Hi everybody. Nobody cares about Rutgers football. You know that and I know that. I think even Greg Schiano knows that. Yes, there will a be a not-quite-hate piece at the end of the week, but in the meantime, let’s talk B1G hoops.
The portal deadline has passed, so those “way too early” top 25s aren’t quite so ridiculous at this point. That said, May 31 is the deadline for final decisions on keeping your name in the draft, and, well, that’s a big deal in Purdue’s case. However, we can’t wait until June 1, because at that point we’ll be previewing football teams that people do care about.
Unlike Rutgers.
Besides, the B1G has already announced how many times each team will be playing everybody else, so it’s the perfect time to baselessly speculate on who got an easy schedule (your team’s rival) and who got hosed with an unduly tough B1G schedule for ‘23-’24 (your team).
Before we list that information, along with “writer” thoughts, here’s some “way too early” projections for you all to laugh at (all no older than May 6) [ed. Updated for Bracketology that just dropped today. Gotta be of the moment when discussing college hoops in May!]:
- Michigan State: #4 (ESPN), #8 (CBS), #2 (Athletic); 1-seed (ESPN)
- Purdue: #17 (ESPN), #3 (CBS), #15 (Athletic); 2-seed (ESPN). [NOTE: Two of these projections assume Edey doesn’t return. Guess which two.]
- Wisconsin: #22 (ESPN), NR (CBS), NR (Athletic); 6-seed (ESPN)
- Maryland: #23 (ESPN), NR (CBS), NR (Athletic); 7-seed (ESPN)
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Ohio State: NR (ESPN), NR (CBS), #24 (Athletic);
First four outLast four in(ESPN) - Northwestern: 7-seed (ESPN)
- Indiana: 10-seed (ESPN)
- Illinois: Last four in (ESPN)
- Rutgers:
Last four in11-seed (ESPN) -
Iowa:
FirstNext four out (ESPN) - Michigan: too cheap
- Nebraska: too typical
- Penn State: Shrew-less
- Minnesota: not Ben Johnson-less
So Sparty and Purdue are the likely favorites and there’s a huge mushy middle? No shit. Can our writers offer any more clarity? Probably not, but, again, at least we aren’t talking about Rutgers football.
ILLINOIS
- Home: Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska
- Away: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
- Home/Away: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers
HWAHSQB: I guess I’m just waiting to hear if Coleman Hawkins and Terrence Shannon Jr. stay in the draft or not. If one or both of those guys do come back to Illinois, it changes the projections of the season significantly. Until then, meh, project whatever you want. I’ll start paying attention to basketball around Thanksgiving I suppose after I get done with my week long celebration of Bert winning the final B1G West championship. If the B1G were serious about getting people to care about rutger football, they would have continued to schedule the greatest spectacle in all of sports, Illinutgers!!
INDIANA
- Home: Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern
- Away: Illinois, Michigan, Rutgers
- Home/Away: Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
IOWA
- Home: Nebraska, Ohio State, Rutgers
- Away: Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern
- Home/Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
MARYLAND
- Home: Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue
- Away: Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin
- Home/Away: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers
MICHIGAN
- Home: Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin
- Away: Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State
- Home/Away: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers
RockyMtnBlue: Wait. What sport is this for? Is this about that obscure bouncy balls thing MSU fans talk about?
MICHIGAN STATE
- Home: Iowa, Ohio State, Rutgers
- Away: Indiana, Nebraska, Purdue
- Home/Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Wisconsin
MINNESOTA
- Home: Maryland, Rutgers, Wisconsin
- Away: Illinois, Michigan, Purdue
- Home/Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State
NEBRASKA
- Home: Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue
- Away: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland
- Home/Away: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, Wisconsin
NORTHWESTERN
- Home: Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State
- Away: Indiana, Rutgers, Wisconsin
- Home/Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue
MNW: First, a seven-seed? We’re just kind of assuming lightning is going to strike twice, huh?
This is a decent list, though the doubles against Purdue and Michigan State are always rough—thankfully, Boo Buie’s back, meaning the ‘Cats will win at least one of those Michigan State games because them’s the rules. But I’ll take double-plays with Minnesota, Nebraska, and bugaboo Penn State. The ‘Cats aren’t in a position where they can count anyone as a win, and they’ve avoided much of the mushy middle of the conference, it seems, but I’m hard-pressed to be pissed at anything here.
OHIO STATE
- Home: Illinois, Maryland, Purdue
- Away: Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern
- Home/Away: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, Wisconsin
PENN STATE
- Home: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
- Away: Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers
- Home/Away: Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State
PURDUE
- Home: Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State
- Away: Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio State
- Home/Away: Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, Rutgers, Wisconsin
BoilerUp89: MSU has the easier schedule out of the suspected top two contenders. Which is fine, Purdue had the easiest schedule of the contenders this past year and you arent going to get that easy schedule multiple years in a row. I do hate that conference schedule can play a large role in who wins the regular season (although it didnt last year). We should go back to 11 teams. One final complaint. Only one MSU-Purdue matchup. Both teams could use the additional game against each other to prep for March and it would likely be a high ratings game for the B1G. [ed.—First I’m hearing about Purdue maybe needing more opportunities to prep for March. Did something happen?]
RUTGERS
- Home: Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State
- Away: Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota
- Home/Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
WISCONSIN
- Home: Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern
- Away: Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State
- Home/Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers
Kind of...: I mean, I know we’re all supposed to be “woe is me” but it would be churlish to complain about this. Of the four teams that nobody thinks will sniff the tournament, UW has three of them as their road only single play. Nobody else has more than one. And UW went 0-3 on the road last year against three home single plays, so that seems like a good thing, too.
Finally, while MSU and Purdue are the favorites, I’m fine playing each twice. I mean, ideally you get them home only, but, again, let’s not be insufferable. Judging by mid-May levels of information, this is a really reasonable schedule.
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