With nothing going on this week...

[MichHusker]

I figured I might post my thoughts about the B1G rankings so far. How I see it, the B1G is divided into 4 tiers. In no particular order:

1. Indiana

2. Michigan

3. Ohio State

4. Minnesota

5. Illinois

6. Michigan St

7. Iowa

8. Wisconsin

9. Northwestern

10. Nebraska

11. Purdue

12.Penn State

The way I see it, Nebraska can hang day in and day out with the teams in their tier. The 2nd tier are teams that I think Nebraska will need to pull a minor miracle to beat, such as shooting 50% or more from downtown, or if the other team has a cold night. As for the top tier teams, well... lets not worry about that for now. Lets say we beat Penn St both times and split with the teams we play twice in the 3rd tier and beat the teams we play once, that would give us 6 conference wins right there. Now, if we can pull one or two minor miracles in the 2nd tier, we could very well finish conference play with very near 8 wins. Add that with a very realistic 11-3 non con, we could very well go into the conference tournament with a 19-13 record. That means at very least... NIT berth!!!! Any thoughts...

Kool Aid anyone?

[uneblinstu]

Keep your feet on the ground, bud.

[hskr4life]

I love the optimism. I will just say this, lets see how the Oregon game goes this Saturday, and how the team fights back against probably one of your second tier teams. I think the Oregon game will show a lot, espicially the fight the guys have in them, and the thirst they have for winning. Oregon will present a huge challenge on the road. A win there means a ton. A good game, though it does not mean as much, could be a precursor or things to come in conference play.

I fear though that if losses start to pile up on these guys at the start of conference play, wear and tear will kick in, and confidence will fall. A win over Wisconsin in our first home game would be huge, and I think they are beatable. First things first though, and that is Oregon.

Go Big Red or Go Home!

[jimmykc]

Bump Michigan State and Wisconsin each up a notch and you have it about right. Oh, and don't forget to drop NU down a notch.

[Cookie Belcher]

Thus far, Minnesota had been on a tier higher than Illinois and Michigan State IMO. Although Illinois impressed me a lot against Gonzaga the other night.

I'd go:

Indiana

Michigan

Minnesota

Ohio State

Illinois

Wisconsin

Michigan State

Iowa

Northwestern

Purdue

Penn State

Nebraska

[HuskerPower #nato73]

Penn State lost at home to Akron by 25. With their key injury I would put them last. But hey we will know soon enough.

[Cookie Belcher]

Penn State lost at home to Akron by 25. With their key injury I would put them last. But hey we will know soon enough.

I agree that without Frazier, we can and hopefully will be better than them. But until we do something that definitely proves that, I have a hard time not putting us last.

Akron is a pretty good MAC team. Not that PSU should be losing by 25 at home, but they arent terrible.

[uneblinstu]

I agree that without Frazier, we can and hopefully will be better than them. But until we do something that definitely proves that, I have a hard time not putting us last.

Akron is a pretty good MAC team. Not that PSU should be losing by 25 at home, but they arent terrible.

Neither is Valpo. Nebraska's body of work so far has been better than Penn St. And frankly, you can make a decent argument it's better than Purdue's as well.

[MichHusker]

The reason I have Nebraska ahead of Purdue is because Purdue just recently lost to a not so good Eastern Michigan team and only managed to score in the mid 40's

[Creighton Fan]

Penn State lost at home to Akron by 25. With their key injury I would put them last. But hey we will know soon enough.

Akron is expected to win their league (and won the regular season title last year).

One of the other teams in Akron's league is Kent St I believe.

I think you guys are a pretty decent defensive club and did a wonderful job on McDermott in the first half of our game. Where I would be worried is: 1) lack of depth and 2) lack of outside shooters. I am concerned that once the physicality of conference play comes around, the lack of depth may cause your guys to get worn down physically. I also think the lack of many three point shooters may cause teams to just sag off your guards and clog the paint or simply zone the heck out of you guys.

Sincerely -- I wish you the best of luck with the remainder of the season.

[Cookie Belcher]

Neither is Valpo. Nebraska's body of work so far has been better than Penn St. And frankly, you can make a decent argument it's better than Purdue's as well.

I agree with your post completely. I'm not ranking completely on body of work so far, though.

I still think the lack of depth and weak bench could cause big problems in the B1G.

[HuskerPower #nato73]

I should have known saying something about Akron would make a Creighton fan post.

How is this: Penn State lost to LaSalle by 25.

[hskr4life]

If they were in tiers, no particular order I would think it would be like this...

1. Indiana

2. Michigan

3. Ohio State

4. Illinois

4. Minnesota

6. Michigan St

7. Wisconsin

7. Iowa

9. Northwestern

10. Nebraska

11. Purdue

12.Penn State

[Norm Peterson]

Creighton Fan, didn't you guys just beat Akron? I could be wrong but I thought I heard that on the news this morning that you just beat the Zips.

No question, the long season will wear on this crew. The players we have need to stay healthy.

[uneblinstu]

Looking at the conf. schedule those first 8 games will be crucial. home vs. Wisc, Purdue @ Penn St. vs. Northwestern could make or break the season. All four of those are winnable.

[bball23]

Depth will definitely be what hurts this team this year. I do like how Miles gives them days off and time to rest. I think he knows gameday is where they will go the hardest. I'm not saying don't work hard, but when you are only able to play 8 guys at best, you have to go lighter during the week or these guys will have no legs at all as brutal Big 10 moves on.

7 teams I believe are ranked in the top 25, 3 in the top 7, NU has already played a ranked Jays team and will face an Oregon team that is 26th accoring to this week's AP. That is going to take its toll on any team, let alone a team as thin as NU.

[Creighton Fan]

Creighton Fan, didn't you guys just beat Akron? I could be wrong but I thought I heard that on the news this morning that you just beat the Zips.

No question, the long season will wear on this crew. The players we have need to stay healthy.

Yes Norm, we did. That is the only reason I knew they were picked to win their league.

Was something in my post inflammatory? I certainly didn't meanit to be. In fact, I think I even complemented your defense.

[Norm Peterson]

No, nothing inflammatory. I was just asking. I thought you guys just played the same Akron team that beat Penn State. I figured you'd probably know what kind of team they are.

[Creighton Fan]

No, nothing inflammatory. I was just asking. I thought you guys just played the same Akron team that beat Penn State. I figured you'd probably know what kind of team they are.

Sorry. Royalfan has made me a touch defensive and maybe even borderline paranoid around here.

Akron is really tall and long. They have a pretty intimidating bunch of shot blockers in the post. Perhaps more surprising is their athleticism. I was impressed with them. Reportedly, there were several NBA scouts at the game Sunday to evaluate the seven footer for Akron. I really haven't seen many MAC teams play this year, so I can't honestly evaluate where they would be expected to finish, but pretty much every preseason mag predicted them to win the conference. As I said, they won it last year but lost in the conference tourney and failed to get an at large to the dance. I will say that they were much better than I thought they'd be for whatever my meager evaluation is worth...

[MichHusker]

Looks like we are getting a little love from this guy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-berman/big-10-basketball_b_2273732.html

[HB]

Akron is expected to win their league (and won the regular season title last year).

One of the other teams in Akron's league is Kent St I believe.

I think you guys are a pretty decent defensive club and did a wonderful job on McDermott in the first half of our game. Where I would be worried is: 1) lack of depth and 2) lack of outside shooters. I am concerned that once the physicality of conference play comes around, the lack of depth may cause your guys to get worn down physically. I also think the lack of many three point shooters may cause teams to just sag off your guards and clog the paint or simply zone the heck out of you guys.

Sincerely -- I wish you the best of luck with the remainder of the season.

Based on this thread, I would say that Creighton Fan is a lot closer to Cousin Mose as a poster than Double Jay Alum.

I agree with the above concerns being legitimate. I am hopeful Parker can shoot it better whan he has shown, but I'm far from confident when it is going up. And Pelz and Rivers--I suspect the D will continue to give those fellas lots of space.