throwback

PSU has a lot of future pros on that team, and they played like a pro team tonight. Screw around until there's 5 minutes left, then start trying.

Psssh. They could only manage one overtime. Quitters.

NU 67 TBA 62 3

Second Round Point Spreads Maryland -2.5 vs Wisconsin Michigan -9 vs Iowa Penn St -5.5 vs Northwestern Indiana -6 vs Rutgers Definitely like Wisky & PSU, even though it doesn't sound like Watkins will play, as NW and Md have been struggling down the stretch. Not as sure on the other 2 games. Leaning toward Indiana and giving the points and maybe Iowa getting points but Michigan to win outright. It happens every year - a couple of the teams/underdogs that have already played on the neutral floor at the tournament get off to a fast start and a big lead against a team that had the bye(s) and is playing its first game of the tournament - could see Iowa doing that tonight before UM takes control. Hopefully that doesn't happen to us Friday - very important to start strongly in this type of environment with so much on the line.

They missed an important rule change - vintage NIT red, white and blue basketballs, please.

Hopefully, OU and URI get paired up in the NIT. That will be an epic match - first team to 40 wins.

URI may want to just give up basketball after tonight. If we are taken to task for losing a tight game at Illinois, what does a 30+ point home beatdown to a sub-.500 team in a mid-major league do to you?

Technically, I should've said: And they have assist on 100% of their FG. Bad singular/plural grammar on my part - apologies.

Hey, at least they're shooting 80% from the free throw line. And they have assists on 100% of their FGs. Not bad.

Point spreads for Sunday's games: Mich St (-7.5) at Wisconsin Illinois at Rutgers (-1) Minnesota at Purdue (-18) Penn St (-1.5) at Nebraska (opened at Pick-em) NW at Iowa (-3)

Kind of slapped me in the face to see all of the schools named in this probe in one way or the other so far - 2 B1G teams and 4 teams on our schedule this year. Obviously, different levels of problems for each school, but not a list you want to be on. Alabama Arizona Auburn Clemson Creighton Duke Iowa St Kansas Kentucky Louisville LSU Maryland Michigan St North Carolina North Carolina St Notre Dame Oklahoma St Seton Hall South Carolina Texas USC Utah Vanderbilt Virginia Washington Wichita State Xavier http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22555512/explaining-ncaa-college-basketball-scandal-players-coaches-agents 7 ACC (out of 15) 6 SEC (out of 14) 4 Pac-12 (out of 12) 4 Big 12 (out of 10) 3 Big East (out of 10) 2 B1G (out of 14) 1 AAC So that’s 26 out of 75 major schools …. with still more to come I'd imagine. Wow.

Last update before tomorrow's 5-game smorgasbord Illinois at Rutgers (Sunday) WIN: #12 w/ Iowa loss -- or #13 w/ Iowa win LOSS: #14 Indiana #6 w/ Penn St loss -- or #7 w/ Penn St win Iowa vs Northwestern (Sunday) WIN: #12 w/ Illinois win -- or #13 w/ Rutgers win LOSS: #13 w/ Rutgers win -- or #14 w/ Illinois win Maryland #8 seed Michigan #4 w/ Nebraska loss -- or #5 w/ Nebraska win Mich St at Wisconsin (Sunday) WIN: #1 LOSS: #2 Minnesota at Purdue (Sunday) #11 seed Nebraska vs Penn St (Sunday) WIN: #4 LOSS: #5 Northwestern at Iowa (Sunday) #10 seed Ohio St #1 w/ Mich St loss -- or #2 w/ Mich St win Penn St at Nebraska (Sunday) WIN: #6 LOSS: #7 Purdue vs Minnesota (Sunday) #3 seed Rutgers vs Illinois (Sunday) WIN: #12 LOSS: #13 w/ Iowa loss -- or #14 w/ Iowa win Wisconsin vs Mich St (Sunday) #9 seed Possible teams for each seed (Most likely team listed first) #1 – Mich St or Ohio St #2 – Ohio St or Mich St #3 – Purdue #4 – Nebraska or Michigan #5 – Michigan or Nebraska #6 – Indiana or Penn St #7 – Penn St or Indiana #8 – Maryland #9 – Wisconsin #10 – Northwestern #11 – Minnesota #12 – Rutgers or Iowa or Illinois #13 – Iowa or Illinois or Rutgers #14 – Illinois or Iowa or Rutgers TOP SEGMENT (11 a.m. Thurs/Fri) BYE >> Wisconsin vs >> winner vs BYE >> Maryland >> MSU/OSU MID-TOP SEGMENT (4:30 p.m. Wed, 1:30 p.m. Thurs/Fri) Iowa/Ill/RU vs >> winner vs >> winner vs RU/Iowa/Ill >> Mich/Neb >> Neb/Mich MID-LOWER SEGMENT (5:30 p.m. Thurs/Fri) BYE >> Northwestern vs >> winner vs BYE >> PSU/Indiana >> OSU/MSU LOWER SEGMENT (7 p.m. Wed, 8 p.m. Thurs/Fri) Ill/Iowa/RU vs >> winner vs >> winner vs Minnesota >> Ind/PSU >> Purdue

I also think the magic number now is 23, but if #23 is a win over Rutgers instead of Michigan, I'm not feeling anywhere near as confident during that off week. Unfortunately, our margin is so razor thin, it'll make a difference for sure.

Well, I'll give him credit for owning up to the mistake. Too bad he didn't listen to everyone that told him it would be a mistake ahead of time.

Interesting read as he takes into account what he thinks each team will do going forward - I'm not sure these other guys do. Also, because he's been working for BTN this season, he has actually seen us up close - again, not sure these other guys are doing that, like the committee will be/should be doing. His name still carries a lot of weight, even without the "ESPN" behind it, so things like this can do nothing but help. Going to be a lot of sweater vests that don't like what he has to say though.

https://sports.yahoo.com/exclusive-federal-documents-detail-sweeping-potential-ncaa-violations-involving-high-profile-players-schools-103338484.html More issues for Izzo & MSU

Agreed, but Watkins is such a horrific match-up problem for us that his absence may help us more than almost any other team in the league - still going to be a huge challenge - PSU is loaded with talent. And they do have plenty of big bodies on their bench - no one like Watkins, but Moore is an experienced senior and is more than serviceable and they have a couple more bodies back there.

Possible teams for each seed (Most likely team listed first) #1 – Michigan St or Ohio St #2 – Ohio St or Mich St or Purdue #3 – Purdue or Ohio St #4 – Nebraska or Michigan #5 – Michigan or Nebraska #6 – Indiana or Penn St #7 – Penn St or Indiana #8 – Maryland #9 – Wisconsin #10 – Northwestern #11 – Minnesota #12 – Rutgers or Iowa or Illinois #13 – Iowa or Illinois or Rutgers #14 – Illinois or Iowa or Rutgers TOP SEGMENT (11 a.m. Thurs/Fri) BYE >> Wisconsin vs >> winner vs BYE >> Maryland >> MSU/OSU MID-TOP SEGMENT (4:30 p.m. Wed, 1:30 p.m. Thurs/Fri) Iowa/Ill/RU vs >> winner vs >> winner vs RU/Iowa/Ill >> Mich/Neb >> Neb/Mich MID-LOWER SEGMENT (5:30 p.m. Thurs/Fri) BYE >> Northwestern vs >> winner vs BYE >> PSU/Indiana >> OSU/MSU/Pur LOWER SEGMENT (7 p.m. Wed, 8 p.m. Thurs/Fri) Ill/Iowa/RU vs >> winner vs >> winner vs Minnesota >> Ind/PSU >> Pur/OSU

Everyone with one game left to go Possible Seed Range for B1G Tournament Illinois at Rutgers (Sunday) WIN: #12 w/ Iowa loss -- or #13 w/ Iowa win LOSS: #14 Indiana vs Ohio St (Friday) WIN: #6 LOSS: #6 w/ Penn St loss -- or #7 w/ Penn St win Iowa vs Northwestern (Sunday) WIN: #12 w/ Illinois win -- or #13 w/ Rutgers win LOSS: #13 w/ Rutgers win -- or #14 w/ Illinois win Maryland vs Michigan (Saturday) #8 seed Michigan at Maryland (Saturday) WIN: #4 w/ Nebraska loss -- or #5 w/ Nebraska win LOSS: #5 Mich St at Wisconsin (Sunday) WIN: #1 LOSS: #1 w/ Ohio St loss -- or #2 w/ Ohio St win Minnesota at Purdue (Sunday) #11 seed Nebraska vs Penn St (Sunday WIN: #4 LOSS: #4 w/ Michigan loss -- or #5 w/ Michigan win Northwestern at Iowa (Sunday) #10 seed Ohio St at Indiana (Friday) WIN: #1 w/ Mich St loss -- or #2 w/ Mich St win LOSS: #2 w/ Purdue loss -- or #3 w/ Purdue win Penn St at Nebraska (Sunday) WIN: #6 w/ Indiana loss -- or #7 w/ Indiana win LOSS: #7 Purdue vs Minnesota (Sunday) WIN: #2 w/ Ohio St loss -- or #3 w/ Ohio St win LOSS: #3 Rutgers vs Illinois (Sunday) WIN: #12 LOSS: #13 w/ Iowa loss -- or #14 w/ Iowa win Wisconsin vs Mich St (Sunday) #9 seed

Lantz is before my time, but from what I've heard, that might be a good comparison. Maybe Andre Smith? Different era, so he was more back to the basket style. Good passer out of the post, not as good of a rebounder, but great scorer. Venson Hamilton kind of made that huge jump from his frosh to soph season. Again, more back to the basket as I remember, but an outstanding all-around player. Maybe NU's most under-rated player of all time. If Roby could develop like Hamilton did, look out.

We've had our share of great athletes over the years, but you're right, very few at his size with his wing span and as court-aware at this point in his career. I can't wait to see what he can do with another off-season - if he works as hard this off-season as he did last off-season, it's crazy to think how good he could be.

I actually think PSU has been better vs the 1-3-1 the past several games, or at least since we used it on them. They found its holes. But when UM switched to more of a 2-3 look last night, they were back to square one because the 2-3 doesn't have the same holes as the 1-3-1. So maybe we roll out both 1-3-1 and that 2-3 we used at Illinois to try to confuse them, and I think it'll work. Carr just plays so passively vs the zones, it almost takes him out of the game. And as good as he is, anything you can do to slow him down is worth trying. Another big break for us if Watkins doesn't play - he has dominated us in the past two meetings ... and that's an understatement. I hope he's all right, but if the Nits want to hold him out Sunday to make sure he's healthier for the B1G tournament, I won't complain. I'll give Chambers this - he might be the league's top recruiter right now. To get that much high school talent/future pros to come to that impossible-to-get-to craphole is pretty impressive, especially considering they have no tradition. As far as his coaching acumen? Well, they're 9-8 this year in the B1G with more talent/athletes than anyone outside of East Lansing, and I believe the talent level is actually pretty close between those two. Whoever said earlier that if you give UM's coach PSU's players and he takes them to the Final Four is spot on.

Changes after tonight in parentheses Possible Seed Range for B1G Tournament Illinois - clinched play-in round Worst Case: #14 Best Case: #11 Indiana Worst Case: #7 Best Case: #6 Iowa- clinched play-in round Worst Case: #14 Best Case: #12 (was #11) Maryland #8 seed Michigan Worst Case: #5 (was #6) Best Case: #4 Mich St - Clinched double-bye Worst Case: #2 Best Case: #1 Minnesota- clinched play-in round Worst Case: #12 (was #14) Best Case: #11 Nebraska Worst Case: #5 Best Case: #4 Northwestern Worst Case: #10 Best Case: #9 Ohio St - Clinched double-bye Worst Case: #3 Best Case: #1 Penn St Worst Case: #7 Best Case: #6 (was #5) Purdue - Clinched double-bye Worst Case: #3 Best Case: #2 Rutgers- clinched play-in round Worst Case: #14 Best Case: #12 (was #11) Wisconsin Worst Case: #10 Best Case: #9 *Minnesota should now be the #11, unless Illinois can somehow beat Purdue and Rutgers to close out. So in NU's part of the bracket, we'll have the Wednesday 12/13 game winner, which almost certainly will come from Iowa/Rutgers/Illinois, playing the 5 (either Michigan or NU) Thursday. Then the winner there plays the 4 (either NU or MIch) Friday. If Iowa beats NW Sunday, they'll be in that 12/13 game and the other spot goes to Ill/Rutg winner Sunday (assuming Illinois loses to Purdue). If Iowa loses to NW Sunday, then Rutg is in the 12/13 game, and Illinois must beat Rutg to also be in the 12/13 game, otherwise it's Iowa (again assuming Illinois loses to Purdue).

Quite a few teams play over ice rinks - I believe they have an insulating layer they place between the ice and the bottom of the floor. Occasionally, it can cause problems with condensation on the basketball floor if something malfunctions. I doubt they have ice under the floor at Century Link anymore, but they did when UNO played hockey there. And they always have ice under the floor at Baxter Arena for the Mavs. I want to say Wisconsin hockey plays at the Kohl Center too.

Does Iowa losing 19-2 at the under 12 minute timeout help us? I'm going to vote "yes".