ACC B1G Challenge - tough road for the B1G to win this year

[LansingCat]

As of Wednesday Morning - the challenge is tied 4 - 4. Need 8 wins to win, 7 to tie. Here are the remaining games (all tonight).

• Louisville at No. 3 Michigan State, 7:15 p.m., ESPN

• Wisconsin at Syracuse, 7:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Penn State at Boston College, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU

• No. 13 Indiana at No. 7 Duke, 9:15 p.m., ESPN

• No. 17 Notre Dame at Illinois, 9:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Florida State at Iowa, 9:15 p.m., ESPNU

I don't see four wins for the B1G - we may fail to get three wins tonight for the tie.

Glad that the Cats contributed again this year . . .

LansingCat

 

[NJCat83588]

As of Wednesday Morning - the challenge is tied 4 - 4. Need 8 wins to win, 7 to tie. Here are the remaining games (all tonight).

• Louisville at No. 3 Michigan State, 7:15 p.m., ESPN

• Wisconsin at Syracuse, 7:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Penn State at Boston College, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU

• No. 13 Indiana at No. 7 Duke, 9:15 p.m., ESPN

• No. 17 Notre Dame at Illinois, 9:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Florida State at Iowa, 9:15 p.m., ESPNU

I don't see four wins for the B1G - we may fail to get three wins tonight for the tie.

Glad that the Cats contributed again this year . . .

LansingCat

MSU, Wisky, PSU and Iowa win tonight.

 

[TheC]

MSU, Wisky, PSU and Iowa win tonight.

Those are the four with the best chance, but Syracuse looks pretty good this year.

 

[NURoseBowl]

Badgers sound like a stretch, but hope you're right.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Looks like we've locked up a tie at least.

 

[rwhitney014]

Well, lookie there. B1G sweeps the early slate and only needs Iowa, Indiana or Illinois to win in order to beat the ACC yet again. Awesome RPI boosts for the conference, too, with the road wins in particular.

Reports of Wisconsin's demise are premature, I guess.

 

[NJCat83588]

MSU, Wisky, PSU and Iowa win tonight.

Got the first three correct so far...........

 

[thewildcat2011]

And the b1g takes another one.

 

[mikewebb68]

Got the first three correct so far...........

Good job! Have seen PSU play several times and did not think they could beat BC...

 

[NURoseBowl]

Nice. As I noted in another post, even in what people want to call a "down" year for the Big Ten, it is still solidly in the discussion for the best conference in America. On virtually an annual basis, there is no tougher conference from top to bottom. Having perhaps a couple of elite teams at the top - and then a significant dropoff - isn't what makes a conference tough. It's having to face quality competition night in and night out, with very few (if any) real "gimmes".

 

[backdoorpass]

Nice. As I noted in another post, even in what people want to call a "down" year for the Big Ten, it is still solidly in the discussion for the best conference in America. On virtually an annual basis, there is no tougher conference from top to bottom. Having perhaps a couple of elite teams at the top - and then a significant dropoff - isn't what makes a conference tough. It's having to face quality competition night in and night out, with very few (if any) real "gimmes".

The Big 12 is better than the B1G top-to-bottom. No question. But I still like the competitiveness of our league. Just pointing out the facts.

 

[Dugan15]

Remarkable that the ACC won the first 10...and has not won any of the last 7 (2 ties). I can't imagine anyone would have predicted those streaks 17 years ago.

 

[olshin]

MSU, Wisky, PSU and Iowa win tonight.

Yes you can say "I told you so" ... you deserve it today.

 

[NJCat83588]

Yes you can say "I told you so" ... you deserve it today.

Never. I learned my lesson.

 

[pawildcat]

Nice. As I noted in another post, even in what people want to call a "down" year for the Big Ten, it is still solidly in the discussion for the best conference in America. On virtually an annual basis, there is no tougher conference from top to bottom. Having perhaps a couple of elite teams at the top - and then a significant dropoff - isn't what makes a conference tough. It's having to face quality competition night in and night out, with very few (if any) real "gimmes".

It is a down year for the conference, which is what makes this a sweet challenge win. I don't see any teams other than Maryland and Michigan State being national title contenders in the B1G this year although Purdue could be pretty good. Ohio State and Wisconsin, two conference bellweathers, are both considerably down from what they've been the past few years. Illinois, which should be a top program every year given the in-state talent, continues to flounder. The Wisconsin win at Sorry-Excuse was obviously a big key to the challenge win. Boeheim and company apparently got caught thinking they had a "W" there. It's telling that the B1G continues to compete well in this thing even with the addition of historically strong Louisville, Syracuse and Notre Dame programs to the ACC. What hurts the ACC is that formerly strong programs such as Clemson, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech have dropped like a stone. Without the addition of the former Big East programs, the ACC would be getting wiped out.

 

[spartcat]

No so fast about the down year.... It's a down year for OSU (at least early) and maybe Wisconsin, but it looks like a big up year for Purdue, with MD and MSU major threats in March. IU has the potential to turn it around, as does Iowa, and some of the bottom feeders (especially PSU and hopefully us) are on the rise. Hopefully it will be more of a changing of the guard year than a "let down your guard" year.

 

[pawildcat]

No so fast about the down year.... It's a down year for OSU (at least early) and maybe Wisconsin, but it looks like a big up year for Purdue, with MD and MSU major threats in March. IU has the potential to turn it around, as does Iowa, and some of the bottom feeders (especially PSU and hopefully us) are on the rise. Hopefully it will be more of a changing of the guard year than a "let down your guard" year.

Well, you follow your narrative, and I'll follow mine. Purdue finally seems to have climbed back among the good teams, but we'll see on Ohio State and Wisconsin. Even if those two improve, they're going to be nowhere near what they've been in recent years. Rutgers is simply not a good team. Penn State should improve, but is weak along the front line. Md. and MSU were pretty good last year (MSU in the final four). Illinois will be mediocre at best, and Michigan, often one of the B1G's top teams, looks shaky on the front line. Indiana played lousy defense all last year and continues to play lousy defense. They might turn it around, but I wouldn't bet the house. Iowa continues its mystifying act of looking like a world-beater one minute and absolute zero the next. There are some bright spots, but I've seen the B1G a lot stronger than it is this year. I think NU definitely has a chance to pick up some Ws this season (assuming our own defense tightens up a bit).

 

[hdhntr1]

MSU, Wisky, PSU and Iowa win tonight.

Pretty good pick

 

[hdhntr1]

Nice. As I noted in another post, even in what people want to call a "down" year for the Big Ten, it is still solidly in the discussion for the best conference in America. On virtually an annual basis, there is no tougher conference from top to bottom. Having perhaps a couple of elite teams at the top - and then a significant dropoff - isn't what makes a conference tough. It's having to face quality competition night in and night out, with very few (if any) real "gimmes".

But we are not in conference play yet.

 

[hdhntr1]

As of Wednesday Morning - the challenge is tied 4 - 4. Need 8 wins to win, 7 to tie. Here are the remaining games (all tonight).

• Louisville at No. 3 Michigan State, 7:15 p.m., ESPN

• Wisconsin at Syracuse, 7:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Penn State at Boston College, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU

• No. 13 Indiana at No. 7 Duke, 9:15 p.m., ESPN

• No. 17 Notre Dame at Illinois, 9:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Florida State at Iowa, 9:15 p.m., ESPNU

I don't see four wins for the B1G - we may fail to get three wins tonight for the tie.

Glad that the Cats contributed again this year . . .

LansingCat

Remarkable that the ACC won the first 10...and has not won any of the last 7 (2 ties). I can't imagine anyone would have predicted those streaks 17 years ago.

NU has done our part in the challenge during the recent stretch.

 

[hdhntr1]

As of Wednesday Morning - the challenge is tied 4 - 4. Need 8 wins to win, 7 to tie. Here are the remaining games (all tonight).

• Louisville at No. 3 Michigan State, 7:15 p.m., ESPN

• Wisconsin at Syracuse, 7:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Penn State at Boston College, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU

• No. 13 Indiana at No. 7 Duke, 9:15 p.m., ESPN

• No. 17 Notre Dame at Illinois, 9:15 p.m., ESPN2

• Florida State at Iowa, 9:15 p.m., ESPNU

I don't see four wins for the B1G - we may fail to get three wins tonight for the tie.

Glad that the Cats contributed again this year . . .

LansingCat

How much of the BIG improvement in performance in the ACC/BIG challenge can be attributed to NU holding up our end in recent years?

 

[thewildcat2011]

How much of the BIG improvement in performance in the ACC/BIG challenge can be attributed to NU holding up our end in recent years?

Considering that before this year we were on a 3 year losing streak, not much.

 

[backdoorpass]

Considering that before this year we were on a 3 year losing streak, not much.

But we won 4-in-a-row before that. So, at 5-3 over the past 8 challenges, we've certainly helped the cause.

 

[Katatonic]

Considering that before this year we were on a 3 year losing streak, not much.

I'd say NU winning/losing has been pretty significant.

If the 'Cats had lost against VT - would have been a tie instead of a win for the B1G.

If the 'Cats had won in '12 and '13 - would have gone from a tie to a win for the B1G.

And the NU wins in '09 and '10 were the diff. btwn the B1G winning and losing.

Basically was a difference-maker in 5 of the past 7 Challenges.

Back when the series was lopsided, couldn't escape all the talk about how much better a BB conf. the ACC was than the B1G and when the B1G would ever get a win.

It's been 7 seasons since the ACC has won the challenge and really haven't heard the ? of when the ACC is going to win another one.

After the B1G won the Challenge - there were no by-lines on ESPN.com about the B1G winning another Challenge (or the ACC once again, not winning) but the instead, had headlines about UNC beating MD and Indiana sucking it up.

 

[pawildcat]

I thought the NU game was a big swing game this year, and us winning in OT obviously enabled the winning margin. With Wisconsin beating Syracuse, the B1G also got a game I didn't expect them to get. It would have been nice if Rutgers had gotten one more basket in their game and Nebraska had won their overtime game against Miami, which would have made it a 10-4 beatdown. But I guess that's getting greedy. It's always going to be hard to sweep things against teams such as Duke, Louisville and North Cheatolina, so the games between the middle and lower tier teams in the conferences will continue to be crucial.