It looks like NU will play Wisconsin on Friday assuming Wisconsin wins their first game, and if NU wins that, they will play Purdue. Looking like a Purdue v. Illinois final, unless NU upsets, which they very well could do--without Nicholson?
BTT, Tournament
- Thread starter stpaulcat
- Start date
We got the best possible draw. Rest up, play Maryland or Wisconsin, and get through that to likely play Purdue, which we would have a much better chance to upset on Saturday than Sunday, if we are going to do it. Have to have some energy left in the tank to possibly pull that off.
If we had 8-9 reliable rotation players then I would agree with you. We were almost there when Berry & Nicholson were healthy.
Unfortunately, we currently have about 5 reliable Big Ten players. Maybe 6 to 7 if you count some of our bench players as “half” (choose half of your mix Hunger/Preston/Smith/Mullins).
I don’t get where this sudden arrogance comes from in our fanbase. We hopefully have the horses for a March Madness run where our players will get 2 games per week with a dayoff in between.
We have no chance with at most 6-7 real players in the BTT in back-to-back-to-back games when our four key starters have been averaging 34-40 minutes per game.
Don't tell the team that if they make it to Saturday. I think they'd have enough left to make it a game. Motivation can do wonderful things and it would be a rare opportunity.
There’s just so much bad ju-ju for NU in the BTT that it seems difficult to expect anytbing.
NU has played 36 games in the Big Ten Tournament and has exactly 2 upsets:
1. 2003, when NU beat a Minnesota team that went to the NIT semifinals, and
2. 2017, when NU beat a ranked Maryland team in Washington, DC.
Sure, there were a lot of bad NU teams over the years. But even NU’s “better” teams have lot of ugly BTT losses:
2002, likely costing NU an NIT bid (20 point loss to a bad Michigan team)
2009, likely costing NU a NIT home game
2012, OT upset loss to Minnesota
2017, basically run off the court by Wisconsin in the semi-finals
2023, get double-bye for first time and upset by a 10 seed Penn State
And then of course there’s the near-misses in 1999 (2 point loss to a Sparty team that went to the Final Four) and 2011 (OT loss to a No. 1 OSU).
NU has played 36 games in the Big Ten Tournament and has exactly 2 upsets:
1. 2003, when NU beat a Minnesota team that went to the NIT semifinals, and
2. 2017, when NU beat a ranked Maryland team in Washington, DC.
Sure, there were a lot of bad NU teams over the years. But even NU’s “better” teams have lot of ugly BTT losses:
2002, likely costing NU an NIT bid (20 point loss to a bad Michigan team)
2009, likely costing NU a NIT home game
2012, OT upset loss to Minnesota
2017, basically run off the court by Wisconsin in the semi-finals
2023, get double-bye for first time and upset by a 10 seed Penn State
And then of course there’s the near-misses in 1999 (2 point loss to a Sparty team that went to the Final Four) and 2011 (OT loss to a No. 1 OSU).
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Getting Wisconsin or Maryland would be in our favor. Wisconsin is 3-8 in their last 11 and 5-10 in their last 15. Not sure how they are ranked ahead of us. Probably shouldn’t be anymore. And we took Maryland on the road with our Berry and Nicholson already.
Purdue, we have Preston and Hunger’s 10 fouls. Damn we sure could use Nicholson against the monster. But who knows, played them well enough to beat them twice, with Boo beating them in the tourney is not out of the question.
Purdue, we have Preston and Hunger’s 10 fouls. Damn we sure could use Nicholson against the monster. But who knows, played them well enough to beat them twice, with Boo beating them in the tourney is not out of the question.
The double bye team with the toughest first game draw is probably Illinois. I would not want to play OSU right now. Nebraska probably is luckiest, though away from Lincoln, ether PSU or Indiana will have a chance. I do like the Cats over Wisconsin.
Preach!
Our goal in the BTT should be to avoid any other injuries that could risk our bid.
Even if we upset Wisconsin, Purdue with crush us without Nicholson.
Focus on the dance!
I have literally no idea how we’d have a chance against Purdue without Nicholson and his five fouls, but I very much look forward to the opportunity to whomp Wisconsin
My view is also that the #4 seed gives a, on paper, better position than #3. I genuinely think that even all banged up we are better than WI or Rutgers/Maryland. Were we a #4, Indiana's momentum makes them better than those teams, and I would not be one iota surprised to see us lose to Penn State. But mostly I weirdly prefer a path of beating Purdue than IL.
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@stpaulcat
is the BTT Tournament the Big Ten Tournament Tournament?
I love this team, but anyone that expects anything from us out of the BTT (sic) hasn't been paying attention for 25+ years, including last year
is the BTT Tournament the Big Ten Tournament Tournament?
I love this team, but anyone that expects anything from us out of the BTT (sic) hasn't been paying attention for 25+ years, including last year
It’s going to be a struggle with a depleted line up. However, this team has been full of surprises all year and they head into every game expecting to win.
CMT is obsessing about the BTT and basically wants the team and coaches to basically tank the BTT. This is silly for a number of reasons. 1) if we are depleted and we are historically putrid in the BTT anyway, why is CMT worried that we will suddenly win 2 in a row and have to play in a 3rd game?. 2. He advocates playing the starters for like 20 mins then emptying the bench. If we are getting crushed, CCC would probably do that at the 30ish mark anyway. If we aren't, and he deliberately tanks, there are probably rules against this, and might even cost the team a bid and CCC his job. 3. If by some odd chance, we win the first game and play PU in game 2, I'd rather see that game (Boo vs Edey ³) than play Washington State in Brooklyn.
The team has two injured starters and is playing with house money. Play on
If they win 2 games this week I will immediately book a ticket to MSP to watch Sunday's game in person.
I'm with you, Phatty. I am heading up to Minny, and I would rather see the Cats win 2 or more games this weekend than in the dance. These are our rivals. These are the teams we know. These are the teams that will be more fun to beat.
It’s not about expectations. It’s March Madness, stop worrying and enjoy the ride. Embrace the certainty that something, somewhere, will happen unexpectedly
There are between 2 and 9 games left in this magical season. I want there to be as many as possible. Would be awesome if there are at least two more wins to watch, and anything more would be really tasty gravy.
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I left out the comma. BTT, Tournament. The second tournament being the one on this board to predict how well NU does.
Agreed. I have no idea what the love for wisconsin is all about. A 6 seed in the NCAA tourney?! Tgey have one marquee win (Marquette). Their next best win is NU, then probably Nebraska. They are 2-4 against the top of BIG (tgey only played Illinois once).
I watched their last 2 games. They looked bad against Rutgers and mediocre against Purdue. They are not a good team
4). He's trolling per usual and just wants to get people to respond(which makes him very happy).
Wow.... I think I would have to disagree. If you told me NU could win two BTT games or advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, I would pick advance to the Sweet 16 every single day. While we may get a kick out of upsetting Purdue for that second win in the BTT, any attention from that will quickly be swamped by the juggernaut starting up the next week. A Sweet 16 appearance, on the other hand, will be one of those milestones that takes this program to another level.
Our team is risking unnecessary injuries if we play Boo, Bort, Barnhizer, or Martinelli for significant minutes in these pointless BTT games. I worry about the toll the season’s already taken on their bodies.
There will be no penalty: we’re in and likely locked into an 8/9 seed no matter what happens next Friday.
If we somehow win the BTT, great - we maybe get bumped to a 5 or 6 seed for the first round. To do so, we’d have to play our 4 studs almost 40 minutes a game over 3 days.
That juice simply ain’t worth the squeeze.
Man, just when I thought we bonded as pseudo diehard fans in another thread.
It simply fascinates me that so many of our fans value the BTT over wins in the tournament that matters.
I care deeply about the BTT when we need to win it all to make the dance. I don’t now that we’re locked in.
As far as the BTT bracket goes, since the week of Jan 29th, the conference teams are ranked by Torvik both predictively and by strength of record thusly:
1. Purdue - 1st, #11, SOR #3
2. Illinois - 3rd, #15, SOR #8
3. Nebraska - 2nd, #12, SOR #29
4. NU - 4th, #24, SOR #51
5. Wisconsin - 9th, #62, SOR #147
6. Indiana - 10th, #63, SOR #41
7. Iowa - 8th, #51, SOR #39
8. MSU - 5th, #38, SOR #59
9. Minnesota - 11th, #70, SOR #65
10. OSU - 6th, #39, SOR #42
11. PSU - 7th, #48, SOR #44
12. Maryland - 12th, #74, SOR #192
13. Rutgers - 13th, #103, SOR #110
14. Michigan - 14th, #181, SOR #220
So Purdue gets a matchup against either an MSU team loved by the predictive rankings but without the results on the court, who they defeated 9 days ago in a tough game at Mackey, or the hometown Gophers. Illinois gets to play one of the two hottest teams in the conference in Iowa or OSU, though they just beat Iowa away yesterday. Nebraska potentially could face an IU team that has suddenly remembered how to win.
And then there's us, who gets either the free-falling Badgers, who are 0 for their last 6 road games, a Maryland team who is 2-8 in their last 10, with the two wins being over Iowa at home after falling behind by 11 in the first half and over Rutgers away against a team that's fallen apart since (unjustly) beating us, or the aforementioned Rutgers team that is 1-7 since beating us with the lone win coming at home over Michigan.
Now imagine Purdue gets upset in their first matchup. I'd certainly like our chances in a rematch against MSU or Minnesota, though depth issues would come into play.
This is the time to dream, before reality hits later this week.
1. Purdue - 1st, #11, SOR #3
2. Illinois - 3rd, #15, SOR #8
3. Nebraska - 2nd, #12, SOR #29
4. NU - 4th, #24, SOR #51
5. Wisconsin - 9th, #62, SOR #147
6. Indiana - 10th, #63, SOR #41
7. Iowa - 8th, #51, SOR #39
8. MSU - 5th, #38, SOR #59
9. Minnesota - 11th, #70, SOR #65
10. OSU - 6th, #39, SOR #42
11. PSU - 7th, #48, SOR #44
12. Maryland - 12th, #74, SOR #192
13. Rutgers - 13th, #103, SOR #110
14. Michigan - 14th, #181, SOR #220
So Purdue gets a matchup against either an MSU team loved by the predictive rankings but without the results on the court, who they defeated 9 days ago in a tough game at Mackey, or the hometown Gophers. Illinois gets to play one of the two hottest teams in the conference in Iowa or OSU, though they just beat Iowa away yesterday. Nebraska potentially could face an IU team that has suddenly remembered how to win.
And then there's us, who gets either the free-falling Badgers, who are 0 for their last 6 road games, a Maryland team who is 2-8 in their last 10, with the two wins being over Iowa at home after falling behind by 11 in the first half and over Rutgers away against a team that's fallen apart since (unjustly) beating us, or the aforementioned Rutgers team that is 1-7 since beating us with the lone win coming at home over Michigan.
Now imagine Purdue gets upset in their first matchup. I'd certainly like our chances in a rematch against MSU or Minnesota, though depth issues would come into play.
This is the time to dream, before reality hits later this week.
Dream, indeed. Our hilarious past performances in the BTTT (sic) leave me less than confident, but, like last year, we are already in the NCAA so any success in the BTTT would be just extra fun.
The Big Ten tournament is the one that matters to me. I am going to the Big Ten Tournament. Virtually everyone I talk with about college basketball is a Big Ten fan. I can name 7-10 players on every Big Ten team. I couldn't name two players on any team outside the Big Ten. I'll root for the Cats in the NCAA tournament, and I'll support all the other Big Ten teams, but that tournament does not matter nearly as much to me.
If I was Barney or Nick, my name would be in the portal if CCC sat my ass because HE deemed the tournament games to be meaningless.
Congratulations for being literally the one person on the planet who cares about anything related to college basketball more than the tournament
I'd rather have the Cats win the BTTT (tm) than go to the sweet sixteen. Obv final 4 etc would be better, but winning the B1G would be awfully cool
Aw, man. I was just about to celebrate how unique and special I was in AoF's eyes, and you have to go and ruin it. Some imaginary, on-line friend you are!
I might actually also prefer they win the BTT than go to and lose in the sweet 16, but that’s not what you said, what you said is you don’t care about the NCAA Tournament at all
