Well, I am officially the only one here who enjoys Bo Ryan and watching Wisconsin play. Certainly, yesterday's game wasn't very pretty, but when Wisconsin is playing in unison with one another and shooting well, there isn't much prettier in the game than watching all those Badger bigs picking and popping and performing dribble hand-offs to 6-10 guys for threes. I love it.

Wisconsin is what it is. A methodical basketball team that plays smart, fundamental basketball with the clear intention of dictating tempo. I like frenetic basketball myself, but I like the way Bo Ryan does it as well. He's great.

reclegend22;1375734 wrote:Well, I am officially the only one here who enjoys Bo Ryan and watching Wisconsin play.

It appears that way, but we still like you regardless.

BTN HD is hands down the worst of any channel I've ever seen.

WebFire;1375751 wrote:BTN HD is hands down the worst of any channel I've ever seen.

Huh??

Their coverage has gotten really good. They are better than ESPN when ESPN is doing a game with their E/F or lower crew...No doubt.

Excited for the Michigan at Indiana game this week. Should be a dandy. This was a great rivalry during the Knight years, and looks to be back with both teams playing top ten basketball annually again. Michigan will likely be No. 1 heading into Bloomington. Gonna be a great atmosphere.

Laley23;1375774 wrote:Huh??

Their coverage has gotten really good. They are better than ESPN when ESPN is doing a game with their E/F or lower crew...No doubt.

The HD. Not the coverage.

Great win for Michigan tonight. Take any win on the road, but I was nervous about Illinois.

I'd be worried about playing in front of the orange crowd in Champaign as well -- it can be a difficult place to play -- but Illinois' season is through. They keep it up, and they won't even go to the NIT. John Groce's once dream season has turned into a dark as shit nightmare. Rocky start to the Big Ten for him.

reclegend22;1375778 wrote:Excited for the Michigan at Indiana game this week. Should be a dandy. This was a great rivalry during the Knight years, and looks to be back with both teams playing top ten basketball annually again. Michigan will likely be No. 1 heading into Bloomington. Gonna be a great atmosphere.

I will be in attendance. Heading down EARLY Saturday from Toledo. Cant wait. MSU, IU and UofM look to be the teams to beat moving forward the next few years, based on current teams and recruiting.

I think this could become a big time rivalry. Not only moving forward, but these teams end their season in Ann Arbor. Could easily have the B1G title on the line that day. Would go a long way to determining a lot of things and would really intensify future meetings.

WebFire;1375779 wrote:The HD. Not the coverage.

Gotcha.

WebFire;1375779 wrote:The HD. Not the coverage.

Mine is fine, Webbie, who's your cable provider?

vball10set;1375799 wrote:Mine is fine, Webbie, who's your cable provider?

Time Warner. Other channels are fine. The HD isn't great to begin with, but there will be periods where it is very blocky. Worse than SD sometimes.

WebFire;1375801 wrote:Time Warner. Other channels are fine. The HD isn't great to begin with, but there will be periods where it is very blocky. Worse than SD sometimes.

I've got Buckeye, and so far, so good. Hope yours improves.

vball10set;1375808 wrote:I've got Buckeye, and so far, so good. Hope yours improves.

It won't. Was that way for football too. :mad: Others on the web bitch about it too.

I think we discussed it earlier in this thread...or the random chatter thread. Illinois is in serious danger of not making the NCAA's. Are they a deserving at-large team, relative to teams who will get in? I'd say yes. However, the combo of a tough B1G and a few untimely losses is going to put them probably, I'll predict (8 wins, 12 losses) in the conference and I don't care if that means 21 total wins and a top 50 RPI, it won't warrant a bid...not that far under .500 in league. Maybe at 9-11, they might be in the discussion, and that would put them at 22-12 overall, but likely with a top 40 RPI.

It will be one of the more interesting "bubble cases" IMO.

The problem with the eye test is...they dont pass it at all. Their big wins are against top 10 teams in Butler and Gonzaga, but those are still Mid-Majors. Who knows.

My rankings, week 5:

1. Michigan - Another week, another sweep. Michigan is elite.
2. Indiana - Great win at home over the Spartans. If the Hoosiers are shooting well they are as good or better than any team in the country.
3. Michigan State - Hard loss on the road to IU, but still right there for the conference title race. Lots of home games down the stretch.
4. Ohio State - No major tests in the past week but took care of business.
5. Wisconsin - Bounced back from a hard home loss to MSU Saturday taking down the Gophers.
6. Minnesota - Worst loss of their season on the road to Northwestern. No other losses could be labeled totally unexpected to this point though.
7. Purdue - Gutted out a tough win against Iowa at home. Painter getting a sleeper team together in West Lafayette?
8. Iowa - Hard week, going 0-2 and basically falling out of any contention. What looked promising going into the season is looking like another NCAA miss.
9. Northwestern - Cats looked like they were turning it around - then Nebraska happened.
10. Illinois - Inconsistency is the name of the game. Win by 20, lose by 15.
11. Nebraska - Can't put them above Illinois since they lost by 20 to the Illini, but don't want to put them below Northwestern since they beat them by 15 ... what to do with them?
12. Penn State - Will go 0-18 in the conference.

Conference games of the week:

1/29: Wisconsin @ Ohio State: Badgers already pulled of a big road upset, can they do the same here?

1/30: Indiana @ Purdue: Hoosier state battle in West Lafayette. Boilers will be putting everything they have into this one and Mackey will be rocking.

2/2: Michigan @ Indiana: Game of the year/century/millennium. If you aren't excited for this one you ain't human.

2/3: Iowa @ Minnesota: Hawkeyes have proven to be competitive but can't close games. Gophers just looking to get back to winning.

Wisconsin @ Illinois: Illinois needs to get this one to help their NCAA chances. In real danger of dropping out of the picture if they keep losing home games.

Biggest B1G game since #1 Wisconsin at #2 Ohio State in 2007. The Bucks won this one 49-48. Biggest overall game IMO since Duke at UNC in Feb 1998 when they were both #1 and #2

2/2: Michigan @ Indiana: Game of the year/century/millennium. If you aren't excited for this one you ain't human.

Should be a classic. In all likelihood, this game will also determine the B1G POY between Burke and Zeller.

Laley23;1375787 wrote:I will be in attendance. Heading down EARLY Saturday from Toledo. Cant wait. MSU, IU and UofM look to be the teams to beat moving forward the next few years, based on current teams and recruiting.

I think this could become a big time rivalry. Not only moving forward, but these teams end their season in Ann Arbor. Could easily have the B1G title on the line that day. Would go a long way to determining a lot of things and would really intensify future meetings.



Gotcha.

What does UM's recruiting look like for the next couple years? I expect they'll lose Burke, Hardaway, and Robinson after this season. Do they have recruits coming in to replace them?

se-alum;1376760 wrote:What does UM's recruiting look like for the next couple years? I expect they'll lose Burke, Hardaway, and Robinson after this season. Do they have recruits coming in to replace them?

They have 3 4* recruits for 2013. Derrick Walton is expected by many too pick up where Burke left off. Zak Irvin will likely get minutes as a freshmen. Most expect Mark Donnal (6"9", 200 lbs) to redshirt, because we'll have all the bigs back next year.

I personally don't think Robinson should or will leave. Burke and Hardaway are gone.

I personally really like Irvin...

[video=youtubedIrORhqHVg][/video]

Jordan Morgan is expected to miss tomorrow night's game against NW after twisting his ankle against Illinois. He could return for Indiana, depending on how the week goes.

Zakarie Irvin should be at Indiana (Sad Face).

But IU has an amazing class following up this past one and are very strong with abotu 10 players in 2014, so not too worried. IU, MSU and Michigan have the best recruiting this past year and the next 2 years.

vball10set;1376645 wrote:Should be a classic. In all likelihood, this game will also determine the B1G POY between Burke and Oladipo.

FIFY.

Oladipo is playing like a 1st Team AA right now, along with Burke. He is Indianas most versatile player and right there with Burke right now for B1G POY. Zeller is not.

I don't see it, Laley, he'll stumble a number of times along the way. IMO, Zeller will continue to improve and it'll be between him and Burke. Oladipo just doesn't seem to have it between the ears all the time.