2007-2008 Big Ten College Basketball Thread

[damaniac]

Okay, I'll come clean right away: I mostly started this so I could mention that Sparty just lost to Grand Valley. Looks like we'll have an answer for their App State T-shirts tomorrow (aside from beating them on the field).

Okay, seriously, what do things look like this year? I'm a much more casual basketball fan than football or hockey so I'm a bit in the dark.

Michigan is hoping to rebound from the darkness of the Ellaker era. Cupboard is fairly empty but we have some talent, enough that, with decent coaching, we should be somewhat respectable. Above all, maybe we won't look like [censored] all the time. We're not making the tourney this year but I'm hoping we can hit .500 in conference.

Thoughts?

[ClarkNasty]

Illinois will be lucky to make the tournament. Scoring 60 points in any conference game will be a major accomplishment.

[PhatTBoll]

Purdue has lost a lot of leadership but they have a great freshman class coming in. They won't make the tournament, but they should show a lot of improvement as the B10 season moves along.

Relatedly, [censored] IU and their crooked coach.

[Rubeskies]

I'm a big Minnesota fan but once again, I expect nothing out of this team. They won't finish last but they won't do anything else either.

Hopefully Tubby can bring in some decent recruits next year, something Monson hasn't done in years.

[JackWhite]

By all accounts, Manny Harris is going to be very special. Finally we (michigan) have some quick guards. If Legion had honored his commitment, we might have had that extra scorer to put us over the top. But unless we get unexpected offense from someone like Shephard, Morris, Grady, or Sims, we are an NIT team. At least we will be well coached for the first time in a long time. I actually am looking forward to watching this team play. I think Beilein will get the most out of the talent.

[commish223]

Beilein will get scUM to the tourney. You have the next Thad Matta up there I believe. Speaking of Thad Matta, I expect us to finish second behind Indiana. The way he gets teams to overachieve is absurd in the Big11Ten is down again this year. I expect:

Indiana
Ohio State
Purdue
Michigan
Michigan St.
Wisconsin
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Penn State

[damaniac]

I think Beilein gets us in eventually (we've got to make it sooner or later, half the league does and we're in a talent-rich state), but not this year. The thing I like is that he seems perfectly willing to adapt to his situation. He has basically said that his system in WVU was out of necessity, and that if and when he gets top-flight talent, he'll do whatever it takes to maximize that. Obviously talk is easy and doing it (and doing it well) is the key, but it's nice to at least hear.