Throwing this out there

Who is in the B1G final in BBall on Sunday?



Here's my unbiased pick: Indiana & Michigan



Why. MSU lost a key player. They will face a very tough road. They play the Iowa Illinois winner first. Then face a tough Indiana or Wisconsin and get ousted.



Michigan will knock off the NW/Minny winner and face either O$U or Purdue. I am picking Purdue in the upset and UM beatsPurdue.

An Indiana/UM matchup would be fantastic!

I'm thinking IU/PU. The Field House will be electric. I worry about facing NW again. Two overtime games, it is hard enough to beat a team three times a year, but a third time after winning the first two in OT.

Purdue will upset OSU and then upset the UM/NW-Minn winner. JMHO.

I am hoping Minny beats NW because Minny lost Sampson to a knee injury. I think Purdue and Indiana are very dangerous as they are playing in their home state. MSU can be beaten on any given day just as UM can.

FISH--- you raise an excellent point so many people sillily discount: whether in the college BB season, or the NFL (within one's own division then the postseason)--- it is VERY TOUGH to beat a team THREE TIMES.

And as I hinted in a post weeks before, I wouldn't be heartbroken over a loss (so long as it's close) to NW---it would all but stamp their ticket to the Big Dance, where they've never been and where I want to see them (one way or another).

Some thoughts-

I agree on the difficulty of beating NW for a third time. Hopefully a well rested Michigan team will show up energized and sharp.

I can't even make a prediction for this tourney. I think it is so wide open, especially with MSU's injury situation. It will be interesting to see what the fan make up will be. As I said on an earlier post IU is on Spring Break so I really do not expect a huge IU fan turnout. At least not a very loud one.

Interesting to see a couple of you predicting an OSU loss. Would not mind that at all. I still think MSU is the team to beat but they are more beatable now that they have had the injury set back. Appling will have to step up his game if they want to make a run at the championship.

Let's hope our own Indiana guys have a great tourney. You know Stu and Zach are going to want to put on a good performance in their home state.

I refuse to make a (BTT) prediction as well...but for a different (and I'll confess, downright shitty) reason: I flat-out DON'T CARE.

As I said, a crappy attitude to be sure: but as with us all, it's the REAL tourney I look ahead to.

We have considerably less to play for than NW. What I'm concerned about is the fact that, were we to reach the title game, three games in THREE DAYS is very, very enervating...and it's when one is TIRED that they are most injury-prone. (Throw in the fact these are teenaged bodies, in Tim's and Trey's case).

Basketball is not pitching, I know (it's far more demanding, physically)...but allow me a brief analogy. I tore the tendon in my elbow throwing (in a semi-pro league in my hometown, on summer vacation from U-M...not while pitching in a U-M uni)...because I was TIRED, and tried to compensate for
the lack of energy in the arm by "over-extending", so to speak, trying to
throw beyond myself...and POP!. That awful feeling of an electrical shock...and torn tendon.

How this could equate to basketball moves, etc. I can't say. But running the floor at (considerably) less than 100% can [possibly] cause one to go into an unnatural, even awkward, gait, potentially leading to foot/leg injuries.

Just my two cents---and it's probably worth little more than that. But I want us healthy and hungry for the REAL dance.

michmike wrote:

We have considerably less to play for than NW.

Postscript/qualification, folks---Assuming IT IS NORTHWESTERN that we play in our opener...