throwback

Not too surprising, other than taking only 15 teams to the tourney instead of 16. Not sure the #1 seed needs a bye. (I'm assuming they have 2-15, 3-14, 4-13 games on Wednesday, other four first-round games on Thursday, and then start quarterfinals on Friday with #1 seed joining the fray --- I guess they could also add a 3rd bunny bracket game between 10-15 seeds on Wednesday and keep the double-bye in use now.) I'm not a fan of the 20 league games, but TV money demands it, so no surprise there, although 17 league games would've provided perfect schedule balancing.

Yeah - hope he didn't have a setback - maybe he won't make the trip so he can continue to get treatment vs sitting on an airplane / in a hotel for 24 hours without normal treatment

I thought the line would be closer to +5 - maybe it'll move that way now that Gary is officially out.

I like this topic - basketball & football obviously help far more with emotion and noise than baseball and hockey. However, baseball gives the home team a strategic advantage by having last at-bat, which is huge in a tie game. And hockey gives the home team a significant strategic advantage by letting the home coach have the last line change after stoppages in play. College hoops also has the odd advantage in that the home team gets to select the ball manufacturer to use. Quite a few players don't like using a different basketball. I'm not sure I'm right, but I think college hoops has the biggest impact from being at home - there's already a great chance of upsets, and the emotion of being in front of supportive fans, not having to travel, using your own basketball, knowing your arena's sight lines, etc., often can tip the balance toward major upsets from home 'dogs. Not always, but frequently enough.

I hope you're right - Maryland's NET number stinks, thanks to a bad non-con, but I think they're starting to round into the form people thought they'd have before the season - quite a few predictions had them earning the double-bye. If we could win there, it would be very impressive on the eye test but wouldn't move the needle much in the metrics, I'd imagine. MD has really struggled in tight games, so hopefully we can find a way to continue that issue for them. Will be very curious to see how they play in Iowa City tonight. MD's win at Illinois last weekend was very impressive, even without Shannon, and they battled MSU the entire way over the weekend. They also played very tight at NW in the mid-week last week, and NW has been nails at home vs everyone but Chicago State. (That may end up being the most baffling result of the entire college hoops season when things are finished.)

The 3-pt line was basically Conk's FT line that season.

5 home games left - we'll be pretty solid favorites (-5 or more) in four of them - and probably a slight 'dog vs Wisky 6 road games left - probably a solid 'dog in the next 3 (+5 or more) - not sure on the last 3. Probably slight 'dog at Indiana, OSU and Mich right now, but things could change quite a bit by the time those games roll around .... especially the Michigan game - they may be pretty beaten down by that time. I'd be pretty happy if we win the 4 games where we're favored and get 2 of the other 7. 21 wins would probably put us on the right side of the bubble along with our multiple Q1 wins. If we then get 1 in the B1G tourney to get to 22 wins, we're an NCAA lock. Looks like we'll be underdogs in each of the next 4 - need to steal at least 1 of them to stay on target.

Now 11-7 in our last 18 conference games (.611) and 21-8 over our last 29 games (.724) - close to a full season for both. That .724 winning pct would rank as the best "season" we've had since 1990-91 (.765) That .611 B1G winning pct would tie for our 2nd best conference "season" since 1998-99.

Ha, I was just thinking that too after posting it - had to go look - yup 4 now. NW is close, but no one else really is. I guess we'll get a bit of a bonus with Purdue being a Q1-A.

EDIT: I think it's actually 4 total - but I appreciate the optimism.

NU 78 MD 77

Always feels good to kick the crap out of Ohio State in anything. In basketball, no team in the league does less with more talent. Was more than a little worried after scoring 13 points in the first 8 minutes, but the offense was not too bad after that 70 pts in the final 32 minutes will get the job done most nights. Our rebounding was excellent - for a team that rebounds offensively as well as OSU, for us to win the 2nd chance point battle like that (16-2) was beyond impressive, especially without Gary.

I saw on Twitter there are some questions floating around the legality of how law enforcement obtained the information to begin its investigation - not sure if it's true or not, but, if so, it could at least put the legal charges against all the players in some jeopardy. I doubt it would affect the NCAA portion of the punishment, since they're separate, but who knows with the NCAA these days. Probably would take several months to sort everything out legally regardless, so it ultimately probably won't mean much for his eligibility at NU.

That KSU win is going to be a huge one if they can stay in Q1.

I assume she still got her 2 free throws, though, just like usual.

NU 77 OSU 72 17

Agreed that it felt more even on the boards, but part of it was we turned it over so much and shot such a high percentage, NW didn't have a lot of chances at defensive rebounds to pad their numbers.

Just had to win today - glad to see the team find a way to get it done. Keisei was brilliant late, but don't forget CJ's driving bucket to break the tie. Lots of contributions from different guys - impressive defense on Buie, not many teams have done that to him. Hate to see us have another several minute FG scoring drought, but we got a little tentative offensively again when the other team turned up the pressure. Almost impossible to have 18 turnovers (13 of which were steals) and give up only 3 fast break points. Not sure how we did it, but us preventing them from running after those giveaways probably won the game. Another big one Tuesday where we'll probably be without Gary again - our resume takes a big ding with a home loss to anyone at this point other than maybe Wisky. And I don't want to lose to Wisky.

NU favored by 2.5 - we are 8-4 ATS at home

Hopefully this news gives the team a shot in the arm for a huge game Saturday versus what could've been pretty disheartening news.

I once tore a calf muscle just running, don't even think I took a funny step, it just happened - everyone was certain i had torn my Achilles until the doctors did the MRI, as all the symptoms were almost identical to what people describe when they tear an Achilles - so I can sympathize. Hope he's fully healed up and back soon.