If I were Illinois.....

[Ronman]

I think I would be awfully unhappy with the fact that Michigan was handed the conference championship without having to play their last three games. They only have one less loss that the Illini and if they were to lose even one of the last three, Illinois could have tied for the title. Michigan lost two of their last three so it's not like they were invincible. I don't think teams that managed the virus and played their complete schedule ought to be penalized.

 

[sbhawk64]

The tourney will hash these question out of who is the best

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

I don’t feel sorry for Illinois at all! But I would be pissed if Iowa was in the same situation.

 

[SWIowahawks]

The tourney will hash these question out of who is the best

The tournament only hashes out who is the hottest. The full regular season determines who is best. I’ve thought the last couple of days now to that Michigan being crowned regular season champs should have an asterisk.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

Illinois leads Michigan by a .5 game

Michigan is awarded the regular season title.

Welcome to The B1G where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.

 

[bansheexyz]

Can't crown a regular season champ this year due to Michigan's self-administered non-covid covid pause. All we have is the BTT champ.

If Michigan had separation that was higher than the number of games missed, then they'd obviously be champs. But they didn't. Not sure why they were celebrating, kind of a goofy look I think.

 

[NI hawk]

Illinois leads Michigan by a .5 game

Michigan is awarded the regular season title.

Welcome to The Big where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.

Kevin Warren World

 

[BubsFinn]

Illinois leads Michigan by a .5 game

Michigan is awarded the regular season title.

Welcome to The B1G where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.

Shouldn't shock anyone after this past football season. The Big Ten is certainly willing to make up the rules on the fly.

 

[Bee93]

Shouldn't shock anyone after this past football season. The Big Ten is certainly willing to make up the rules on the fly.

And shouldn’t surprise anyone that the recipients of favor were the “big 2”.

 

[Hawkman34]

Again, I can't stand Illinois....but this is utter BULLCRAP!!!!!!

 

[hawk-i bob]

I think I would be awfully unhappy with the fact that Michigan was handed the conference championship without having to play their last three games. They only have one less loss that the Illini and if they were to lose even one of the last three, Illinois could have tied for the title. Michigan lost two of their last three so it's not like they were invincible. I don't think teams that managed the virus and played their complete schedule ought to be penalized.

I dont disagree with you necessarily...and I'm no fan of Michigan or Illinoise.

Couple things....Michigan basketball did not mis-manage Covid...the school was shut down by the Michigan Dept Health due to a non-basketball positive due to the 'new strain'...whether right or wrong the basketball team was not mismanaged. My understanding is they were not even allowed to practice during the shut down. It wasn't Michigan's basketball fault they missed 3 games.

It was decided prior to the season that if Covid was going to force missed games..the two choices was to finish the regular season week of March 8th (today) and cancel the BTT...or makeup as many games as 'reasonably' as possible and keep the BTT... Michigan did makeup 3 of the 5 games that were forced postponed by the Michigan Dept of Health...Mich St, Illinois, & Indiana..the two games they were not able to reschedule were Penn State & NW...the 3rd game they missed was a cancel by Penn State due to covid...

...so Michigan (from original schedule) missed 2 games with Penn State and 1 with NW).
Michigan would have needed to lose 2 of the 3 (15-5) for Illinois to win outright.

Michigan won 82% of the 17 games played...Illinois 80% of the 20 games played.

Illinois did handle Michigan easily on their one match up...and Illinois was minus AYO...so I can see anyone questioning the results. In baseball terms Illinois finished a half-of-game ahead of Michigan...because they played 3 more games.

 

[kwik44]

Kevin Warren World

A world based on feelings and not facts.

 

[meatloaf55]

There never is a perfect answer when trying to figure this stuff out. If the above poster is correct, the only games they have missed are penn state and nw. Not that upsets dont happen but michigan probably would win those games.

 

[Rifler]

At start of the season I think everyone knew that odds were extremely good for games to be postponed, rescheduled and hopefully made up,.. The BIG screwed this up terribly by not laying out the ground rules going in...

 

[JBo4Three]

Shouldn't shock anyone after this past football season. The Big Ten is certainly willing to make up the rules on the fly.

Especially for the “blue bloods”!

 

[Herky T Hawk]

There never is a perfect answer when trying to figure this stuff out. If the above poster is correct, the only games they have missed are penn state and nw. Not that upsets dont happen but michigan probably would win those games.

If healthy, yes. But they just took two injuries this weekend to key players. They got a long rest break that other teams didn't get. And they played fewer games. Fewer games means fewer chances for in game injuries like we had with CJ and Joe or Illinois had with Ayo.

I think Illinois should be considered co-champs. The made up rules didn't matter for football, so why do they matter for basketball? Give Michigan the 1 seed in the BTT because of winning percentage, but Illinois should get co-champs for the regular season. Doesn't make sense that they should have negative consequences for the actions of another school.

 

[hexumhawk]

This is the ONE season where I am willing to put more creedence in the conference tournament than the regular season. There was no stability in the season- you had teams playing different amount of games, games getting dropped/rescheduled, teams off for weeks. Normally, I would say the exact opposite.

 

[Steve Waite]

I’m not sure why anybody thinks the Big regular season are champions anyway! Unless you’re going to play a 26 game schedule, they’re should be a asterisk every year. Michigan played a easy ass schedule as it was. Not having to play at Iowa and Illinois that’s 2 more losses right there.
If it makes Illinois feel better give them a co-championship! Who gives a f*ck!
Nobody remembers Confetence champions, but they do remember Sweet Sixteens, elite 8’s and final fours!

 

[anon_qczsdwtnv6esw]

Remember like 5 months ago when everyone was saying 'I just hope there is a basketball season!'. How soon we forget. I was so glad that we got to see an entire season of basketball and I give all these programs credit for the sacrifices they made to get through it. Illinois could have 2 more chances at beating Michigan(B10 and NCAA) tournament.

 

[just_somebody]

I think they should have had a rule in basketball (like they had in football) about head to head mattering when teams finishing adjacent (ie, within a half game) to each other.

Had Iowa lost and finished 13-7, I think they should have gotten the 3 seed over a 13-6 purdue based on h2h. Glad it didn't come to that

 

[HFFL64]

With unbalanced schedules regular season conf champ doesn't mean anything. I would prefer conference tournament performances be given more weight for selecting and seeding ncaa tourney.

 

[DEEfor3]

Our beef with michigan is not that they had to shut down due to Covid...it’s that the men’s basketball refused to play after the shut down was over for a few days. They could have played Illinois on the original date. Other Michigan sports teams played that night. But the men’s basketball took some extra days to practice and “get up to speed”. They could have easily squeezed in another game or two.

But...Michigan.

 

[Ronman]

I’m not sure why anybody thinks the Big regular season are champions anyway! Unless you’re going to play a 26 game schedule, they’re should be a asterisk every year. Michigan played a easy ass schedule as it was. Not having to play at Iowa and Illinois that’s 2 more losses right there.
If it makes Illinois feel better give them a co-championship! Who gives a f*ck!
Nobody remembers Confetence champions, but they do remember Sweet Sixteens, elite 8’s and final fours!

Hell, I'm still celebrating our last conference title, a shared one from 1979. No one cares about BTT champions except Steve Alford.

I just don't think any team should be rewarded for missing games.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

The tourney will hash these question out of who is the best

Only if Iowa wins....

 

[barney31]

If Nebraska can play 10 games in 20 days, then Michigan should have had to make up the other 3 games. After all, they got a 3-week rest.....