Rooting for the Hoosiers
Day one is past us and 3 Big Ten teams are still alive with Indiana left to play tonight at 9 against an equally matched up Arkansas team. Out of the 4 Big Ten first round games, this is the only one that poses any real threat to teams advancing out of the first round. Temple, CS-Fullerton and Baylor were nice, but in all honesty, if Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State couldn’t beat them with their hands tied behind their backs, they didn’t deserve to be in the tournament in the first place.
Second round match ups are not only tough, but Wisconsin is the only statistical favorite out of three, even then the freshman sensation Michael Beasley led Kansas State is as tough as they come. The epic first-round matchup between USC’s OJ Mayo and Kansas State’s Michael Beasley never materialized as the Wildcats won by 13 points.
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| Record | overall |
30-4 |
20-11 |
25-8 |
28-6 |
26-8 |
26-9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| conference |
19-2 |
10-7 |
15-4 |
15-3 |
13-7 |
14-8 |
|
| against tournament teams |
7-4 |
4-8 |
5-3 |
7-4 |
5-5 |
9-6 |
|
| Resume | RPI |
10 |
43 |
40 |
9 |
15 |
14 |
| SOS |
58 |
27 |
107 |
31 |
41 |
15 |
|
| Quality Wins |
13 |
7 |
9 |
13 |
11 |
10 |
|
| Team Stats per game |
Points |
67.3 |
78.7 |
68.7 |
75.3 |
71.3 |
74.1 |
| Turnovers |
12.1 |
15.3 |
12.9 |
13.3 |
13.7 |
12.2 |
|
| Rebounds |
38.3 |
44.8 |
35.8 |
38.8 |
41.1 |
41.4 |
|
| Free throw % |
0.709 |
0.689 |
0.706 |
0.75 |
0.731 |
0.658 |
|
| 3pt % |
0.359 |
0.321 |
0.37 |
0.392 |
0.373 |
0.34 |
|
| Blocks |
3.3 |
3.6 |
4.3 |
3.5 |
4.4 |
3.3 |
So by the time games are played Saturday, the Big Ten would have had a chance against the best of the Big 12 (Baylor, Kansas State), Big East (Pittsburgh), Atlantic 10 (Xavier), SEC (Arkansas) and IF Indiana does make it past the Razorbacks, the best of the nation and ACC (North Carolina). This is a chance for the conference to finally silence our critics. It’s almost as if the Ohio State grudge from football is spewing over into basketball. So here’s hoping for a Hoosier victory tonight. The more teams we have advancing, the better chance we have of at least getting someone into the Sweet Sixteen. Picking a Wisconsin victory and 3 upsets by Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana.
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