. They are getting better as things start heating up in conference play.

Right now, Michigan is not even a bubble team. In late February it might be a different story.

 
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7 seems too high with the lack of Q1 wins and a terrible NCSOS. Beating Purdue isn’t necessarily a must but….


What do you think of Jerry Palm's (CBS Sports) forecast as of 12:09 pm today?


He has 7 B1G teams in.

Seed/Team:
2 Wisconsin
3 Purdue
3 Michigan State
4 Ohio State
7 Illinois
11 IOWA
11 Indiana


The Full Bracket:


 
What do you think of Jerry Palm's (CBS Sports) forecast as of 12:09 pm today?


He has 7 B1G teams in.

Seed/Team:
2 Wisconsin
3 Purdue
3 Michigan State
4 Ohio State
7 Illinois
11 IOWA
11 Indiana


The Full Bracket:


11 seems to be a prefect fit for this team.
 
What do you think of Jerry Palm's (CBS Sports) forecast as of 12:09 pm today?


He has 7 B1G teams in.

Seed/Team:
2 Wisconsin
3 Purdue
3 Michigan State
4 Ohio State
7 Illinois
11 IOWA
11 Indiana


The Full Bracket:


11 is probably a little low too. I think they are straddling that 8/9 line right now.
 
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Agreed, but with their remaining schedule the look more like an 11/12 to me in the end.
And I keep hearing from posters on here that all we have to do is win 10 games in the Big Ten.

Well, I still think it matters who we beat and where we beat them. Will the NCAA tournament committee be impressed by our home win versus Penn State, for example?
 
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Just follow the Net. As long as Iowa is in the top 25 of the Net they are in. If Iowa falls outside the top 30 it's probably bubble time. I think NC State might be the highest ranked Net team to not make the field at 33 but don't quote me on that.
 
What do you think of Jerry Palm's (CBS Sports) forecast as of 12:09 pm today?


He has 7 B1G teams in.

Seed/Team:
2 Wisconsin
3 Purdue
3 Michigan State
4 Ohio State
7 Illinois
11 IOWA
11 Indiana


The Full Bracket:

What ****ing drugs is he on!? Providence a 2 with a NET of 39? Texas a 10 seed? Someone really wants some clicks
 
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