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It's that time of year people, that time of year that all Maryland and Indiana fans look forward to. Basketball is back! For those of us that have no hope of making the playoff (or bowl game for that matter...) we can finally start fresh with another major sports season upon us. With that, the OTE staff has put in their pre-season predictions for the upcoming season. No, it wasn't just some sort of power poll format either where we picked the order of finish; we actually put in how we thought teams would finish out overall and in-conference and then used the average to come up with our pre-season standings.
Projected B1G Standings, 2015-16
Below is the order of finish predicted for the Big Ten, with tie breakers going to overall record:
|
Team |
W |
L |
|
#3 Maryland |
14.3 |
3.7 |
|
#13 Michigan State |
13.6 |
4.4 |
|
#17 Wisconsin |
13.1 |
4.9 |
|
#15 Indiana |
11.8 |
6.2 |
|
#23 Purdue |
11.6 |
6.4 |
|
#25 Michigan |
11.6 |
6.2 |
|
Ohio State |
10.4 |
7.6 |
|
Iowa |
10.2 |
7.8 |
|
Illinois |
7.0 |
11.0 |
|
Minnesota |
6.3 |
11.7 |
|
Northwestern |
6.2 |
11.8 |
|
Nebraska |
4.8 |
13.2 |
|
Penn State |
2.9 |
15.1 |
|
Rutgers |
2.2 |
15.8 |
- Unsurprisingly, Maryland is predicted to win the conference with an overall record of (25-6, 14-4). Shocker, we all picked the #3 team in the country going into the season to win the conference.
- As you look down, I'd probably say 3 through 6 is largely a crap shoot at this point as to who finishes where. Indiana has the best chance of getting to the top of that logjam and could challenge for the conference if they can put together a semblance of defense this year. Purdue? Probably one of the best front courts in the nation. Wisconsin? Never count out the zombie head coach making that team very competitive when it doesn't look like they should be.
- Bottom line: the Big Ten is loaded this year with the top six teams ranked to start the season. Ohio State is young but talented, so I would not be surprised if they teeter on the fringe of the Top 25 for part or most of the season if they can mesh together quickly.
Get to the Predictions.
Want to know how we voted? Below is the voter breakdown and how they voted for each team to finish up:
Shenanigans?
*WhiteSpeedReceiver was not able to vote in the entire poll due to...um...well, here's his ballot:
|
Team |
W |
L |
TotW |
TotL |
|
Minnesota |
18 |
0 |
31 |
0 |
|
#13 Michigan State |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Rutgers |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
#15 Indiana |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
#23 Purdue |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
#25 Michigan |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Ohio State |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Iowa |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Illinois |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Minnesota |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Northwestern |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Nebraska |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
Penn State |
9 |
9 |
16 |
15 |
|
#17 Wisconsin |
0 |
18 |
0 |
31 |
B1G Squeakyfouls 2015-16:
We'll be doing previews all week this week for the ramp up to basketball season, which starts officially on Thursday. We'll chop up those standings into the lower, middle, and top tiers and give more in depth previews for each team.
Tuesday: Lower Tier (10th - 14th)
Wednesday: Middle Tier (6th - 10th)
Thursday: Upper Tier (1st - 5th)
???: #BOLDPREDICTIONS
Thursday: Opening day Open Thread
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Outraged that [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE] wasn't ranked higher? Feeling the #DISRESPEKT from one of our voters? Anything else you'd like to see from OTE's Squeakyfouls coverage in 2015-16? Let us know in the comments!