B1G Hoops Weekend: Previews and Open Thread

Saturday is going to be a disgusting showing of offense in the B1G for half the day while the two good games of the day are both played at the same time. Way to go TV schedulers. Meanwhile, Sunday looks to be the day to sit down and watch with the barnburner that will be MSU at Purdue and then Minnesota/Iowa.

Saturday

Illinois Fighting Illini vs #13 Maryland Terrapins (-9) || 12:00pm ET || BTN

Maryland and Illinois are matching up in Madison Square Garden for what can only be known as Delany dollars as the reason. One would think that maybe New York City’s college team might be a good team to feature in that venue.

Maryland will look to get the ball to Bruno Fernando early and often in the post to see if Illinois can stop him. Given Illinois aggressive defense on the perimeter, I foresee a lot of Fernando dunks or backcuts by Darryl Morsell for easy dunks in this game. I certainly hope that Anthony Cowan wakes up for this game and we get an entire game and not just second half from him but that’s TBD all season long so far.

Ohio State Buckeyes at Nebraska Cornhuskers (-7.5) || 12:00pm ET || FS1

Man this game is a must win for both teams. Nebraska is great from a statistical perspective so NET and Kenpom love them so far but they have a losing conference record that needs to be corrected quickly. Ohio State is reeling ever since their loss to Michigan State and if they want to keep tournament hopes alive they need to start winning now.

Oh, and this deserves its own line: Both of these teams have lost to buttgers. That is all.

Northwestern Wildcats at Wisconsin Badgers (-10) || 2:15pm ET || BTN

Lack of offense (NW) vs. really slow offense (WI). Ironically, it would seem the best way to play against Wisconsin is to keep Ethan Happ on the floor. Wisconsin takes the play inside out a bit too far and just plays inside with Happ on the floor — which isn’t bad considering his scoring ability — but it is to the expense of all of their wide open shooters on the wing. I’m guessing something like 53-48 here.

MNW: I think 53-48 might be harsh, but probably not far off. The badgers are not getting tons of looks from deep, like DJ mentioned, but they’re making the most of them—their 39% 3pt clip is second-best in the conference, though the ‘Cats are still conceding just 26.5% from deep. Know where Brevin Pritzl is at all times, or I will be reaching for the bottle early.

I’ll second the thoughts on Happ, though—and Dererk Pardon and Barret Benson are foul-prone enough to make that happen. The challenge will be using Northwestern’s length to keep a hand on wisconsin’s shooters and force them to rely on foul shooting or contested shots.

The most frustrating part of this game, for me, will come on offense. The badgers don’t allow opponents to shoot well, and Northwestern will oblige with plenty of contested twos—whether Anthony Gaines and Vic Law can get into the late and earn a few FTs, and whether they can avoid plowing through Brad Davison, will no doubt cause consternation.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Penn State Nittany Lions (-7) || 4:30pm ET || BTN

Something, something, something both of these teams are closer to MSG than Maryland and Illinois. Yes, I’m bitter and would like the home game back in College Park.

Oh, preview. This is going to be ugly. I mean, one team has absolutely no one to go to on offense other than throw it at the rim and hope for the board and put back while the other has Lamar Stevens and sometimes Josh Reaves if he’s hitting his shots. Pretty easy to defend and that’s the only good thing that Rutgers does: defend.

Sunday

#6 Michigan State Spartans at Purdue Boilermakers (TBD) || 1:00pm ET || CBS

Andrew: Sunday’s showcase of the two CPOY front runners should be a banger. MSU roughed up Purdue at home, but there’s no way Edwards plays as badly this time around, and still being short Josh Langford and the re-injured Kyle Ahrens, Izzo is going to need Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown to show up like upperclassmen to move to 10-0 in conference.

#19 Iowa Hawkeyes at Minnesota Golden Gophers (TBD) || 5:00pm ET || FS1

WSR: Iowa’s got less talent than we do, but aren’t as horribly inconsistent. Since it’s at the Barn I’m thinking that we’re going to win by a point or two and there’s going to be some crap call that Stew is going to lose his mind about.

But then again, considering how wildly we can fluctuate between games, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we came out flat and got pummeled by Iowa. God knows they’ll have a few fans at the Barn that have fled Iowa for the warmer climate and jobs available in the Twin Cities.