Big Ten Basketball Stock Report

Greetings once again! Welcome to the B1G Shootyhoops Stock Report, the place where I breakdown the week(s) that was against some form of expectations (most likely a mix between recent trends and the closing number).

Beating Expectations / Potential Value

Ohio State Buckeyes – Beating Kent State and Morgan State isn’t exactly beating the world but the reason the Buckeyes are up here? They’re a cover machine right now, going 6-1 ATS. That’s impressive and quite profitable.

Maryland Terrapins – Reading DJ’s comments on the writer’s Slack channel, he keeps waiting for the letdown from this team but it hasn’t happened. 4-4 against the closing number (the spread right before tipoff for those who don’t gamble) isn’t impressive but winning their tournament with a blowout win over Marquette is.

Michigan Wolverines – Last week, I had the Wolverines mired in Cupcake Central. They stepped up in weight class and knocked off Iowa State, North Carolina, and Gonzaga. I’ll admit, I’m somewhat floored by this result. Plus, 5-2 against the spread. Very nice. Bet on.

Meeting Expectations / Average Returns

Indiana Hoosiers – They haven’t exactly played a murderer’s row. Their best win is over Louisiana Tech, ranked 77th per teamrankings.com. They are 5-2 ATS, so there’s that. Will see what happens when they finally leave Assembly Hall in the week ahead.

Purdue Boilermakers – Avenged the 2011 NCAA blitzing to VCU. Dropped a close one to Florida State. This team is nasty defensively but needs to find more consistent scoring. For now, bet the under.

Penn State Nittany Lions – The loss to Ole Miss was a bit of a headscratcher. Nice win and cover against Syracuse. That should look nice come March. Pat Chambers certainly coaching like someone who desperately wants to make the tourney.

Michigan State Spartans – The problem with starting the season so highly ranked is that the expectations are that much higher. We were denied a Kansas-Sparty slugfest but funny things happen in these early season tournaments. Tom Izzo’s crew didn’t get the money in any of their games in Maui but did salvage their way to the losers bracket win.

Iowa Hawkeyes – The fun thing about the preseason tournaments is you get to see teams in some interesting venues. I was genuinely shocked at the win over Texas Tech. Unfortunately, the Hawkeyes couldn’t follow it up with San Diego State.

Expectations? Value? Not here.

Wisconsin Badgers – Oof, rough road trip.

Minnesota Golden Gophers – Loss to DePaul. Ouch.

Nebraska Cornhuskers – This is not a good team. 2-1 against teams ranked 100+ isn’t going to move the needle come B1G time.

Northwestern Wildcats – I can’t figure this team out.

Cupcake Central. Meh.

Illinois Fighting Illini – Dropped 117 on Lindenwood.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights – Beat the spread against NJIT and UMass. That’s about all I got.