College Basketball 2025-2026

[Irrelevant Dude]

2 hours ago, mul21 said:

I am concerned about Tomi though, he just looks a step slow and the 3s just haven't been falling for him at all lately.

A step slow, not very strong, and shooting terribly.  He is a big guy who doesn't do big guy things, and now he can't shoot either.

[Tryptamine]

14 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Fears up to the nonsense again: 

Izzo defending him, I'm so sick of Izzo, what a horsefeathers ass.

The fact that the NCAA hasn't stepped it on this is an absolute joke and they would 100% lose a court case if Fears significantly injured someone because they have had more than ample evidence and opportunity to act on behalf of other player's safety.

[Irrelevant Dude]

20 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

The fact that the NCAA hasn't stepped it on this is an absolute joke and they would 100% lose a court case if Fears significantly injured someone because they have had more than ample evidence and opportunity to act on behalf of other player's safety.

NCAA is perfectly content letting their golden child head coach handle matters in-house, which he won't actually do.

[Tryptamine]

Which is a damn shame because I used to respect Izzo a lot

[sneakypower]

15 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Fears up to the nonsense again: 

Izzo defending him, I'm so sick of Izzo, what a horsefeathers ass.

Izzo was so funny whining about it in the timeout break, saying something to the effect of "the microscope is unfairly on him for earlier stuff" meaning other times recently he's tried kicking guys in the nuts

[sneakypower]

also Jeremy Fears Jr. might really be the most unethical hooper ever? Marcus Smart finally being usurped; 40 minutes of foul grifting and cheap shots

[gflore34]

47 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

NCAA is perfectly content letting their golden child head coach handle matters in-house, which he won't actually do.

Fears is cheap shot artist.  But it's Izzo who's enabling Fears.  Izzo can put a stop to this nonsense any time he wishes.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Edited March 12 by Sammy Sofa

[UMFan83]

Soooo....Miami OH knocked out of the MAC tournament for a Q4 loss.  One of the wilder resumes I've seen.  In or out?

31-1 (NCAA only counts 28-1 as 3 wins were against non-D1 teams)

NET: 54

NET SOS: 340th

Q1 Record: 0-0

Q2 Record: 2-0

Q3 Record: 11-0

Q4 Record: 15-1

KenPom: 90th

BPI: 90th

T-Rank: 85th

SOR: 21st

WAB (NCAA relied on this a lot last year): 33rd

 

I'm going to guess that they get in and play in Dayton, seems like a fair compromise to make them play another bubble team to prove they belong in the field of 64 since they only played 1 game against a team with a NET ranking below 127th (Akron at home, 53rd).

[mul21]

31 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm going to guess that they get in and play in Dayton, seems like a fair compromise to make them play another bubble team to prove they belong in the field of 64 since they only played 1 game against a team with a NET ranking below 127th (Akron at home, 53rd).

That's exactly what ESPN/Lunardi thinks will happen and it feels reasonable to me too.

[Rex Buckingham]

I would certainly rather see them in the tourney than thoroughly mediocre teams like this year's Indiana and Auburn teams. Putting those type of teams in just shows we could reduce the size again

[Old Style]

On 3/9/2026 at 11:54 AM, sneakypower said:

also Jeremy Fears Jr. might really be the most unethical hooper ever? Marcus Smart finally being usurped; 40 minutes of foul grifting and cheap shots

Greyson Allen says hello. 

[Tryptamine]

Doubling down again, Illinois is not that good and I think the sweet 16 is more unlikely than not.

[Nolansomebody]

Big 12 putting in a hardwood floor for tonight and Saturday. 
Thank god.

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

Doubling down again, Illinois is not that good and I think the sweet 16 is more unlikely than not.

They haven’t been the same since Wagler hurt his shoulder. Their upside was based on having a historically good offense and he was a huge part of that. Hes obviously playing but his shot hasn’t been falling and doesn’t seem as dynamic as he was earlier in the year. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

28 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

They haven’t been the same since Wagler hurt his shoulder. Their upside was based on having a historically good offense and he was a huge part of that. Hes obviously playing but his shot hasn’t been falling and doesn’t seem as dynamic as he was earlier in the year. 

I'm not sure whether it is really the shoulder, or that the scouting report is out now and teams are playing him much more physically than they were earlier in the season.

[Brian707]

Illinois going to be a #3 seed now?

[gflore34]

55 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I'm not sure whether it is really the shoulder, or that the scouting report is out now and teams are playing him much more physically than they were earlier in the season.

Physical is one thing, Big Ten teams have been hacking him and getting away with it, how many times did he get hammered going to the hoop today without a call?  On the other end, the Illini so much as breath on the flopping Wisconsin guards and the whistle blows.  It's a load of horsefeathers.

[Irrelevant Dude]

57 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

On the other end, the Illini so much as breath on the flopping Wisconsin guards and the whistle blows.

The foul on Illinois against Blackwell in OT was as egregious a call you will ever see.  Considering the importance of that moment in the game makes it even worse.

Illinois put themselves in that position and deserved to lose, but that doesn't excuse the referees for such an awfully called game.  I don't watch enough non-B1G games to know whether it is like this all across college basketball, but B1G officiating is unacceptably poor and wildly inconsistent.

[Soul]

17 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

The foul on Illinois against Blackwell in OT was as egregious a call you will ever see.  Considering the importance of that moment in the game makes it even worse.

Illinois put themselves in that position and deserved to lose, but that doesn't excuse the referees for such an awfully called game.  I don't watch enough non-B1G games to know whether it is like this all across college basketball, but B1G officiating is unacceptably poor and wildly inconsistent.

As a Badgers fan, that call was beyond bad.

[gflore34]

Different crew for Michigan - Wisconsin today, pretty certain that whatever was a "foul" yesterday will not be so today. 

I understand with length Underwood sacrifices quickness which certainly was a factor in yesterday' game.  Unfortunately, though very uneven officiating played a big role in the outcome as well.  Don't know how team can be expected to defend when a whistle is blown for any contact real or imagined.  How do the officials get into a mode of calling a game so one-sided?  Time and again Andej and Wagler did the same things Boyd was doing and were not bailed out by the officiating.  How does one deal with that?

[Irrelevant Dude]

10 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

How do the officials get into a mode of calling a game so one-sided?  Time and again Andej and Wagler did the same things Boyd was doing and were not bailed out by the officiating.  How does one deal with that?

I have no idea if numbers back this up, but so often it feels like the trailing team starts getting calls that the leading team doesn't.  The team in the lead has to earn their points, while the trailing team is given the benefit of the doubt to keep the game close.  Again, this could all be in my head, but I'm not sure that it is.

[gflore34]

Yet another example of the joke that is Big Ten officiating, team that hasn't fouled much, Illinois, gives up 31 FT to Wisconsin.  But, somehow, a much more physical team, Michigan, gives up only 5 FT?

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Yet another example of the joke that is Big Ten officiating, team that hasn't fouled much, Illinois, gives up 31 FT to Wisconsin.  But, somehow, a much more physical team, Michigan, gives up only 5 FT?

Big Ten officials are ridiculous, but I’ll point out that Michigan is also top 20 nationally at avoiding fouls (though Illinois is number 1)

btw Wisconsin scares the horsefeathers out of me. The way they came back from a 15 point deficit to take a 4 point lead over like 4 minutes had me losing my mind. Especially considering it was their 3rd game in a row and they had 3 guys in foul trouble.  When they are on they are scary good. Hope they are on the other side of Michigan’s bracket. 

Edited March 14 by UMFan83

[gflore34]

2 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Big Ten officials are ridiculous, but I’ll point out that Michigan is also top 20 nationally at avoiding fouls (though Illinois is number 1)

btw Wisconsin scares the horsefeathers out of me. The way they came back from a 15 point deficit to take a 4 point lead over like 4 minutes had me losing my mind. Especially considering it was their 3rd game in a row and they had 3 guys in foul trouble.  When they are on they are scary good. Hope they are on the other side of Michigan’s bracket. 

The odds of it happening are slim however, I'd love for the Illini to get another crack at them.  A mean, focused Illini team will blow them off the floor, we've seen them run up big leads then relax.  That tells me it's more the Illini than anything Wisconsin does.  And of course, consistent officiating which has a far greater chance of happening in the tournament.

Edited March 15 by gflore34