Happy Kenpom (and friends) day!

[CappyNU]

The season approaches, and with it come the preseason ratings!

Kenpom: #50 (12th in conference)
Torvik: #48 (14th in conference)
Evan Miyawaka: #55 (14th in conference)
Haslametrics: #43 (10th in conference)

None of them have any teams in the conference as being elite or any teams being terrible, with a handful of top-25 squads and a big jumble in the middle. Should be an interesting year in the extremely Big 10.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Which is to say "NU is competitive in a very competitive environment and they could get the short end of the stick, or if they're just a little better than we expect they could easily push for the tournament again."

Sounds about right.

 

[CappyNU]

Tiers appear to be something like this, depending which ranking system you like:

Purdue (1, 1, 1, 1)
--------
Illinois (2, 2, 2, 4)
UCLA (2, 3, 1, 3)
MSU (3, 2, 2, 4)
Indiana (3, 4, 3, 2)
OSU (2, 5, 4, 4)
--------
Maryland (3, 6, 4, 4)
Iowa (2, 6, 4, 4)
Oregon (2, 6, 4, 4)
---------
Michigan (3, 5, 6, 4)
Wisconsin (4, 6, 3, 5)
NU (4, 6, 4, 5)
USC (5, 6, 2, 5)
Rutgers (6, 2, 6, 6)
Nebraska (5, 6, 5, 5)
-------
Minnesota (6, 7, 7, 6)
PSU (6, 7, 6, 6)
Washington (6, 7, 5, 6)

Our schedule features:
Tier 1 - 1 away
Tier 2 - 6, 4 home, 2 away, Illinois x2
Tier 3 - 5, 2 home, 3 away, Maryland x2, Iowa x2
Tier 4 - 5, 4 home, 1 away
Tier 5 - 3 away

Obviously this will change a ton by the time we get to conference play, but for once the schedule doesn't see horrific? We have one west coast trip, with Washington and Oregon back to back.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Is Purdue going to be a juggernaut without Edey? Part of me thinks Illinois is the team to beat this year.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Is Purdue going to be a juggernaut without Edey? Part of me thinks Illinois is the team to beat this year.

Is Illinois going to be a juggernaut without *checks notes* like literally their entire starting five?

 

[NJCat]

Surprised to see RU so low, with 2 one-and-done guys predicted to go in the top 5 of the NBA draft. Good coach, great home court, they are going to be a handful.

 

[macarthur31]

Appreciate this breakdown. Agreed on the surprise about Rutgers. Coach Pikell knows how to coach defense. It's just unknown if the fantastic frosh can provide that offensive boost, but I'd feel confident in that bet.

I'd feel good if NU could emerge at the top of their tier.

 

[techtim72]

I feel like I am the only person who thinks Braden Smith is grossly overrated. Picking Purdue number one with Edey leaving makes zero sense to me. I am prepared to be proved completely clueless about basketball but that's how I see it.

 

[CappyNU]

Surprised to see RU so low, with 2 one-and-done guys predicted to go in the top 5 of the NBA draft. Good coach, great home court, they are going to be a handful.

Generally the stats guys have said that it's usually hard to properly assess the impact of freshmen, even the top ones, so it's likely there will be more variance early on with teams like Rutgers.

 

[TheC]

Generally the stats guys have said that it's usually hard to properly assess the impact of freshmen, even the top ones, so it's likely there will be more variance early on with teams like Rutgers.

I feel like a number of one-and-done type players have had flashes of brilliance, but are generally inconsistent in college. If on a powerhouse team like Duke, they still win games, but they aren't exactly dominant.

 

[NUCat320]

I feel like I am the only person who thinks Braden Smith is grossly overrated. Picking Purdue number one with Edey leaving makes zero sense to me. I am prepared to be proved completely clueless about basketball but that's how I see it.

Naah, we all know Braden Smith’s game is dump it to Edey and watch the assists pile up.

Nice that we got the right west coast opponents.

 

[TheC]

Naah, we all know Braden Smith’s game is dump it to Edey and watch the assists pile up.

Nice that we got the right west coast opponents.

Yeah... I am so stumped by the Braden Smith love. To me, he was a streaky shooter and he struggled handling the ball when guys really got in his grill. He had the most dominant player in college basketball on his team which drew away so much attention, but he will now have to make plays himself. Maybe he'll prove us wrong.

 

[combes]

Is Illinois going to be a juggernaut without *checks notes* like literally their entire starting five?

Is Illinois going to be a juggernaut without *checks notes* like literally their entire starting five?