B1G Opening Day(s)

[throwback]

Full 2 days of TV binging for the opening of B1G Conference play - 4 games on ESPN2 today, and 2 on BTN tomorrow

 

Penn State forget to show up at home today though in the first game - NW running the Nits out of their own gym, 51-32 at halftime.

 

Am especially curious to see Illinois-Maryland at 4 pm and MSU-Minny tonight - wasn't expecting much out of Illinois or Minnesota entering the season, but both have surprised on the upside in non-con play.

Edited December 27, 2016 by throwback

[Huskerpapa]

At half time my simple conclusion is that Northwestern is pretty good, or Penn State is pretty bad.  We will see how the game plays out.

[huskerbaseball13]

35 minutes ago, huskercwg said:

At half time my simple conclusion is that Northwestern is pretty good, or Penn State is pretty bad.  We will see how the game plays out.

 

Both I would say.  NW has a solid PG and some guys that can put the ball in the hoop.  They are going to be a tough out this year and may have the potential to go dancing when its said and done. 

[Huskerpapa]

3 minutes ago, huskerbaseball13 said:

 

Both I would say.  NW has a solid PG and some guys that can put the ball in the hoop.  They are going to be a tough out this year and may have the potential to go dancing when its said and done. 

With three minutes left, I echo your opinion.  NW is good, but certainly beatable.  Penn State has a long way to go...

[Norm Peterson]

If things don't pick up for PSU, this could be Chambers' last season.  He has 4 fewer conference wins in 5 seasons at PSU than Miles has in 4 seasons here.  Put another way, Miles has more conference wins in fewer seasons. 

 

And trailing Northwestern by 20 at home?  Heck, he might not survive the night. 

[Huskerpapa]

The announcers are almost whispering.  They sound like golf announcers.  I don't think they want to be louder than the crowd.

[throwback]

Don't let final score of 87-77 fool you, PSU was no match for NW today. Nits were so bad it's tough to get a real read on NW, but I agree that the Cats are likely pretty good.

 

Maryland missing a couple of their interior players with injuries. Announcers said Dodd has missed 5 straight games (I think) and Cekovsky (sp) is out today. DIdn't mention either player's status going forward (for Sunday). Cekovsky had a pretty solid game when I saw them play Charlotte last week.

 

10-4 Turtles in the early going vs Illinois. Lots of fans dressed as empty seats in College Park, and I imagine it'll be the same on Sunday, especially with a noon Eastern start .. New Year's Eve hangovers and all. 

Edited December 27, 2016 by throwback

[Norm Peterson]

Maryland putting a hurting on Illinois in the early going.  Illinois looking turrible. 

[throwback]

Well, this is the Illinois team I expected to see heading into the season. Ugly.

 

27-10 Maryland with 7 1/2 to go before halftime. Illinois taking a bunch of quick jump shots, rather than working in the lane against a team that's short handed on the interior, while Terps are living at the rim.

 

Interesting that Illinois tried zone last few possessions, as Maryland has struggled at times against zone. Not today. 2 layups and 10-ft jumper against it in four possessions. 

 

Probably best scenario for us is playing out - Maryland winning in a blowout may mean they don't have as much focus for Sunday. 

Edited December 27, 2016 by throwback

[throwback]

The 3-pt shot at the buzzer notwithstanding, MD showing again today that it's primary weakness seems to be jump shooting ... other than Melo of course. Illinois just can't seem to keep them out of the lane and make them take jumpers ... then again, I'm not sure how much the Illini want to be in College Park today.

 

So hopefully NU can go to school on this performance & keep them out of the lane Sunday and make them settle for jumpers ... other than Melo. May want to guard him as soon as he gets out of bed. 

 

They have some quick guards. Will be a challenge to stay in front of them.

 

39-23 Terps at the break.

[Huskerpapa]

So far...and it is really, really early, but it appears Penn State and Illinois fit into the "have not" category.  Cripes, Ivan Bender looks to be a good player.

[hal9000]

For some reason I thought I had heard that Penn State had a pretty good recruiting class.  

[HuskerFever]

These first two conference matchups for us are not looking too promising.

[brfrad]

Rutgers seems like a scrappy team.  Only down 9 to Wisconsin at the under 8 timeout.

[royalfan]

4 hours ago, hal9000 said:

For some reason I thought I had heard that Penn State had a pretty good recruiting class.  

 

Top 30 they said today.  They are very young this year it seems. 

[throwback]

Bad loss for Minny last night in OT to a reeling MSU team. Can't afford to blow a 15 pt lead at home with all of MSU's youth and injuries. Minny needed to win that one.

[throwback]

13 hours ago, brfrad said:

Rutgers seems like a scrappy team.  Only down 9 to Wisconsin at the under 8 timeout.

Yeah, I think Rutgers is much improved, even though that ended up being a 20-pt game. Still a ways to go for RU, but not a gimme win like last few seasons. Maybe PSU becomes the gimme team this season. 

[hhcmatt]

17 hours ago, hal9000 said:

For some reason I thought I had heard that Penn State had a pretty good recruiting class.  

 

They brought in 3 freshman from a Philly HS that normally wouldn't even think about coming to Penn State.  He's starting all 3 right now. 

[HuskerFever]

16 minutes ago, hhcdimes said:

They brought in 3 freshman from a Philly HS that normally wouldn't even think about coming to Penn State.  He's starting all 3 right now. 

 

I'm sure everyone on the Drexel, Penn, St. Joe's, and Temple hoops message boards are irate right now. How could they let the local kids slip away????

[hhcmatt]

2 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

I'm sure everyone on the Drexel, Penn, St. Joe's, and Temple hoops message boards are irate right now. How could they let the local kids slip away????

 

I know you're being flippant but Philly is huge and these guys are good. They beat out Maryland, Indiana, Pitt, etc

[49r]

Our top 30 class are sophomores now.  Still, I don't remember there being that much hype about ours as PSU's getting.

[huskerbaseball13]

8 minutes ago, 49r said:

Our top 30 class are sophomores now.  Still, I don't remember there being that much hype about ours as PSU's getting.

 

I have not watched much of PSU this year so I'm not sure how much hype that class is getting but if the above is true it may be because two of the true freshman are currently averaging double figures.  Outside of Glynn putting up solid freshman stats last year the other three members of the class did not really put up eye popping numbers.  That's the only thing I can thing of.  Does the Philly guys buy Chambers a year or two?