MBB Big Ten opponents

[Blair Sanderson]

Iowa’s 2017 Big Ten Opponents Designated

Hawkeyes to play 5 times twice, 8 teams once


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The Big Ten Conference released on Monday each team's home and away, and single-play designations for the 2017 men's basketball conference season.


Iowa will play Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Purdue, and Rutgers home and away. The Hawkeyes will play the remaining league teams once, hosting Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, while traveling to Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.


Dates and television information will be assigned to opponents later this summer.

 

[StormHawk42]

Glad we don't have to go to Bloomington or that dead library in Pennsylvania.

 

[4th & 9 inches]

Better schedule than not IMO-one that could be taken advantage of if we play well but that is always the case.

 

[perryhawk]

Ya, I think it's a fortunate schedule for this young team. That said, with the tough non conference slate getting to 18 or 20 wins (pre B10 Tournament) will be a challenge.

I can't wait for the PTL and then the start of next season.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

Am I correct in thinking that this seems like a favorable conference schedule?

 

[DanL53]

I'm confused. Really confused. I am certain the Big Ten said teams will not play back to back H/A!!! How did Purdue get slipped in there? Granted SHOULD have included Wisconsin which would have been worse. But it isn't fair for the league to pick matchups and not stick to the plan.

 

[hoffmkr]

If you look at the games, there are 11 Games that Iowa should be favored in:
2X: Illinois, NE, Rutgers, Maryland
1x: MN, NW, PSU

If you win 9 of 11 of those and pick up 1 other game , you have 10 conference wins which give you a chance.

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

You don't think we'll be favored at home against Michigan and OSU? Honestly, I know we're losing a lot of experience, but if this schedule isn't set up for another 12-6 year...

I'm seeing sweeps of Maryland (possibly optimistic, but a split should be expected), Nebraska, and Rutgers
A split with Illinois
Home wins vs Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State
Road wins vs Minnesota and NW

I also see it as more likely than not that we would sweep Illinois than be swept, which gives us more of a cushion.

Ok - go ahead and tear that apart you doom and gloomers.

 

[hoffmkr]

You don't think we'll be favored at home against Michigan and OSU? Honestly, I know we're losing a lot of experience, but if this schedule isn't set up for another 12-6 year...

I'm seeing sweeps of Maryland (possibly optimistic, but a split should be expected), Nebraska, and Rutgers
A split with Illinois
Home wins vs Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State
Road wins vs Minnesota and NW
.

I was trying to be conservative. I put home games against Michigan and OSU as toss-up games that didn't want to count on. Same way as the home game against Purdue. Iowa CAN win those games but the talent on the other side means it's going to be close and a bad night or wrong officials could cost the game.

I think Illinois is one match short of a dumpster fire. I agree the Tremble is not enough by himself.

However, Iowa has 1 starter returning, even if he is the most dynamic scorer in the league. Also, teams always lose 1-3 games they "SHOULD" win and generally pickup a game or two on the other side of the ledger.

I'm sticking with 10-8 for a prediction and going to be cheering and yelling for that number to go up.

 

[2432Hawk]

Now if we can only get a Saturday home conference game.... that would be nice.

 

[Ronman]

I'm confused. Really confused. I am certain the Big Ten said teams will not play back to back H/A!!! How did Purdue get slipped in there? Granted SHOULD have included Wisconsin which would have been worse. But it isn't fair for the league to pick matchups and not stick to the plan.

Dan,don't you remember that we and the Boilers are bitter, natural rivals?

That said, I think the conference schedule is about the best we could hope for given the inexperience of our young team.

 

[DanL53]

Dan,don't you remember that we and the Boilers are bitter, natural rivals?

That said, I think the conference schedule is about the best we could hope for given the inexperience of our young team.

I like the schedule as it turned out. But I think the Big Ten made a statement when they came out with their "system" that teams wouldn't play home and away games two years in a row.

 

[ichawk24]

Dan, the back to back is a "principle", but they aren't written in stone. Scheduling is hard.

 

[ChiDoc]

You don't think we'll be favored at home against Michigan and OSU?

Ohio State returns all 5 starters as well as their top 6 players from a team that beat Iowa last year with only 1 upperclassmen on their entire roster. Iowa clearly won't be favored in that game.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

If you look at the games, there are 11 Games that Iowa should be favored in:
2X: Illinois, NE, Rutgers, Maryland
1x: MN, NW, PSU

If you win 9 of 11 of those and pick up 1 other game , you have 10 conference wins which give you a chance.

Maryland won't be favored at home against Iowa? Serious question since I don't pay that close of attention to other schools. Isn't Melo Trimble coming back?

 

[CyCity]

Maryland won't be favored at home against Iowa? Serious question since I don't pay that close of attention to other schools. Isn't Melo Trimble coming back?

Yes and they're bringing in a top 10 recruiting class

 

[CanadaHawk]

I like the schedule as it turned out. But I think the Big Ten made a statement when they came out with their "system" that teams wouldn't play home and away games two years in a row.

Isn't there an exception with the 'designated rivals'? That's why 2X v PD.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

Yes and they're bringing in a top 10 recruiting class

Okay, so I was right with my first instinct to be highly skeptical of that.

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

OSU won in Columbus, this game will be in Iowa City. I think only Purdue, Michigan State, Indiana, and Wisconsin would be favored in Iowa City next year.

Maryland had all 5 starters declare for the draft, and only Trimble came back. For as strong as their recruiting classes have been, I view them as under achievers.

 

[DanL53]

Dan, the back to back is a "principle", but they aren't written in stone. Scheduling is hard.

I could have sworn there were to be no back to back years H/A. But maybe I'm wrong. If it is just too hard? I'll help them. Be glad to.

 

[spbc7]

Maryland had all 5 starters declare for the draft, and only Trimble came back. For as strong as their recruiting classes have been, I view them as under achievers.

Dion Wiley, who would have started over Sulaimon, is back from injury this year. They also return their back up PG and bring in a top 11 PG and top 10 SG. Their backcourt should be one if, if not the best, in the conference. Nickens and Dodd both played quite a bit last year and Cekovsky saw some minutes also. Their front court looks to be in a pretty similar situation as ours going into this next season. Definitely talented, but young and on the smaller side.

 

[ChiDoc]

OSU won in Columbus, this game will be in Iowa City.

Yes, and they will literally be better at every single position with an improved bench, while it's probable Iowa is worse at every position but one (Jok), with a worse bench than last season. Matta is also 5-1 in his last 6 trips to Carver Hawkeye Arena. No wonder you think the schedule is "set up" for a 12-6 season.

 

[DanL53]

With a young team, it is practically impossible to guess how many games we can win. Imo, we have plenty of talent. Just as much as we've had the last three or four years and possibly more. The problem is, we have little experience.

Expect to win some games we shouldn't and lose some games we shouldn't.

I'm not entirely ready to make any predictions, especially not anything that I won't change later. But my gut says about 9-9, maybe 10-8.

Look at it this way, for the negative folk. You didn't like Gesell, Woody, or Clemmons for that matter. All those guys are gone! Shouldn't you be excited to have Williams stepping in? Or Cook? Or Moss? Or at least be excited that finally the guys you thought couldn't play are gone? At least that? Isn't the unknown better?

Or does just anyone who puts on a Hawkeye uniform disappoint before he even plays, or barely plays?

If you ask me, we've got an athletic team that can hit threes, run the court, and we're deep. No experience, and that may mean some learning on defense. I say stop looking out at the corn fields and believing that just because no ears have appeared that there won't be any in the fall.

We've got a very good crop of players, let's give 'em time to grow.

 

[hoffmkr]

OSU won in Columbus, this game will be in Iowa City. I think only Purdue, Michigan State, Indiana, and Wisconsin would be favored in Iowa City next year.

Maryland had all 5 starters declare for the draft, and only Trimble came back. For as strong as their recruiting classes have been, I view them as under achievers.

This is the EXACT reason I have Iowa favored at Maryland. Jok was a better player than Trimble last year and Iowa has players who've atleast been through some big 10 playing time. Recruits are great, but MOST do not live up to the hype first year on campus and if you've got 4 starting, you are going to probably underachieve.

 

[CyCity]

Maryland should be better than Iowa next year. They return Trimble, Wiley and Nickens plus bring in some really good players. Of course the season has to play out but I don't think there is much reason to believe Iowa would be favored there right now

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

I can see that there is just a difference of opinion of how I'm viewing how good OSU and Maryland will be to others. I'll sum it up as such, and accept that since we are forecasting, there can be no right or wrong.

I view Matta as hitting a rough patch. Despite consistently bringing in high level talent, he's gone through a few years now where they have under achieved. I view their offseason departures as a clear indicator that something is up within the program (some sort of failure to get everyone on the same page for whatever reason), and I view that anything more than one or two transfers per year to signal a downward trend. I will concede that they are brining back most players of significance, but I think that people are discounting our players that they haven't yet seen (Moss and Cook especially). Perhaps OSU will see improvement out of every starter and move into the Top 5 in the conference. Then again, they could struggle with consistency again and end up very mediocre, which would lead me to believe that we would be favored at home.

I also have very little respect for Turgeon. He has made his living bringing in transfers and appears to overvalue recruiting rankings as opposed to getting in on kids who he identifies as having specific skills that fit his system regardless of ranking. Perhaps that attitude is slightly sour grapes, as I wish that Fran could identify those traits in highly ranked recruits and seal the deal (Cook being the exception so far, although we've got his sons and Wieskamp on the way as well). I'd obviously love to have classes ranked in the top 10 every year, but I also acknowledge that Fran has shown that he can develop his teams and they have seemed to improve each year under his guidance. That said, wasn't Maryland supposed to be a Final Four contender last year? They couldn't even win the conference with Michigan State being all over the place. Until they show that they can exceed expectations, I'm selling on any preseason predictions for the Terps.

I'll admit, 12-6 is definitely looking through some black and gold sunglasses sipping kool-aid on a beach. However, it's just completely blind faith. I'm looking forward to seeing how Cook compares to players I have seen play in person, and I'm hoping that ESPN was correct to rank Moss as our best recruit in his class. We'll find out throughout the season, but thanks for those posters who have at least countered my positions logically - I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that!

 

[ChiDoc]

I view Matta as hitting a rough patch. Despite consistently bringing in high level talent, he's gone through a few years now where they have under achieved. I view their offseason departures as a clear indicator that something is up within the program (some sort of failure to get everyone on the same page for whatever reason), and I view that anything more than one or two transfers per year to signal a downward trend. I will concede that they are brining back most players of significance, but I think that people are discounting our players that they haven't yet seen (Moss and Cook especially). Perhaps OSU will see improvement out of every starter and move into the Top 5 in the conference. Then again, they could struggle with consistency again and end up very mediocre, which would lead me to believe that we would be favored at home.

The differing analysis isn't from underrating Cook, it's that you're vastly underrating what tOSU has coming back. They'll start 4 guys whose composite recruiting ranking (#29, 41, 57, 61) average is considerably higher than Cook's (#73), but much more importantly they'll average 2 years of experience starting in the B1G and are entering the veteran stage of their college careers, plus there's 2 more rated the same as Cook (in the low 70's) coming off the bench. Also there's a high probability that Cook won't be much of a difference maker as a true frosh. It's the rule for non McD-AA big men much more often than it's the exception in college basketball, because they never face anything close to the size and athleticism of college big men in HS (and AAU D and physicality in the post is a joke compared to the B1G). Iowa of course may very well upset them at home as a road win in the B1G is never easy, but considering these facts as well as Matta being 5-1 in his last 6 trips to Iowa, the Hawks won't be favored in that game, the sharps would hammer tOSU if they were getting points. There's a night and day difference between a very talented VETERAN team and a talented one with only 1 upperclassmen on their entire roster like the Buckeyes were last year.

Also, it's beyond absurd in this day and age to describe any team with more than 1-2 transfers out as trending downward. It's virtually impossible to sign as many highly ranked guys as Matta did and not have transfers. None of those guys leaving could beat out the ones returning for playing time, so they left for mostly inferior programs like Alabama, NM State, and UC Santa Barbara, with Grandstaff to Oklahoma being the exception, but he wasn't anywhere close to ready physically for the B1G as a frosh, despite his Dad telling him otherwise. Edit LOL, just saw this, Grandstaff is now leaving Oklahoma after 4 months, what a trainwreck, also proves my point: http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/05)./17/report-oklahomas-grandstaff-to-transfer/

 

[spbc7]

Interesting breakdown