It's getting harder and harder to rank these teams for Myron Medcalf's poll on the Star Tribune each week. Mostly because almost every Big Ten basketball team has disappointed in some way lately. You can check out the poll on Medcalf's blog right here.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes. With their win at Florida State last night along with their earlier win at Florida the Buckeyes might now have the two most impressive wins by anybody in the whole conference. Other than depth I'm not seeing any weaknesses in this team - through their top seven they are absolutely loaded.
2. Michigan State Spartans. The game against Duke will let us know exactly where Sparty is right now. But does it really matter where they are in December? You know where they'll be in March.
3. Illinois Fighting Illini. The win over North Carolina was decisive and impressive, but I'm starting to wonder just how difficult that really is? Still, Illinois has some nice looking wins already and are balanced and deep. Starting to look like a definite Sweet 16 type of team.
4. Northwestern Wildcats. The schedule is still soft, but Northwestern is taking care of business and easy wins over Creighton and Georgia Tech this week were a step up in competition, but posed no issue for the Wildcats. Shurna-Thompson-Crawford is actually a dynamic trio, as weird as that is to say about a Northwestern team.
5. Purdue Boilermakers. The loss to Richmond is disconcerting, but not a disaster since they're one of the better A-10 teams. They still need a third scorer to emerge, but so far nobody has shown enough consistency to be the guy.
6. Minnesota Gophers. Absolutely pathetic effort led to not only losing to Virginia, but getting humiliated in the process. Yes, they were missing Al Nolen and Rodney Williams left early due to injury, but that can't excuse poor effort.
7. Michigan Wolverines. Hung tough with Syracuse in the Legends' Classic but couldn't get the job done, and followed that up with a unimpressive effort in a loss to UTEP. I was prepared to have them 10th, but the big win over Clemson - hard fought, on the road, and in never a doubt fashion - props them up quite a bit. Darius Morris is the best point guard in the league, and it's not even close.
8. Wisconsin Badgers. The trip to Orlando has to be considered a disappointment, the Badgers come home 2-1 but without a single win over a probable NCAA tournament team. Wisconsin is now 0-2 against probable tournament teams, and it would serve them well to beat NC State coming up.
9. Indiana Hoosiers. They're sitting at 6-0, but have yet to play anybody. Their upcoming Big 10/ACC Challenge match against Boston College will be a match-up of two teams that are looking better than expected so far this year. And Christian Watford is amazing.
10. Penn State Nittany Lions. The loss earlier in the week to Ole Miss was PSU's first chance at a quality win. They have a huge opportunity coming up with Maryland coming to State College - it sets up very well for a big Penn State upset. I'm calling it now.
11. Iowa Hawkeyes. Tough loss at Wake Forest keeps Iowa in the cellar. They have a couple nice looking players who seem to be developing and gelling. They're going to upset somebody once we hit Big Ten play.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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6 comments:
Hopefully you didn't wager too much money on the PSU/Maryland money line.
Penn State was actually a slight favorite somehow, such a terrible line.
Nice call on that Penn State upset. That feeling you had was probably taco bell rumbling around in your belly, not an upset feeling.
Also, the word for my word verifaction password is Chunt. I plan to go call SSF a Chunt right now.
He DID call me a chunt. Asshole.
Look at the brightside SSF, at least he didn't say "Wash much, people have been complaining that the smell of your chunt has wafted into the breakroom."
Miggs?
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