I think we could start 0-2 and still end up competing for the Big Ten title.
That December pair is a tough draw. Friday 12/1 against an Illinois that we struggled with last year, at Allstate Arena, so a neutral site at best, then at Purdue two days later. Two tough games, though hopefully we can get one of them. Purdue will be coming back from a road game at Maryland.
We could get on a roll in January, starting with Nebraska, @PSU, and then a big home game against Minnesota, followed by three winnable ones @IU and the OSU/PSU home games. We should be favored in every game except maybe Minnesota. The decisive stretch for a title will probably be the @Minn-@Mich-@Wisc trio. We need at least one of those. The last four games -- MSU, MD, Wisc and @Iowa -- are all tough, but winnable.
I'll say we go 10-8. Wins: Nebraska, @PSU, Minnesota, OSU, PSU, @Wisconsin, Michigan, @Rutgers, Maryland, @Iowa.
I'm not ready to go game by game yet, football season first. But generally, I think the top of the conference is MSU, then Minny us Purdue. After that Wisc Md Mich Indy are all question marks, maybe Iowa takes a step up, and the remainder in the lower tier. I would think 10 wins is our baseline target, and hope that we can exceed that.
More importantly though... is anyone else a bit disgusted by what the B1G has done with the schedule this year? I think it's mostly to accommodate the BTT in NYC a week earlier, but also could be a result of the new TV deal with FOX and more permanent (I hope not).
1) adding two games that first Dec week pre conf season - I'm actually good with this one, think they did it to reduce conference games while students are on break.
2) adding 2-day turnarounds - we have a Sat Mon, a Sun Tues, and a Fri Sun I believe. this should not be necessary for college kids.
3) ruining the TWTh / SatSun pods and adding in Mon & Fri games - ruins the flow of the schedule, makes it less consistent across the conference, more challenging to establish timing and preparation
4) also a byproduct of 2 and 3 is now there are some weeks where teams have 3 games, and a number of weeks where teams have 2 games during the same week (not w/e) - eg Sat Mon Fri. Are we completely forgetting that these kids are supposed to be attending school as well? This is a step too far.
5) getting rid of the prohibition on 3 straight road games. when the schedule is split 18 w 9H and 9A why do you need 3 straight road games ever? someone needs to write a better algorithm.
- A combination of these things are manifested in the week the Cats play Mon 1/29 @Mich then Thurs 2/1 @Wiscy. So what the kids head up to Mich Sunday, get back sometime in the AM Tues morning? Then leave Weds afternoon for Wiscy and don't get back until AM Friday morning? With basically 1 normal night of sleep the entire week (Tues night), and 1.5 days of total opportunity to attend class - Tues afternoon, Weds morning, Fri afternoon. That's just ridiculous. These are road games #2 and #3 in succession after being @Minn the prior week. And you can find at least one situation like that in each team's schedule, or some worse. It's not just us, I assure you.
I think Jim Delaney (or whoever the schedule makers are) should be ashamed of himself. I'm sure CC is too smart to complain about this publicly, but the subjugation of previously defined standards for student-athlete balance in pursuit of having the conference tourney in NYC (or getting our best FOX TV deal terms) is embarrassing. I hope someone behind the scenes is expressing extreme distaste with these arrangements, as Fitz did with the Friday football games.
I understand we want a tourney in NYC (I live here, I do too), that's all well and good, but not on these terms. If we can't do it on the right timing at MSG then let it go. Or try Barclays, I suspect they'd ditch the A10 for the opportunity to host the BTT. But if not, say no and move on. DC last year sounds like by all accounts it was a great success, but this ain't worth it.
I was good with the greater flexibility in scheduling times last year (games evenly split TWTh, and SatSun rather than mostly W - S) because it meant every game was on TV, and it still maintained good spacing of the schedule. I am not okay with this.
Message me.