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OTE and BTP Call the Final B1G Standings

Had enough basketball coverage for the week? I didn’t think so. The good folks over at BTP joined with us OTE basketball writers to tell you, down to the decimal point, every team’s records, both overall and in the Big Ten.

Do the Nittany Lions bounce back with Tim Frazier healthy?
Do the Nittany Lions bounce back with Tim Frazier healthy?
Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

To cover the methods, each team was given a record based on its conference record plus all possible tournament games. ESPN might only list the first round, but we attempted to list the possible permutations of third round matchups in order to call the non-conference scores. We’ll go best predicted B1G record to worst, listing records alongside the notable high and low conference predictions for each team.

B1G Super-Scientific Final Standings:

Team B1G ALL High Low
Michigan State 15.0-3.0 26.6-4.4 17-1 14-4
Ohio State 13.4-4.6 25.9-5.1 15-3 12-6
Michigan 12.4-5.6 22.8-7.2 13-5 12-6
Wisconsin 12.2-5.8 23.3-7.7 15-3 11-7
Indiana 11.5-6.5 22.6-8.4 14-4 11-7
Iowa 9.8-8.2 20.4-10.6 11-7 7-11
Purdue 8.5-9.5 18.3-12.8 12-6 6-12
Illinois 6.9-11.1 16.2-14.8 9-9 5-13
Minnesota 6.3-11.7 17.2-13.8 9-9 3-15
Northwestern 4.5-13.5 14.5-16.5 9-9 3-15
Penn State 4.1-13.9 13.5-17.5 8-10 1-17
Nebraska 3.4-14.6 11.6-18.4 5-13 3-15
Conference records: 11 writers voting
Overall records: 8 writers voting

Some Takeaways:

  • The list of teams predicted to have an NCAA tourney-caliber record by at least one B1G writer: Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern (!!!)
  • No one seems to know what to make of the bottom half of the B1G: the Boilermakers, Gophers, Wildcats, and Nittany Lions all had a range of at least 6 B1G wins.
  • Everyone, though, seems to think Nebraska will still be rebuilding under Tim Miles.
  • All the writers had Michigan State going no worse than 11-2 through a non-conference schedule that includes Kentucky, UNC, Texas (OK, this one's a stretch, but it's on the road), and Georgetown.
  • Switch Indiana with Wisconsin and Penn State with Northwestern, and this exactly mirrors the OTE/BTP Power Poll from this morning. Northwestern and Penn State had the second-closest similarity in predicted record, after Michigan-Wisconsin.
Disagree? That's what the comments are for! Let us know your projected order of finish and records.