How many more wins does it take?

[NU Houston]

Y'all are counting wins and I'm over here thinking that's there's no reason we can't finish in the top three of the conference.

Why can't we win the whole darned thing?

 

[ricko654321]

There are not the top teams but the rest of the conference is as strong and competitive as I have seen it. The conference is very competitive this year.

As competitive as ever, yes. As strong as ever, I would say no. Think it's about in the middle relative to history.

I think there are 10 B1G teams in the top 65 of Ken Pom, which sounds good... until you realize there are 11 ACC teams in the top 50 (out of 15 total). And they have 7 in the top 30, the B1G has 3. But because of the depth of the middle of the conference we should have 6-7 teams that make it into the tournament still.

 

[Alan Smithee]

I would not go near arguing that the Big Ten is the best conference. ACC.

I think many here feel, I believe rightly, that the conference is good - contrary to what the conventional wisdom often seems to be - that a conference is good with a few elite team ("who cares about the rest") and isn't any good if they don't have a few elite teams at the very top.

 

[NJCat]

ACC.

No question about it. The ACC is top to bottom the best conference.
FWIW, Wake is currently in last place and NU struggled to beat the Deacs.

 

[backdoorpass]

As competitive as ever, yes. As strong as ever, I would say no. Think it's about in the middle relative to history.

I think there are 10 B1G teams in the top 65 of Ken Pom, which sounds good... until you realize there are 11 ACC teams in the top 50 (out of 15 total). And they have 7 in the top 30, the B1G has 3. But because of the depth of the middle of the conference we should have 6-7 teams that make it into the tournament still.

The bottom of the B1G has gotten a lot better this year, but the top has definitely slipped. Last season ended with 5 B1G teams in the kenpom top 25. Right now, there are only 2 B1G teams in the kenpom top 25.

I'm with Kelly thinking that NU finishing top 3 or 4 in the league is within reason... Then again, our 4 B1G wins this season happen to be against the bottom ranked 4 teams in the B1G. So perhaps I should temper expectations for the moment. A road win at OSU next Sunday would be a huge step in the right direction. It's nice that we have a week to rest, recover and prepare.

Go 'Cats!

 

[ricko654321]

I would not go near arguing that the Big Ten is the best conference. ACC.

I think many here feel, I believe rightly, that the conference is good - contrary to what the conventional wisdom often seems to be - that a conference is good with a few elite team ("who cares about the rest") and isn't any good if they don't have a few elite teams at the very top.

Yeah, I'm not saying the conference is trash by any means. We are solid but not great this year without the elite teams at the top. It'll be the sort of season where B1G teams get ~2 teams with 3,4,5 seeds (Wisconsin and Purdue, Md making a case), then 4-5 teams that are in those 7,8,9,10 (and 11) first round matchups.

Also, it's not just the ACC, the Big 12 is quite a bit better than us top to bottom this year. They have 8 in Ken Pom top 40 (out of only 10 teams), and our win over Texas looks like it may be the worst team in that conference. It's B1G vs Big East for 3rd best conference, they are a bit hard to compare but I'd take the B1G narrowly at the moment.

And this is responding to a different post... Wake may have lost a few early in ACC play, but I don't think they are anywhere near the worst in that league. Tough early schedule and some close losses, I think they'll finish a couple games below .500 in conf. Not too dissimilar from OSU in our league.

 

[hdhntr1]

As competitive as ever, yes. As strong as ever, I would say no. Think it's about in the middle relative to history.

I think there are 10 B1G teams in the top 65 of Ken Pom, which sounds good... until you realize there are 11 ACC teams in the top 50 (out of 15 total). And they have 7 in the top 30, the B1G has 3. But because of the depth of the middle of the conference we should have 6-7 teams that make it into the tournament still.

I said the rest of the teams. As Smithee says. we don't have the elite teams we generally do as many are rebuilding. But Frosh become Sophs and next year the conference with be back up near the top.But overall top to bottom more competitive than it has been in a long time. Almost any team can beat any other on any given night. In the past that has generally not been true. So I would say the conference very strong but not elite. And I am not saying they are better than the ACC as currently we do not have the elite teams. And 10 out of 14 in top 65 is pretty darn good. Means no easy wins.

 

[NU Houston]

No question about it. The ACC is top to bottom the best conference.
FWIW, Wake is currently in last place and NU struggled to beat the Deacs.

And we also barely lost to Notre Dame, which is currently in first place in the ACC. Your point?

Three of Wake's four conference losses came to top 20 teams (UNC, UVA, FSU). They'll get things turned around.