College Basketball 2025-2026

[javy knows my name]

23 minutes ago, Derwood said:

3-25 last year. 21 wins the year before. It's like they got hit with recruiting violation penalties (but didn't)
 

 

The Derwood death penalty 

[Derwood]

29 minutes ago, javy knows my name said:

The Derwood death penalty 

How demoralizing to be recruited to a D-1 basketball team and win just 3 games in 2 years. The women's team lost to Ohio State this year 130-32

[Soul]

I know the Badgers have flaws and are unranked for a reason but when they get hot they can slay some pretty good teams.

[bddavidson]

58 minutes ago, Soul said:

I know the Badgers have flaws and are unranked for a reason but when they get hot they can slay some pretty good teams.

Yeah they are entirely too dependent on the 3 and miss way too many shots at the rim, but they have 2 of the best road wins in the country this year.

[gflore34]

58 minutes ago, Soul said:

I know the Badgers have flaws and are unranked for a reason but when they get hot they can slay some pretty good teams.

That's true.  Not too upset, pretty confident the Illini win handily if Stojakovic played, heck, a healthy Illini team would have beat both MSU and Wisconsin.

[mul21]

54 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

That's true.  Not too upset, pretty confident the Illini win handily if Stojakovic played, heck, a healthy Illini team would have beat both MSU and Wisconsin.

That or non-garbage officiating.  The lack of a bench last night really killed Illinois.  The missed free throws at the end of regulation by Wagler and in OT by Mirkovic were very obviously fatigue related because they were short or bricks from guys who don't typically do either of those things at the line.  I wish Underwood would have given Lee a few more minutes here and there to get Wagler and Humrichous a little more rest.

[scarey]

Big shakeup night for sure. 

That was a rough loss for ISU. As a Purdue fan, they obviously blew me away with their win at Mackey. I'm starting to winder if they just had one of those nights where everything clicked. Their remaining schedule gets VERY tough. I wouldn't be surprised if they go from a top 5 team to a 5 seed for the tournament.

Wisconsin obviously did themselves a big favor here. Some of their early schedule losses (TCU and Villanova) don't look quite as bad now. Context weighs heavily for selection Sunday though as they have 16+ point losses to Purdue, BYU, and Nebraska. It's likely the break the top 25 next week barring a huge blowout to MSU on Friday. I don't know that Illinois falls too far from the loss as ISU and Nebraska could fall father depending on what happens the rest of this week.

Nebraska and Purdue is the tough one for me. That's Purdue's second top 10 road win this year which is impressive, but Nebraska did well to acquit themselves with the massive comeback to get it to OT. Purdue has an opportunity to bump themselves back into the top 10 with a win @Iowa. Without that, I don't know that they prove they should move up that far. Great resume win though.

I have officially stepped back from the ledge on this Purdue season. I reserve the right to step back to it with an ugly loss to Iowa.

 

[mul21]

26 minutes ago, scarey said:

That was a rough loss for ISU. As a Purdue fan, they obviously blew me away with their win at Mackey. I'm starting to winder if they just had one of those nights where everything clicked. Their remaining schedule gets VERY tough. I wouldn't be surprised if they go from a top 5 team to a 5 seed for the tournament.

 

Are you talking about Illinois here?  because if so, they were down 2 starters last night and only played 6 guys in an overtime game.  I'm not worried about them at all assuming they can get healthy.  They're so big and shoot the ball really well and should be a tough out for almost anyone.

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

That or non-garbage officiating.  The lack of a bench last night really killed Illinois.  The missed free throws at the end of regulation by Wagler and in OT by Mirkovic were very obviously fatigue related because they were short or bricks from guys who don't typically do either of those things at the line.  I wish Underwood would have given Lee a few more minutes here and there to get Wagler and Humrichous a little more rest.

Really hope they can get healthy, a decently healthy Illini team buries both MSU and Wisconsin in the BTT.

[Soul]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

That or non-garbage officiating.  The lack of a bench last night really killed Illinois.  The missed free throws at the end of regulation by Wagler and in OT by Mirkovic were very obviously fatigue related because they were short or bricks from guys who don't typically do either of those things at the line.  I wish Underwood would have given Lee a few more minutes here and there to get Wagler and Humrichous a little more rest.

Missed Illini free throws was a huge factor last night.  These were 80%+ guys clanking.  I was like, OK I’ll take it.  I didn’t know about the Illini injuries.

[bddavidson]

49 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Are you talking about Illinois here?  because if so, they were down 2 starters last night and only played 6 guys in an overtime game.  I'm not worried about them at all assuming they can get healthy.  They're so big and shoot the ball really well and should be a tough out for almost anyone.

Their size is a huge problem for teams, 100% agree.  That was the impressive takeaway for me as a Wisconsin fan who admittedly only watches UW CBB games.

To that end, was the NBCSN production catching more in arena sound than normal because it sounded chaotic in there with how much they let the DJ play between possessions etc...It felt like it was more constant than an NBA game.

[Soul]

55 minutes ago, bddavidson said:

Their size is a huge problem for teams, 100% agree.  That was the impressive takeaway for me as a Wisconsin fan who admittedly only watches UW CBB games.

To that end, was the NBCSN production catching more in arena sound than normal because it sounded chaotic in there with how much they let the DJ play between possessions etc...It felt like it was more constant than an NBA game.

It’s a good crowd there. My wife kept asking me why they were wearing wigs 😀

[mul21]

2 hours ago, Soul said:

It’s a good crowd there. My wife kept asking me why they were wearing wigs 😀

Ha! Jake Davis is becoming quite the folk hero amongst the fan base.  Kid is a riot to listen to.

[Irrelevant Dude]

5 hours ago, mul21 said:

Are you talking about Illinois here?  because if so, they were down 2 starters last night and only played 6 guys in an overtime game.

That's the problem.  You can't expect to get by with a 6 man rotation against a quality opponent.  I get they are missing multiple starters, but Underwood has to put "someone" else in the game off the bench to give his starters at least a bit of a rest.

[scarey]

6 hours ago, mul21 said:

Are you talking about Illinois here?  because if so, they were down 2 starters last night and only played 6 guys in an overtime game.  I'm not worried about them at all assuming they can get healthy.  They're so big and shoot the ball really well and should be a tough out for almost anyone.

No... ISU = Iowa State...

 

With Illinois's remaining schedule, I have a hard time seeing them come in below a 2 seed.

[gflore34]

This is fun...Big Ten Seeding Calculator... defaulting to the favorites leaves the Illini at 16-4, 3 seed, facing the winner of Wisconsin-Maryland/Ohio State.  I like it, very much want to see a potentially healthy Illini team face Wisconsin again.

Edited February 12 by gflore34

[scarey]

There was about a solid month where there was very little movement on the AP poll. The last few weeks have been very fun waiting for the new poll to come out each week.

 

I'm hoping Purdue can make next week extra fun by knocking off the Wolverines on Tuesday.

[gflore34]

On 2/15/2026 at 8:18 PM, scarey said:

There was about a solid month where there was very little movement on the AP poll. The last few weeks have been very fun waiting for the new poll to come out each week.

 

I'm hoping Purdue can make next week extra fun by knocking off the Wolverines on Tuesday.

If the Boilers front line can play even to just below even with Michigan' front I like their chances.  Don't care about the Michigan hype, for my money, Braden Smith > the Michigan back court and he'll be the difference.

[abuck1220]

On 2/11/2026 at 10:23 AM, scarey said:

That was a rough loss for ISU. As a Purdue fan, they obviously blew me away with their win at Mackey. I'm starting to winder if they just had one of those nights where everything clicked. Their remaining schedule gets VERY tough. I wouldn't be surprised if they go from a top 5 team to a 5 seed for the tournament.

SUCK IT

[scarey]

9 hours ago, abuck1220 said:

SUCK IT

Yeah, they definitely are showing their colors right now. I guess the loss to TCU was the fluke.

[scarey]

My prediction for a Purdue win was predicated on winning the rebound battle and hitting ten 3 pointers. They lose the battle 31-39 and only hit 8.

On the positive side, Purdue showed a new level of defensive intensity in the second half. I'm pretty disappointed in the god awful performance in the first half because they played great in the second half. That shouldn't have even been a game.

Reflecting on the preseason rankings, I think it's pretty obvious in retrospect how talented this Michigan team is. I think the romantic story was the battle hardened, less talented Boilermakers were the team the talking heads WANTED to be #1 over some of the clearly more talented teams. Credit to May for making all the parts work together, Kentucky and BYU certainly haven't been able to. It's pretty disheartening though to know that 4 years of cohesion and hard work just can't live up to paying for the best talent.

That being said, if Purdue continues with this intensity into the tournament and shoot better, they still have a great chance at a final four.

Edited February 18 by scarey
bettor werdz

[gflore34]

10 hours ago, scarey said:

My prediction for a Purdue win was predicated on winning the rebound battle and hitting ten 3 pointers. They lose the battle 31-39 and only hit 8.

On the positive side, Purdue showed a new level of defensive intensity in the second half. I'm pretty disappointed in the god awful performance in the first half because they played great in the second half. That shouldn't have even been a game.

Reflecting on the preseason rankings, I think it's pretty obvious in retrospect how talented this Michigan team is. I think the romantic story was the battle hardened, less talented Boilermakers were the team the talking heads WANTED to be #1 over some of the clearly more talented teams. Credit to May for making all the parts work together, Kentucky and BYU certainly haven't been able to. It's pretty disheartening though to know that 4 years of cohesion and hard work just can't live up to paying for the best talent.

That being said, if Purdue continues with this intensity into the tournament and shoot better, they still have a great chance at a final four.

They didn't have win the rebounding battle just needed to hang in there and not get killed on the boards.  First half they did not or could not do so, that was the game. 

Don't know if Michigan is going to lose again this season, they're awfully good.  One strategy could be going at Mara, he's foul prone, let's see if Duke attacks him.

[scarey]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

They didn't have win the rebounding battle just needed to hang in there and not get killed on the boards.  First half they did not or could not do so, that was the game. 

Don't know if Michigan is going to lose again this season, they're awfully good.  One strategy could be going at Mara, he's foul prone, let's see if Duke attacks him.

I thought they showed some chinks in the armor in the second half. 14 turnovers is quite a lot. Purdue isn't typically very aggressive with on the ball defense, but when they did get aggressive, Michigan started turning the ball over in heaps.

They also are VERY aggressive on closeouts. Purdue got them in the air and drew some fouls on shot fakes and closeouts a couple of times.

I was surprised by how often Purdue got to the rim. I was also surprised by how much Michigan relied on jump shots. I haven't actually watched a lot of Michigan this year, so maybe this was just an approach for this game.

They are an extremely talented team. The most talented I can remember since the second UConn championship team for sure. Despite that, I saw a way a good coach and disciplined players can beat them.

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, scarey said:

I thought they showed some chinks in the armor in the second half. 14 turnovers is quite a lot. Purdue isn't typically very aggressive with on the ball defense, but when they did get aggressive, Michigan started turning the ball over in heaps.

They also are VERY aggressive on closeouts. Purdue got them in the air and drew some fouls on shot fakes and closeouts a couple of times.

I was surprised by how often Purdue got to the rim. I was also surprised by how much Michigan relied on jump shots. I haven't actually watched a lot of Michigan this year, so maybe this was just an approach for this game.

They are an extremely talented team. The most talented I can remember since the second UConn championship team for sure. Despite that, I saw a way a good coach and disciplined players can beat them.

The only catch for Michigan is the 4/5 of starting lineup is probably one and done.  Of course, they'll probably go out and buy another talented team for 2027.

[abuck1220]

14 hours ago, scarey said:

Yeah, they definitely are showing their colors right now. I guess the loss to TCU was the fluke.

eh, the chances of them losing to a 10 seed in the 2nd round by 2 points after going 8-17 on FTs is still quite high.