Before we headed into the turkey tourneys, I thought to take a look at the B1G from the balcony view with kenpom goggles:
Quick rundown of meanings:
Quickish takes:
| Team | kp rating | Overall Record | Net Rating | Best Win | Worst Loss | Non Con SOS |
| Purdue | 15 | 5-1 | +22.10 | Alabama, kp10 | @Marquette, kp12 | +3.81 |
| OSU | 18 | 4-1 | +21.67 | Texas, kp27 (Neutral) | @TX A&M, kp19 | -0.06 |
| UCLA | 22 | 5-1 | +20.20 | Idaho St, kp235 | New Mexico, kp53 (Neutral) | -8.91 |
| Wisconsin | 26 | 7-0 | +19.30 | Pitt, kp17 (Neutral) | None | +1.42 |
| Michigan | 28 | 4-1 | +19.13 | TCU, kp60 | Wake Forest, kp97 (Semi-Away) | -3.03 |
| Illinois | 29 | 4-1 | +18.79 | Oakland, kp226 | Alabama, kp10 (Semi-Away) | -11.68 |
| Maryland | 47 | 5-1 | +17.95 | Villanova, kp63 (Neutral) | Marquette, kp12 | -9.91 |
| Oregon | 33 | 5-0 | +17.91 | @Oregon St, kp100 | None | -3.73 |
| PSU | 35 | 5-0 | +17.61 | Purdue Fort Wayne, kp119 | None | -10.92 |
| Indiana | 36 | 4-0 | +17.21 | South Carolina, kp79 | None | -8.12 |
| MSU | 44 | 4-1 | +15.73 | Samford, kp136 | Kansas, kp9 (Neutral) | -7.12 |
| Iowa | 46 | 5-1 | +15.37 | Washington St., kp89 (Semi-Home) | Utah St., kp45 (Neutral) | -6.54 |
| Nebraska | 50 | 4-1 | +14.63 | @Creighton, kp30 | St. Mary's, kp42 (Neutral) | -2.16 |
| Northwestern | 61 | 5-1 | +12.53 | Montana St., kp167 | Dayton, kp38 (Away) | -7.91 |
| Rutgers | 79 | 4-1 | +10.08 | St. Peters, kp202 | Kennesaw St, kp160 (Away) | -8.98 |
| Minnesota | 83 | 4-1 | +9.63 | Yale, kp98 | North Texas, kp73 | -6.57 |
| USC | 85 | 4-1 | +9.25 | Chattanooga, kp172 | Cal, kp124 | -7.76 |
| Washington | 86 | 4-1 | +8.87 | UMass Lowell, kp126 | @Nevada, kp34 | -1.71 |
Quick rundown of meanings:
- kp rating: kenpom rating
- Net Rating: the difference between a team's offensive and defensive efficiency.
- Neutral vs. Semi-Away, Semi-Home: kenpom differentiates a "neutral" game when it seems more closer to one of the teams. For example, when Iowa played Wazzu, it was in Moline, IL - which is considered "Semi-Home" for the Hawkeyes given the proximity of the Quad Cities. (Conversely, that's considered Semi-Away for the Cougs.)
- Non Con SOS: Non Conference Strength of Schedule. kenpom calculates strength of schedule as what represents the strength of team that would be expected to win half its games against this team's schedule.
Quickish takes:
- Best B1G win so far (tie) : Purdue over 'Bama, Wisconsin over Pitt. Tie because despite slight difference in ranking, Bucky did theirs away from home.
- Worst B1G loss: USC losing at home to Cal. While Kennesaw St was a worse kp rated team, that's still a road game.
- NU has a +12.53 Net Rating, but at this point it projects a +16.09 to get to 10 wins:
- Offense: Currently 109.0 - Can this team get closer to the '24 edition (115.9), or is this '23 redux (109.9)
- Defense: Currently 96.5 - by season's end the elite '23 team was 94.3/22nd in D1. Hard to imagine this team improving during the rugged B1G season. That '23 team gave up 102.6 in to B1G opponents, which was 3rd best in the Collins era. The First Dance squad only surrendered 100.5.
