Big Ten Basketball Single Plays Announced
by Pete Rossman on Jun 16, 2011 3:14 PM CDT
in Michigan State Spartans Basketball
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PrintWith Nebraska's addition to the Big Ten, the schedule is reverting to a format where each team plays four teams only once. The Big Ten announced the list of one-offs today, and here are Michigan State's:
AT HOME: Iowa, Penn State
ON THE ROAD: Illinois, Northwestern
My first thoughts? Not optimal, but not completely unfair either. Penn State will most likely be the worst team in the Big Ten, and although Iowa will be improved, I have a tough time seeing them in the upper half of the conference. Illinois will be very talented but young, and Northwestern, just like the past few years, will look prime for an NCAA tournament birth in the nonconference season and lock themselves into an NIT birth by mid-February rolls around.
The full list of single plays are after the jump and honestly, it's hard to say one team has a distinct advantage right now. That's less a vote of confidence in the Big Ten schedule makers and more telling of how wide open the conference is currently. Ohio State will be very good, and beyond that...who knows. Wisconsin will be good if Jordan Taylor can get help. Michigan will be either decent or very good depending on how quick a point guard can emerge. Michigan State has butt loads of talent but needs it to coalesce.
But what do you think? Is this decent, or did the Spartans get the Joan Collins Special?
Illinois
Home: Iowa, Michigan State
Away: Indiana, Penn State
Indiana
Home: Illinois, Northwestern
Away: Nebraska, Wisconsin
Iowa
Home: Michigan, Ohio State
Away: Illinois, Michigan State
Michigan
Home: Minnesota, Wisconsin
Away: Iowa, Nebraska
Michigan State
Home: Iowa, Penn State
Away: Illinois, Northwestern
Minnesota
Home: Ohio State, Purdue
Away: Michigan, Penn State
Nebraska
Home: Indiana, Michigan
Away: Northwestern, Purdue
Northwestern
Home: Michigan State, Nebraska
Away: Indiana, Wisconsin
Ohio State
Home: Penn State, Purdue
Away: Iowa, Minnesota
Penn State
Home: Illinois, Minnesota
Away: Michigan State, Ohio State
Purdue
Home: Nebraska, Wisconsin
Away: Minnesota, Ohio State
Wisconsin
Home: Indiana, Northwestern
Away: Michigan, Purdue
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I like to think we're getting ready for
“Most improved team” in 2012-13
"The friend’s husband was out of his mind drunk, on drugs, too, I think," Chambers recalls. "He thought I was hitting on his wife. He stabbed me twice with a broken vodka glass" BAMF
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I wanted to complain, but
no one else has what I would call an unreasonable advantage in scheduling. The only team that got any real favor was Northwestern, and I’m not upset about it.
Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude
2 winners
Iowa and Minnesota
Based solely on the fact that not playing at Ohio State this year will be a BIG thing
For most teams next year
… it won’t matter if they play OSU on the road or not. That’s why I think Purdue got a nice break being the only contender to miss the Buckeyes once. (Minnesota’s schedule is light on contenders too). Don’t think MSU got any favors, but overall nothing too uneven.
Follow me on Twitter @hoopsmarinara for Wisconsin hoops news, insight and recruiting.
Gotta love
the fact the league championship is a completely meaningless achievement. Hard to say who is the clear winner in the scheduling department right now (minnesota looks like they gol the easiest schedule) – but ya never know until further into the season which teams are actually going to be good.
Any way ya look at it though – you can’t realistically call a team the best in the conference when you’re you’re comparing such potentially different schedules.
Hit the nail on the head with:
“you never know who’s going to be good until later in the season” – we can assume that OSU is going to be pretty good, but after that it’s mostly question marks. After our season last year I am pretty sketched out by preseason expectations.
by StickyGreen on Jun 17, 2011 5:49 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
I can't see that any of the likely contenders has much of an advantage
Not that I know who the likely contenders are. I’d like to say us, but we have some large shoes to fill. I guess that can be said for most of the usual suspects. Is Indiana likely to take the great leap forward and contend this year?
Good thing about 4 single plays vs. 2
is that it generally smooths out any advantage/disadvantage among the contenders—although the last time the conference utilized 4 single plays, MSU managed to get some combinations at the far end of the DISADVANTAGE tail of the distribution. I.E., When you do get screwed, you can get really screwed.
by KJ@theonlycolors on Jun 17, 2011 11:19 AM CDT reply actions
Thad Matta is as dirty as Tressel
OSU and their payroll better not win the Big Ten again they are a stain on the whole conference…Matta is just as dirty as Tressel but it hasn’t come out yet. It’s going to come down to OSU, MSU, and Wisconsin if we play any semblance of good team bball.
UofM is a joke and everyone needs to stop thinking because of one year at .500 in the conference they have arrived. They lost their best player and have one post player good lord.
UofM is a joke and everyone needs to stop thinking because of one year at .500 in the conference they have arrived. They lost their best player and have one post player good lord.
They lost their best two players the year before and still bounced back. Like many have said above, there’s no way to count anyone out at this point. That being said, Sullinger returning for another year gives OSU a big edge IMO.
Iowa's four teams are almost comical
They clearly have a scheduling advantage. But, since they’re Iowa, I guess it isn’t really a big deal.
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