ND beats UW

[Mr. Nielsen]

Now there's an off day before the championship game of the Old Spice Classic?  We could have used that last year.

There always been an off day. College football Saturday for TV.

It was a great time. I went last season to Orlando. Milk House is a nice arena.

[avid1010]

Wow.  The B11 has taken a beating by mid-tier BE teams.  Really thought that this was the year for the Big Ten.  Anyone else feel that the Old Spice field was weak this year vs. last? Not to take anything away from Bucky or the Domers, but this whole field played some bad basketball.  Next year:  DePaul.

Field was terrible...I've never seen a tournament with such low scoring.  Brey noted in his post game interview that he thought the BEAST had won 7 of the "preseason" tournaments.  Like you said, Izzo has his kids ready at the end of the year...outside of that, I'm not too sure what the B10 has.  MN is probably a bit of a sleeper at this point, as is UCONN to the BEAST.  Ohio State seems untested.  Didn't get much out of their FL game.

[GGGG]

Do you honestly think last year the Big East was the best conference in the country?  You would be probably the only one.  There is a bottom side to a conference and our bottom wasn't very good.

We'll see how this year shakes out as the games are played.

Here are the conference ratings for you

http://kenpom.com/conf.php?c=BE

Big Ten 1st, Big East 3rd so far

Yeah, the BE has a weak underbelly for sure.  The B10 just doesn't have a lot of great teams, but they have a solid core to bottom.

[SacWarrior]

I'm just glad that Badger fans will shut the hell up this year about their perceived superiority now that they have the same record whereas we were beat by the number one team in the country and a top 25 team

Also we lost in the exact same tournament in the exact same game in remarkably similar circumstances last year so they can't hold that over our heads.

[chapman]

There was last year.  We beat Xavier on Thanksgiving, Michigan on Friday and lost to FSU Sunday night.

Hmm, don't remember it.  Guess me, the team or both didn't get enough rest on that off day.

[Jay Bee]

Yeah, the BE has a weak underbelly for sure.  The B10 just doesn't have a lot of great teams, but they have a solid core to bottom.

Percentage wise I don't know that it's that much different... there are only 11 teams in the Big Ten (until they add a horrible bball team to make it 12)... Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and I4 are all bad news.    4/11 (5/12 if you include incoming Nebraska) are bad teams. 

I'm not including Northwestern in that group and they are a school that has never made the tourney.  Seems like a "weak underbelly" to me.

[GGGG]

I'm just glad that Badger fans will shut the hell up this year about their perceived superiority now that they have the same record whereas we were beat by the number one team in the country and a top 25 team

Also we lost in the exact same tournament in the exact same game in remarkably similar circumstances last year so they can't hold that over our heads.

Lol...do you really care that much about what Badger fans say about MU?  Were you getting taunted about the Old Spice Classic loss from last year?

[GGGG]

Percentage wise I don't know that it's that much different... there are only 11 teams in the Big Ten (until they add a horrible bball team to make it 12)... Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and I4 are all bad news.    4/11 (5/12 if you include incoming Nebraska) are bad teams. 

I'm not including Northwestern in that group and they are a school that has never made the tourney.  Seems like a "weak underbelly" to me.

Well, then start your own rating service.  Just explaining why the ratings are the way they are.

[Lennys Tap]

Yeah, the BE has a weak underbelly for sure.  The B10 just doesn't have a lot of great teams, but they have a solid core to bottom.

Seriously? Last year's "bottom core" included Penn State, Indiana and Iowa. Not sure, but I think IU and Iowa had a lower RPI than DePaul.

[SacWarrior]

Lol...do you really care that much about what Badger fans say about MU?  Were you getting taunted about the Old Spice Classic loss from last year?

I'm just anticipating the atmosphere at the Bradley Center on the 11th.

[GGGG]

Seriously? Last year's "bottom core" included Penn State, Indiana and Iowa. Not sure, but I think IU and Iowa had a lower RPI than DePaul.

Look, I'm just describing how the RPI is how it is...not defending it.

[Jay Bee]

Well, then start your own rating service.  Just explaining why the ratings are the way they are.

Look, I'm just describing how the RPI is how it is...not defending it.

Why would I start my own rating service?  I'm just pointing out that your claim is not supported by facts.  

You're just describing how the RPI is?  The Big East is ranked #1 in the RPI as of now.  

Last year there was Penn State at 194, Iowa and 210 and I4 at 222 in the Big11... Big East had one team at 212 and the next lowest of the 15 remaining teams was at 161.  

[ChicosBailBonds]

Percentage wise I don't know that it's that much different... there are only 11 teams in the Big Ten (until they add a horrible bball team to make it 12)... Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and I4 are all bad news.    4/11 (5/12 if you include incoming Nebraska) are bad teams. 

I'm not including Northwestern in that group and they are a school that has never made the tourney.  Seems like a "weak underbelly" to me.

Two years ago the Big East sent 8 teams and the bids were awesome...3 number one seeds.

Last year a different story.  We're always going to get 7 or 8 bids but the seeding will largely reflect how good the conference is.

The Big Ten with MSU, Ohio State, Illinois and Minnesota are very good.  If Hummel hadn't been hurt, Purdue is in that list as well.  Wisconsin comes into that next tier.  My guess would be the Big Ten receives 6 or 7 bids this year, which will be a higher percentage than the Big East.

Just a guess, should be fun to watch it all play out.  MU and UW both are flawed teams that have some questions to answer. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Seriously? Last year's "bottom core" included Penn State, Indiana and Iowa. Not sure, but I think IU and Iowa had a lower RPI than DePaul.

Last year the Big Ten finished behind the Big East in the Pomeroy, it was actually the ACC that was number one followed by the Big 12.

The bottom of the Big Ten was bad last year...worse than the bottom of the Big East.  Both Iowa and IU were below DePaul last year (Iowa by 1 spot).  Penn State was actually a top 100 team and placed well ahead of DePaul, Rutgers.

The difference was last year the Big Ten had four top 25 Pom teams...more than almost 40% of their conference.  The Big East also had four top 25 teams, but that's only 25% of the conference.  So the very top of the Big Ten was rated higher than the very top of the Big East (in percentage terms).

[brewcity77]

Do you honestly think last year the Big East was the best conference in the country?  You would be probably the only one.  There is a bottom side to a conference and our bottom wasn't very good.

Sure, we get hurt by the likes of DePaul and Rutgers, but I'd take our 1-12 against any conference in the country.

Pitt, Nova, 'Cuse, G'Town, and UConn all look like very high level teams right now, on par with anyone's top 5. West Virginia, Louisville, Notre Dame, Cincy, and us have all been very competitive, and I highly doubt any other conference has a 6-10 that is equal to those teams. And if you factor in the senior-laden St. John's and a Seton Hall team that has three unfortunate close losses all to top 50 teams, I think that puts us on top.

Yes, there are more cupcakes, but 1-12, we beat anyone. St. John's and Seton Hall are better in my opinion than teams like Penn State, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa State, Virginia, Wake Forest, Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, or any other bottom feeders that reside in the other Big 6 conferences.

Yes, DePaul, Rutgers, and Providence (despite their 5-1 record) all pretty much suck. But even South Florida isn't too bad...all their losses are in the single-digits to teams in the top 52. I realize that those teams bring down the average, so the Big East hurts itself with its size, but I still think that in terms of quality teams and difficulty of the opposition, no conference in the country is better than the BEast.

[Jay Bee]

Two years ago the Big East sent 8 teams and the bids were awesome...3 number one seeds.

Last year a different story.  We're always going to get 7 or 8 bids but the seeding will largely reflect how good the conference is.

The Big Ten with MSU, Ohio State, Illinois and Minnesota are very good.  If Hummel hadn't been hurt, Purdue is in that list as well.  Wisconsin comes into that next tier.  My guess would be the Big Ten receives 6 or 7 bids this year, which will be a higher percentage than the Big East.

Just a guess, should be fun to watch it all play out.  MU and UW both are flawed teams that have some questions to answer. 

The issue is that my response was to the claim that the Big East had an especially 'weak underbelly' as compared to the Big 11.  I agree, the Big11 should get 5, 6 or 7 bids this year.  So what?  They've got 4 teams that are bad.  

BTW, I have guarded optimism when it comes to the Gophers.  I put tOSU and MSU above everyone, then you can mix up 3-6 how you wish and I believe it would be reasonable.  Then, NW... and then the 4 bad teams.  Gophers/Virginia tomorrow night - Big Ten/11/12-ACC Challenge    senior PG Al Nolen and sophomore wing Rodney Williams will likely not play.  Hoping combo guard Devoe Joseph comes off the bench.  

[MuMark]

Sagarin has Big East as the best conference right now. Pomeroy still has most of its value coming from last year at this point.

Big East has been the best conference so far and its really not that close.

ND wins old spice
UCONN wins Maui
Pitt wins tourny
Nova finishes 2nd in tourny
WV finishes 2nd in tourny
GT wins tourny
Syracuse unbeaten(though not impressive)

ND beat UW by gettting to the free throw line, making them and not allowing UW to shoot free throws. they also killed them on the glass.


If UW continues to brick their jumpers like they have we should win........if they hit 3's against us like almost everyone else has we likely won't.

[bamamarquettefan]

BEAST is surprisingly the best conference so far this year, and it isn't close.  Our top 11 hands down better than the Big 11s teams.

Our average will rarely be 1st due to 3 or 4 teams at the bottom having such a lower average to pull it down overall, but if you use the ACC/Big 10 challenge format, the BEAST is absolutely the prohibitive favorite against any conference this year.

[muarmy81]

I missed the 2nd half. Did ND "out" athlete the Badgers?

I believe the term is "out non-traditionalized" the badgers.

[GGGG]

Why would I start my own rating service?  I'm just pointing out that your claim is not supported by facts.  

You're just describing how the RPI is?  The Big East is ranked #1 in the RPI as of now.  

Sorry...the kenpom ratings.

[reinko]

"Traditional players" and Gasser references.

[Stretchdeltsig]

The ND-UW game wasn't pretty.  Both teams did not look good.  ND looked better.  The Badgers traditionally play better as the season progresses.  Their slow pace make for boring games to watch.  They will have trouble against fast, pressing teams that play transition ball like MU.  The Badgers may do ok in the Big Ten because the other teams play similar slow paced, 1/2 court games.  The truth is that there is no comparison between the Big Ten and Big East.  The Big Ten plays a "football" style (slow and steady) game while the Big East plays fast and athletic ball.

[MuMark]

Hard to play fast when the other team wants to play slow.

UW will slow it down and have at least 3 people back to stop our transition game.

[mu-rara]

I missed the 2nd half. Did ND "out" athlete the Badgers?

[TallTitan34]

The win moved Notre Dame into the 25 spot of the AP poll.