The Big Ten non-conference schedule ended on Sunday and conference play begins this evening when Purdue ventures into the Kohl Center and battles a Bo Ryan-less Wisconsin team at 6:00 PM CT. Now that we’re at this natural evaluation point, the Big Ten microsite has rank-ordered the 14 Big Ten resumes using KenPom rankings instead of RPI — which the selection committee uses — because the RPI does not become a reliable metric until later. The table below displays each resume from best to worst and illustrates each team’s KenPom current ranking, strength of schedule, record against different groups of rankings, best win (and whether it was home, away, or neutral game), and worst loss. Below that we provide a few notes of interest on each resume.

Resume Notes

• Michigan State: The obvious top pick. Not only are the Spartans undefeated but they have three wins against the KenPom top 25: Kansas (KP#2), Louisville (KP#6), and Florida (KP#22). Tom Izzo usually challenges his teams with difficult non-conference schedules, a tactic which usually leads to a handful of early losses. This year, however, Sparty escaped unscathed. If Michigan State can simply manage to tread water while Denzel Valentine is out of the lineup for two weeks, it will be in the running for the overall #1 NCAA Tournament seed in two months.
• Purdue: The Boilermakers were surprisingly routed by Butler (KP#20) in last week’s Crossroads Classic, but they still have three top 30 wins against Vanderbilt (KP#18), Florida (KP#22), and at Pittsburgh (KP#27). The rest of Purdue’s schedule is generally unremarkable except in that it has dominated its opponents, winning by an average margin of over 20 points per game. Right now, Purdue is headed toward a top-four protected seed in the NCAA Tournament.
• Maryland: While the Terrapins didn’t play the most challenging non-conference schedule, they did enough with wins against Connecticut (KP#31), Rhode Island (KP#63), and Georgetown (KP#75) to carry a top-three resume. Their only game against an elite team was at North Carolina, where they put up a valiant fight but eventually succumbed to their only loss. Despite the missed opportunity, Maryland is also in line for a top-four protected seed.

• Iowa: Speaking of missed opportunities, there may have been none greater than the Hawkeyes letting a win at Iowa State slip through their fingers in the final minute of action. Had they won at Hilton Coliseum, Iowa may have been ahead of Maryland on this list. But as of now, they’re 2-3 against the top 50 with wins against Wichita St. (KP#36) and Florida State (KP#39) and no bad losses. This puts Iowa in the #4 to #8 seed range in the NCAA Tournament as of today.
• Michigan: The Wolverines’ record isn’t much different from that of Iowa, but a major distinction is that their two losses against the top 25 were blowouts — Michigan lost to Xavier (KP#8) by 16 points and SMU (KP#14) by 24 points. John Beilein’s team is 2-3 against the top 70 with its best win against Texas (KP#42) and no bad losses. This would put them safely in the field of 68 as of today.
• Indiana: The Hoosiers have appeared to save what was looking like a debacle of a non-conference schedule after losses to Wake Forest (KP#104), UNLV (KP#72), and Duke (KP#9). Indiana has now won five straight, including a win against Notre Dame (KP#32) in the Crossroads Classic — its best win of the season. The Hoosiers sit on the right side of the bubble as of today.
• Ohio State: Without that big win against Kentucky (KP#12), the Buckeyes would likely sit near the bottom of this list. Thad Matta is still on the wrong side of the bubble for the first time in his career, but Ohio State has looked much better lately so don’t be surprised if the Buckeyes find a way to get their names called on Selection Sunday.
• Nebraska:  The Cornuskers had their opportunities with three games against top 25 teams but came up short in all of them. Their best win against Rhode Island (KP#63) is easily countered by their inexplicable loss to Samford (KP#173) at home.
• Wisconsin: These Badgers have their work cut out if they’re going to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. Two decent wins against Syracuse (KP#52) and VCU (KP#55) are mitigated by their losses at home to Western Illinois (KP#196) and Milwaukee (KP#118).
• Illinois: The injury-plagued Illini’s best win is against Yale (KP#94) with two losses to teams outside the top 100. Things continue to look gloomy in Champaign.
• Northwestern: Yes, the Wildcats are 12-1 but they haven’t beaten a team of note with their best win coming at Virginia Tech (KP#117). Until the Wildcats beat a real opponent — which will be hard to do with Alex Olah out indefinitely — the skepticism about their long-term prospects will linger.
• Penn State: No wins in the top 100 with two losses below it. Enough said.
• Minnesota: While the Gophers have a win against Clemson (KP#93), they also have three losses to teams outside the top 100 (including one outside the top 200). Is it time to start wondering whether the Pitino era in Minnesota can be salvaged?
• Rutgers: When does the pain stop?

Alex Moscoso (170 Posts)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2015 at 11:31 am by Alex Moscoso and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: indiana, iowa, maryland, michigan, michigan state, minnesota, nebraska, ohio state, penn state, purdue, rutgers, wisconsin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.