RaceToTheTop

I only have to go back one year to find a more disappointing bunch.

Much more so for Minnesota. Even if they win out at home, they go 15-15. Hell of an SOS, but you have to win games. Even a 4-2 finish to put them 10-10 in conference puts them at 16-14. IU's going to have to get three wins, IMO. Unfortunately with as bad of a road team as we are, that likely means winning against Penn State, Wisky, and Minnesota in Bloomington. And worse is that the last two games would basically be elimination games for us even if we beat Penn State.

Iowa scores the last 13 points to beat Minnesota over a 5:25 span. Puts Minnesota at 12-12 and 6-8 in conference. On life support now.

Meanwhile over in Minnesota, refs tried to give the game to Minnesota. Gave Garza his fifth foul with 3.8 seconds left when Oturu just fell down and Minnesota down 2. Oturu missed the front end and now Iowa at the line to ice it with 2.9 seconds.

Game isn't on tv, is it?

Reviewing out of bounds call with a minute fifty in a 19 point game is something that just slows down things.

I have not been a Davis fan this year, but it was clear in the first half that Michigan was having trouble with him. Have to start him and bench Brunk to start the second half.

Brunk is a guy that plays hard but is was clear that there wasn't a matchup today that was favorable. I do wish that Archie wouldn't just stick with his startling lineup to start the second half when it wasn't working in the first half.

Al still playing hard.

Rotations too slow, hedges too high. That's all that really needs to be said. Not good when you play okay offense but still lose by 20.

Looks like quite a few empty seats at Michigan today.

What is your opinion of Purdue’s resume v IU’s? purdue schedule had been tougher....but certainly not 4 losses tougher IMO

Because giving up 77 points in 77 possession is better than giving up 77 points in 69 possession, which is what the 1.00 and 1.11 difference is about. The number of possessions that each team gets is going to be the same (or a difference of 1)......so holding a team to 1.00 points per possession instead of 1.11 gave us 8 more possessions to score. And for the record, I didn't see many shots that were forced by IU. Green hit a couple of tough ones, but our three point shots were almost all basically catch and shoot. And don't discount that we had 16 offensive rebounds. I believed we scored 20 points on fast breaks against Iowa.....should we have intentionally not tried to score quickly on those possessions so that their total points were less?

Might be. He's a native of France, so I would guess it would come down to how classes transfer. Haven't found much on him, but does look like a decent shooter. Found two limited sets of stats for his time in France -- in two FIBA Europe events 16 and under events in 2018 he shot 23 of 59 (39%) from three over a ten game span. Timeline I've seen on him is that he moved from France to Evanston, Illinois and played his sophomore season there in 2018-9. He missed some time in the middle of the season with an ankle sprain but played really well for them as they made it to the state championship game. After the season, he transferred to Notre Dame prep in Niles, Illinois. Recruitment has been picking up. Dayton was the first to offer. Apparently has also been getting looks from Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and Nebraska.

Yeah, I would find it hard to believe that a team winning 20 games playing what would be ranked as a top 20 schedule in the toughest conference wouldn’t be in the tournament.

Purdue is sitting at 14-12 right now and if they win out at home and lose out on the road, they end at 17-14. IMO, IU is more deserving at 19-12 than Purdue at 17-14, even if Purdue sweeps. Same with Minnesota, who will finish 16-14 if they win out at home and lose on the road. I don’t get rewarding teams for playing tough opponents that they lose to...and Purdue has a loss to Nebraska as well. I like Pom, but it doesn’t reward wins or punish losses. A team that wins by one gets the same basic result as if they had lost by one. I understand their ‘luck’ rating in terms of what a team would expected to have done, but at this point Purdue is who they are.....a team that won’t show up as often as they do show up.

DeVonte Green isn’t above criticism. Gregg Doyle isn’t either. He worded his question very poorly and then followed it up in a very childish manner. Might be just me, but if you are going after someone for being inconsistent, it’s not a good look to do so in a manner inconsistent with how a professional journalist would act.

Iowa came in averaging 1.11 points per possession -- best in the conference -- and were held to 1.00 points per possession.

The ‘you elaborate’ was extremely unprofessional. It’s like he wanted a confrontation because someone didn’t understand his poorly worded question.

That would mean 12th in the Big Ten, though. Win against Northwestern would do nothing for our resume. Loss would eliminate us. Minnesota bears watching at this point. 12-11 overall bug killer SOS. But a 3-4 finish for them puts them at .500.

So I assume that Pom uses a generic average number for home advantage?

Article I read on him basically said by all rights Maryland should have gotten him. They thought he was too slow and didn't fit their program.

Luka Garza played 39 minutes and 40 seconds. Only sat for the last possession of the first half.

Yeah, I don't know how he was supposed to answer the question "Where do you go from here?"

Good: Race with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks. After hitting just 13 of 23 to start, we hit our last 9 free throws. 15 offensive boards. Green's shooting 7 of 11 from three and 11 of 21 for the team. +10 on the boards. RP shook off a bad first half and had a nice second half. TJD continues to play well, 17/9 Bad: 17 turnovers Couldn't stop Garza....but we haven't been alone there. Limited Iowa's looks from three. Could have hit free throws better in the first half.