Down the Rabbit Hole – Wikipedia Explains B1G Basketball, Volume 1
- sedlecky0
- Nov 27, 2022
- 19 min read
While my hobbies are relatively limited from late Fall through early Spring – consumed almost in full by college basketball (which I say only partially in jest) – I do generally consider myself a curious person by nature. I thoroughly enjoy keeping up with daily news stories (let me know if you need to find a go-to morning newsletter that would make anyone feel well-informed on issues both worldly and novel), I love traveling and spending time with friends, and I’m always looking to try outstanding food and drink. I also enjoy reading, puzzles, games, writing (very meta of me), watching movies, and, while I’d like to think I could continue with a lengthy list, I lastly (for now) enjoy trivia. I admire the intelligence and wherewithal of too many others to think it too realistic, but following up on my high school co-captaincy of the Quiz Bowl team with an eventual appearance on Jeopardy! has always been a stretch goal of mine.
So, let me springboard a new blog post concept from there. While pondering creative ways to pontificate about the joys of college basketball, I thought it might be fun to combine thoughts on my favorite sport with thoughts on my favorite website within which I am most prone to spin down a rabbit hole: Wikipedia. If you are around my age, you’ve likely begun at least some homework, research, essay writing, or otherwise by wandering over to “The Free Encyclopedia” before eventually finding the exact information you needed and then simultaneously sweating and praying that you could find outside sourcing for said information. You may have also experienced the joy of playing what I have just learned now is formally known as the “Wiki Game,” by which two or more people try to navigate to a predetermined, specific Wikipedia page (like “Jesus” in the 5-Clicks-to-Jesus version) with the fewest number of clicks, starting from a “Random article.”
If you are from a slightly older generation than us Millennials, chances are you may harbor some skepticism about the veracity of Wikipedia as a source in general; I am here to you that you are wrong and should reconsider your views on extreme crowdsourcing of information. If you are Gen Z or younger, you may not even know what Wikipedia is. Regardless, it is one of my favorite websites and the basis for what I hope might – in some form, perhaps to evolve from here – continue for many articles to come.
As a way to help explain the current state of men’s Big Ten basketball, I will use the aforementioned Random article generator on Wikipedia, list the first 14 articles that I am whirl-winded (whirl-wound?) to (with perhaps a slight bit of liberty if my creative juices are lacking in pulp…for now, let’s say I can skip any article that doesn’t include at least one photo or image), and then determine which Big Ten men’s basketball team in its current state most closely aligns with that article. In case this spins wildly out of control and is far too unrealistic to do while making any sense, I will also list each team from best to worst in my purview (again, as of this posting) to at least maintain some utility. Let’s have some fun!
Without further ado, here are the 14 Wikipedia Articles to Explain B1G Basketball, along with a brief description of each, courtesy of our favorite internet encyclopedia:
Brookville Presbyterian Church and Manse – A historic Presbyterian church located at White and Main Streets in Brookville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. The church was built in 1904–1905, and is a Richardsonian Romanesque-style building built of Hummelstown brownstone. It features two entrances, each set in a loggia, and a square bell tower. The interior is designed in the Akron plan. The manse was built in 1890, and is a brick Second Empire-style dwelling. It features two, 2-story bay windows; a mansard roof; and an open porch. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is located in the Brookville Historic District.
Barkaboom Mountain – Barkaboom Mountain is a mountain located in the Catskill Mountains of New York southwest of Margaretville. Touchmenot Mountain is located southwest of Barkaboom Mountain and Cross Mountain is located northeast.
Natalie Hershberger – (born February 22, 2004) An American taekwondo athlete and author of Kick it Fit with Natalie and Tough Girls Finish First. Beginning in 2016, Hershberger wrote a regular column featured in the Tae Kwon Do Times known as "Kickchat with Nat", focused on taekwondo training.
Hershberger began training in taekwondo at the age of five. She is a current USA Taekwondo National Team Member with the goal of representing the United States in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Hershberger has won two AAU Junior Olympic Games titles (2012 and 2013) and seven national championship titles (AAU and USAT). Hershberger was named a 2015 Sports Illustrated SportsKid of the Year finalist (SKOTY), making her the first ever martial artist to be recognized as a finalist.
Guy LeRoy Hunner – (1868–1957) An American physician, surgeon, urologist and gynecologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Hunner received his M.D. in 1897 as a member of the first graduating class of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was the first resident under Howard Atwood Kelly to have graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Hunner became the chief resident of the School of Gynecology, and was the Chief of the Urological Division of the Department of Gynecology until his retirement at age 70. Hunner was born in Alma, Wisconsin.
Deliming – The deliming operation in leather processing is a drum/paddle or pit-based operation where two main objectives are met:
Removal of alkali from the pelt and the consequent deswelling of the fibres.
Lowering of the liquor pH to the values used in the bating process.
Deliming operations of cattle hides usually last two hours and are generally associated with the alkaline phase of beamhouse operations. The progress of deliming in pelts is monitored by the checking of pH values of process liquors and in the cutting of a pelt cross-section. Phenolphthalein is used to monitor deliming pelt cross-sectional progress.
Boy Meets Boy (musical) – A musical comedy with music and lyrics by Bill Solly, and book by Bill Solly and Donald Ward. It opened on Sep. 17, 1975 at the off-Broadway Actor's Playhouse in New York City. It was produced by Christopher Larkin and Edith O'Hara in association with Lee Barton. The show is a fast-paced, light-hearted musical-comedy, featuring a 1930s style Astaire/Rogers romance between two men, and a same-sex marriage. The world of the play posits that in 1936, same-sex relationships are considered as normal as heterosexual ones. The play begins against the background of the abdication of Edward VIII and ends with the Duke of Windsor's (and the protagonists') June 1937 weddings. This is appropriate, as one of the major themes is "Giving it Up for Love". The action occurs in the Savoy Hotel, a few elegant nightspots in London, a bar in Spain, and a black-sheep aunt's disreputable establishment in Paris.
Jim Gaffney – (April 26, 1921 – August 9, 2015) An American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins in 1945 and 1946. He played college football at the University of Tennessee and was drafted in the fifteenth round of the 1944 NFL Draft.
Dr. T and the Women – Dr.T & The Women is a 2000 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Altman, featuring an ensemble cast including Richard Gere as wealthy gynecologist Dr. Sullivan Travis ("Dr. T") and Helen Hunt, Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Tara Reid, Kate Hudson, and Liv Tyler as the various women that he encounters in his everyday life. The movie was primarily filmed in Dallas, Texas, and was released in US theaters on October 13, 2000. The film's music was composed by American composer and alternative country singer Lyle Lovett, who released an album of his score in September 2000.
James Young Simpson (diplomat) – Professor James Young Simpson (3 August 1873 – 20 May 1934) FRSE FRSSA FRAI DJur(Hon) DSc(Hon) was a Scottish zoologist, writer, diplomat, biographer and theologian. After World War I, he was instrumental in establishing the Baltic states and Finland as independent nations.
Acacia pterocaulon - Acacia pterocaulon is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and subgenus Alatae. It is native to a small area in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
John Trout Greble - (January 19, 1834 in Philadelphia – June 10, 1861 in Virginia) A soldier in the United States Army and the Union army in the American Civil War. He was killed at the battle of Big Bethel, and was the first graduate of the United States Military Academy to be killed in the war.
Wojbórz - Wojbórz [ˈvɔi̯buʂ] (German: Gabersdorf) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kłodzko, within Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany. It lies approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) north of Kłodzko and 74 km (46 mi) south of the regional capital Wrocław.
Bill Coffey (footballer) - William John Coffey (10 October 1896 – 9 April 1962) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Current B1G Rankings, as Explained by Wikipedia:
1. Purdue (5-0) - Barkaboom Mountain
Notable Wins – vs. Gonzaga (84-66; neutral court), Marquette (75-70), vs. West Virginia (80-68)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – N/A
Bad Losses – N/A
As soon as Barkaboom Mountain came up during this exercise, I knew it’d have to be paired with Purdue, which is led by the equally gargantuan and dominant mountain-of-a-man Zach Edey. The true junior has 25 rebounds through five games…off the offensive glass alone, along with 35 more on the flip side of the floor and is shooting 63.1% from the field on 13 shots per game and 73% from the free throw line. Pair those eye-popping numbers with the fact that Edey is also blocking a ridiculous 10.2% of opponent shots while in the game and is drawing nearly eight fouls per 40 minutes of play and you have an old-fashioned recipe for an All-American in the making (currently #1 in KenPom’s Player of the Year Standings). And while the mountain in the middle dwarfs his teammates on the floor and on the stat sheet both literally and figuratively, Edey has gotten quality complementary help from freshmen guards Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith, who have combined to make 19 threes through five games, and junior wings Brandon Newman and Ethan Morton, who are far from flashy but contribute to an outstanding perimeter defense and provide a veteran presence while playing about half of the available minutes. This team has been rolling over some fine competition, and unless Big Ten competition can figure out to scale the mountain in the middle, Purdue may well remain on top.
2. Illinois (5-1) - Natalie Hershberger
Notable Wins – vs. UCLA (79-70; neutral court)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Virginia (61-70; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
There is no Big Ten team so far that has looked more like a young taekwondo champion than Illinois. Led by transfer Terrence Shannon Jr. (previously of Texas Tech and one-time Michigan transfer target) and a slew of young talent in freshmen guards Skyy Clark, Jayden Epps, and Sencire Harris, the Fighting Illini look poised to compete for their second straight Big Ten conference title, which would certainly have Brad Underwood positioned to author an equivalent book to Hershberger’s, like “Tough Young Men Finish First”. Illinois is at its best when playing fast, finding slashing lanes, and pressuring their opponent into costly turnovers (currently forcing turnovers on 25.6% of defensive possessions, 2nd best in the Big Ten), like they did in their 9-point win over UCLA, scoring 16 points off 15 Bruin turnovers and propelling a Shannon explosion for 29 points and 10 rebounds. Underwood’s sixth season in Champaign sees him rolling out a team that is deep, big, athletic, and talented, with the ability to throw a variety of different lineups and playing styles on the court, though they’d be well-served to protect the ball a bit more (22.3% offensive turnover rate, worst in the Big Ten) and shore up their collective free throw shooting (currently shooting just 65.3% from the line, 3rd worst in the conference). Sophomore transfer Dain Dainja (Baylor) is a certified Danger Man down low while junior Coleman Hawkins is a unique 6’10 weapon who spends much of his time shooting and dishing from the perimeter, with an impressive 36.8% 3pt. shooting mark and a 20.7 assist rate.
3. Indiana (6-0) - Jim Gaffney
Notable Wins – @Xavier (81-79)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – N/A
Bad Losses – N/A
While Indiana’s season has been off to a more notable start than Gaffney’s rather blasé NFL career, it’s clear that the Hoosiers are one of a handful of Big Ten teams that have an incredibly defined leader and team quarterback in Trayce Jackson-Davis. TJD has been an absolute force inside, scoring 15+ points in each of Indiana’s first four games before sitting out with an injury in a 19-point win over Little Rock, and the senior’s ridiculous 76% mark from inside the arc is a big reason the Hoosiers are the fourth-best 2pt. FG shooting team in the country. And while Jackson-Davis is clearly the Jim Gaffney of Mike Woodson’s second team in Bloomington, fellow senior (and former Pittsburgh Panther) Xavier Johnson has a sporty 28.8 assist rate and quality 58.3 FT rate at the point guard position and freshmen Malik Reneau and Jalen Hood-Schifino have both shown the ability to be reliable secondary scoring options.
4. Iowa (5-1) - Boy Meets Boy (musical)
Notable Wins – @Seton Hall (83-67), vs. Clemson (74-71)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. TCU (66-79; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
A fast-paced, lyrically pleasing show? Sure sounds like Iowa to me. The Hawkeyes, oft-picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big Ten this season after losing do-it-all forward Keegan Murray, have not missed a beat offensively while perhaps even shoring up their defense, which has long been coach Fran McCaffery’s Achilles heel. And it would be easy to forgive a casual fan for thinking Keegan is back, as identical twin brother Kris Murray has stormed out of the gate in his junior season, pouring in 116 points and grabbing 6+ rebounds in each game through six contests. Fran must also be pleased to see his boy Patrick filling in the secondary offensive position well (despite a brutal 0/5, 0 pt. night in the loss to TCU), attacking the defensive glass, and recording double digit points in all five of the team’s wins to-date (including a team-high 21 in a nail-biter over Clemson) alongside Fran’s other boy Connor shooting a ridiculous 6/11 from downtown (previous season best: 34%) and providing a steadying veteran presence as a sixth-year senior. In Iowa’s one true road game so far against a tough Seton Hall team, the Hawkeye boys met and overmatched the Pirate boys in their own gym, forcing the home squad into a 35.8% shooting night and 16 cough-ups while protecting the ball themselves.
5. Ohio State (5-1) - Wojbórz
Notable Wins – vs. Texas Tech (80-73; neutral court), vs. Cincinnati (81-53; neutral court)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. San Diego State (77-88; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
Like Wojbórz in the mid-20th century, Ohio State has had a complete changing of the guard, but it appears that all is well with Chris Holtmann’s revamped team. Freshman star Brice Sensabaugh has been perhaps the Buckeyes’ most ambitious player on the floor despite coming off the bench to play big minutes and is shooting a very solid 46.2% from deep on more than four attempts per game while fellow freshman (and starting point guard) Bruce Thornton has been equally effective, making nearly half his threes on slightly lower volume. Fresh-faced transfers Sean McNeil (West Virginia) and Isaac Likelele (Oklahoma State) have also provided some scoring pop and defensive prowess, respectively. It’s not all new in Columbus, however, as returning upperclassmen Zed Key, the wide-bodied post presence, and Justice Sueing, a wing coming off a 2021-22 season wiped away by injury, have stepped up in a big way, making over 61% of their 2-point attempts on extremely high volume and pounding the offensive glass to the tune of a team-wide 37.8% offensive rebounding rate, tied with Purdue and Edey for best in the league.
6. Michigan State (4-2) - John Trout Greble
Notable Wins – vs. Kentucky (86-77; neutral court), vs. Oregon (74-70; neutral court), Villanova (73-71)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Gonzaga (63-64; neutral court), vs.
Bad Losses – N/A
Like Greble, Michigan State was the first Big Ten team to fall this year, but the 1-point loss to Gonzaga on a U.S. aircraft carrier is nothing to be ashamed of for Tom Izzo’s Spartans, and victories in the week following over Kentucky and Villanova are perhaps reminiscent of the Union’s eventual triumph over the Confederacy that led to the creation of this beautiful country we call home today. Michigan State, though perhaps lacking a clear go-to offensive leader, has as good of a starting five as anyone in the league, steadied by backcourt duo A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walker. This team is at its best when Hoggard is driving and finding teammates all over the floor, which has been a common sight so far with the junior Pennsylvania native averaging more than six dimes a game and a sporting a 39.3 assist rate according to KenPom, good for 17th in the country. I still have my concerns about not knowing which Spartan soldier will be reliable on a night-in, night-out basis and am not sold on Mady Sissoko being a long-term, high-level post scorer or defender in the Big Ten, but there should be enough options for Izzo to choose from to keep this team in the hunt come March.
7. Maryland (6-0) - Dr. T and the Women
Notable Wins – vs. Saint Louis (95-67; neutral court), vs. Miami (88-70; neutral court)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – N/A
Bad Losses – N/A
There’s a new doctor in town for the Terrapins, and what Kevin Willard has accomplished thus far has been nothing sort of surgical. Sporting a terrific ensemble cast led by senior Donta Scott and his dynamic inside-outside game (highlighted by back-to-back 25- and 24-point scoring nights in massive wins over Saint Louis and Miami, respectively), Maryland has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the Big Ten thus far, much like a romantic comedy with Richard Gere that manages to not fall flat is surprising and inspiring. Returning veterans Hakim Hart (a senior) and Julian Reese (a sophomore) have been dominant inside, making 67.7% and 80.4%(!) of their respective 2-point field goal attempts and making frequent trips to the charity stripe while new transfers Jahmir Young (Charlotte) and Don Carey (Georgetown) have combined to form a serviceable backcourt that needs to do a better job protecting the ball (each sporting near-20.0 turnover rates) and deferring to the team’s more talented frontline.
8. Wisconsin (5-1) - James Young Simpson (diplomat)
Notable Wins – vs. Dayton (43-42; neutral court), vs. USC (64-59; neutral court), vs. Stanford (60-50; semi-homecourt)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Kansas (68-69 OT; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
Taking a very diplomatic and generally well-thought-out approach has long been Wisconsin’s calling card on the basketball court, and it’s no different this season, with Greg Gard leading his troops on heavily strategic, oft-defensive dominated affairs. The Badgers have won two games holding opponents below 50 points and another three keeping the opposition below 60, while their one tantalizingly close defeat to defending national champion Kansas still saw Wisconsin cede fewer than 70 points despite an extra five-minute OT period being played. While losing 2022 Big Ten Player of the Year Johnny Davis to the NBA lottery has certainly hampered Gard’s offense a bit, Wisconsin’s defense ranks 11th in the country per KenPom’s defensive adjusted efficiency metric and frontcourt mates Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl have formed a formidable enough duo down low to overmatch lesser competition. Sophomore point guard Chucky Hepburn’s two-point finishing has been rather dreadful (29.8%), but he’s done a fine job finding new shooters Connor Essegian (freshman) and Max Klesmit (junior transfer from Wofford) – combining to make a hair over 51% of their threes early on – on the perimeter.
9. Penn State (6-1) - Brookville Presbyterian Church and Manse
Notable Wins – vs. Furman (73-68; neutral court), vs. Colorado State (68-56; neutral court), Butler (68-62)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Virginia Tech (59-61; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
While the geographic implications alone made it difficult to compare any other Big Ten team with the Brookville Presbyterian Church and Manse, it is perhaps the hope these Nittany Lions have given Penn State faithful that makes this a spot-on Random Wikipedia article match. Led by do-it-all senior point guard Jalen Pickett, Penn State has already managed to put a few notable wins on the board while giving their best opponent to-date in Virginia Tech a big scare in the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic last week. Pickett, currently #9 in KenPom’s Player of the Year Standings, is finding the bottom of the net from deep (40% from 3pt. land), inside the arc (54.1% on massive 2pt. usage), and via his passing game (rocking a 46.1 assist rate, good for 5th in the country) while playing huge minutes and using 27.3% of his team’s offensive possessions to shoot or distribute. Second year coach Micah Shrewsberry is undoubtedly also thankful this holiday season for a quartet of perimeter shooters in Andrew Funk, Seth Lundy, Myles Dread, and Camren Wynter who are all shooting 38.5% or better from deep on ridiculous volume (more than half of Penn State’s field goal attempts to date come from beyond the arc), and though some already shaky 2pt. defense will likely prevent this team from competing for a conference title in a league full of outstanding big men, Pickett seems poised to potentially bring the Nittany Lions back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
10. Rutgers (5-1) - Deliming
Notable Wins – N/A
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Temple (66-72; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
Just as a fast-paced musical popping up in this sample batch of Wikipedia articles was perfect for Iowa, a two-hour process called deliming by which animal hide is turned into leather in a “beamhouse” seems incredibly apt for a Rutgers team that will be completely reliant on their defensive pressure all season. The Scarlet Knights were never going to be able to replace veterans Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker on the offensive end of the floor, so instead, coach Steve Pikiell has once again doubled down on a high-pressure, grind-it-out defensive philosophy to get the most out of this team. Rutgers is forcing its opponents into turnovers on 27.4% of possessions, 10th-best in the country, and has four players ranked in the top-500 nationally for individual steal rate while ceding only 89.2 points per 100 possessions, good for 11th nationally and second in the Big Ten. Scarily, the defense should get even with the recent return of reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Caleb McConnell, who has played just one game this season, and the hopefully impending return of fellow senior Paul Mulcahy, who has missed the past three games with a shoulder injury, and they’ll likely need it, as Rutgers draws a home game against Indiana and a road matchup at Ohio State as their two December conference tilts. Unlike Penn State, however, Rutgers does possess a strong post presence in 6’10, 240-pound junior Cliff Omoruyi, whose rebounding and shot blocking presence should at least keep this team competitive against some of the skilled behemoths across the league.
11. Michigan (5-1) - Guy LeRoy Hunner
Notable Wins – N/A
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – N/A
Bad Losses – vs. Arizona State (62-87; neutral court)
Michigan has been in poor form to kick off the season and would certainly benefit from the care of a physician and surgeon, particularly one who studied under a Howard at Johns Hopkins University and earned an honorary doctor of science degree from Dickinson College. The Wolverines were run off the court by a not-great Arizona State team in Brooklyn that featured former point guard Frankie Collins – who looks like a piece that would be quite useful to this team indeed – and have barely managed to squeak by even lesser opponents like Ohio (in OT), Eastern Michigan, and, most recently, a winless Jackson State team that dropped their next game to Indiana by 39 points. Junior big Hunter Dickinson has generally been as good as expected, making 62.3% of his shots from 2pt. range on very high volume, converting a solid 73.1% of his free throws, and cleaning up the defensive glass, and freshman star Jett Howard (son of head coach Juwan) has proven the ability to be a high-level scoring threat with 63.2%/43.9%/72.2% 2pt./3pt./FT shooting splits, but the rest of the team looks lacking in confidence. Perhaps the biggest concern in the early season has been the lackluster play of transfer point guard Jaelin Llewellyn (Princeton), who has not shot the ball well and looks uncertain running the offense. The good news for Michigan is that this is a familiar problem, as past transfer point guards Mike Smith and DeVante’ Jones similarly struggled early on before turning it around on teams that reached the Sweet Sixteen.
12. Northwestern (5-1) - Bill Coffey (footballer)
Notable Wins – vs. Liberty (66-52; neutral court)
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. Auburn (42-43; neutral court)
Bad Losses – N/A
Prospects looked incredibly dim in Evanston after losing Pete Nance (to North Carolina) and Ryan Young (to Duke) from last year’s frontcourt, but Chris Collins has channeled his internal scrappiness akin to an old, not-so-notable Australian Rules football player to make something out of nothing here. The Wildcat defense has been a huge surprise early on against mostly subpar competition, but there’s no shame in holding Auburn and Liberty to their worst offensive outputs of the season, and junior 7-foot big man Matthew Nicholson’s 12.9 block rate has helped anchor this team’s outstanding interior defense (letting opponents make just 37.6% of 2pt. FG attempts). Unfortunately, for as good as the defense has been – and there’s no denying it has been top-notch – the offense has been perhaps equally bad. Northwestern has made just 44% of their two-point shots (316th in the country) and 31.9% of their threes (225th nationally), leading to a sub-300 national eFG% of 45.6, which could be an ugly recipe as the calendars turn to 2023 and the heart of Big Ten season arrives. The Wildcats start the new year with Ohio State and Illinois at home before traveling to Indiana and then welcoming the feisty Scarlet Knights of Rutgers to Welsh-Ryan Arena all within the first two weeks of January. In order to remain competitive through that nightmare of a stretch and keep the boats afloat, starting seniors Boo Buie, Chase Audige, and Robbie Beran absolutely must improve on their finishing, as they have so far collectively made just 39 of 107 2pt. attempts (36.4%), which should help space the floor and potentially even see their respectable outside shooting (31/89 from 3pt. range, 34.8%) numbers bump up a couple ticks.
13. Nebraska (3-3) - Acacia pterocaulon
Notable Wins – N/A
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – @St. John’s (50-70), vs. Memphis (61-73; neutral court), vs. Oklahoma (56-69)
Bad Losses – N/A
In truth, comparing the Cornhuskers to a shrub in the Mid West region of Australia was not meant as a slight; it simply best fits the bill for a team that has done nothing out of the ordinary so far. Through six games, Nebraska has taken care of business in three home games against teams ranked below 300th nationally in KenPom while not posing much of a threat to three KenPom top-50 teams in away or neutral court games. Fred Hoiberg’s shrubbery will welcome the watering that should come with the recent return of senior Derrick Walker, who missed the first five games of the season with an undisclosed medical issue but provided a quality 15-point, 12-rebound outing against a solid Memphis team on Friday. Beyond that, there’s simply not a whole to get excited about after the loss of volume shooters Alonzo Verge and Bryce McGowens from last year’s squad, and I’d be surprised to see this team win more than two or three games in what is shaping up to be a much stronger version of the Big Ten than many expected.
14. Minnesota (4-2) - 1900 in Chile
Notable Wins – N/A
Moral Victories (or Losses That Won’t Hurt) – vs. UNLV (61-72; neutral court)
Bad Losses – DePaul (53-69)
The most notable event that seems to have occurred in Chile in 1900 was “exceptionally heavy and frequent rains during the winter across the center of the country.” Winter in Minneapolis – for the local college basketball team, at least – seems to have an unfortunately similar forecast this season, but at least we can hope that some extra cloudy days in head coach Ben Johnson’s second year begins to yield a fruitful harvest next year. Transfer and Minnesota native Dawson Garcia (who played his first at Marquette before playing a year at North Carolina) has tried to prop the team up on his shoulders, having taken nearly twice as many shots as any of his teammates so far this season, but his 51.4 eFG% mark leaves plenty to be desired, and shooting 64.5% from the free throw line doesn’t do the Golden Gophers any favors when about all Garcia has truly done well so far is draw fouls. The recent return of Jamison Battle, who made my Preseason First Team Positional All-Big Ten Team, is most welcome, but the supporting cast is dreadful for a Big Ten team, and both the offense and defense rank outside the top-140 in KenPom’s Adjusted Effiency. KenPom projects that Minnesota will win four conference games this season; I’ll hammer the under.
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