2025-2026 MBB computer projections thread

Am I crazy saying you may have to go undefeated in January to have a shot at a 1 seed? As of today Michigan is a lock. They also get Nebraska at home. You only get one crack at Arizona, and it’s on the road. Gonzaga is going to plow through its conference, and UConn should mostly do the same. You’re likely losing at BYU. To be sure, head-to-head at Purdue, and getting Houston at home are nice. But I’m looking at UConn, Duke, Gonzaga, and Nebraska as stiff 1-seed competition assuming Arizona and Michigan are two

I don't think quite. Losing at Kansas wouldn't let a 4 loss Iowa State drop that far.

I don't think Gonzaga runs the table. They have close wins against San Diego and Seattle. Their 6-1 quad 1 record versus 10-4 Iowa State might not be enough for Gonzaga. It'd be close.

UConn won't run the table. If they do, they would definitely be a 1 seed. Same thing with Duke.

Don't forget Purdue, BYU and Houston.
 
I don't think quite. Losing at Kansas wouldn't let a 4 loss Iowa State drop that far.

I don't think Gonzaga runs the table. They have close wins against San Diego and Seattle. Their 6-1 quad 1 record versus 10-4 Iowa State might not be enough for Gonzaga. It'd be close.

UConn won't run the table. If they do, they would definitely be a 1 seed. Same thing with Duke.

Don't forget Purdue, BYU and Houston.
And as of right now (if I'm counting correctly), we have 9 more quad 1 opportunities and Gonzaga has 3.

 
Him doing the 'that was a dunk!' thing to his bench last night in the middle of what was still very much a game that wasn't over was one of my favorite things I've seen in quite a while from ISU sports.

So far the 'behind the scenes' aspect is some sort of internal jokes about that kind of stuff, like how Milan did similar in Vegas.
Killyan was jawing with the bench too after his steal and dunk. The team is just so connected. I think the CEO left his mark on that bench and taught guys like Kelderman how you can impact the team from that position.
 
If Tamin played for a media darling, he’d be talked about as the best point guard in the country
Best player is probably Jefferson, best shooter is Milan, best defender is probably Toure.

Most important player on this team is Tamin. And I don't think it's close. Just look at the first half when he sat with foul trouble. And it tends to be like that when he rests each game.
 

If you look at just the first ~4 minutes (until the first media TO), it's even crazier. We've had a half dozen games where we've scored 10+ points during that 1/10th of the game and several more where we've shutout or nearly shutout the other team. Last night it was 10-1 during that time period (part of a 24-3 run over ~10 minutes before and after HT)
 
I would have thought we'd take a step back after last year on losing Curtis Jones alone.

But we haven't. We're significantly better.

I thought we'd be missing the high-volume high-efficiency scoring guard that was CuJo. A guy who is going to hit big threes and just ******* go and get a bucket when the team needs it. Every championship team needs a guy like that guy. The guy who gets to the lane and hits that floater when you need it.

We're not. We had him the whole time. It's called a healthy Tamin Lipsey.

Jefferson has found another gear.

Momcilovic has found another gear.

Heise hasn't made a huge leap but at least picked up where he left off last year.

Toure is better than an injured Gilbert by a mile.

Buchanan is a tremendous upgrade on Jackson. Pleta is at worst a push with Chatfield.

Batemon and Nelson are guard depth we didn't have last year unless you count Watson and Kelderman.

Amazing how this roster and team has come together.
If you had told me prior to the game yesterday that we get outrebounded, basically draw the turnover battle and Milan+Batemon go 0-5 from 3, I'd have said we lose by at least 15. Instead we won by 10.

Amazing job by the team to grind out that win, especially Tamin making big shot after big shot down the stretch. Per Torvik that was our WORST offensive game of the year and our BEST defensive game.

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No. I think winner of Big 12 gets a one seed unless the winner takes like 5 losses in conference. Otherwise - to your point Michigan is looking like a lock. one of UConn or Gonzaga will get one. Probably Duke if they win the ACC (which they should). I don't see any way the Big 12 gets more than one and I am not sure we can win the Big 12 taking more than 1 loss before we get to that brutal stretch at the end.
Let's assume the Mich is #1 in Midwest.

East: UConn or Duke
South: Duke or ISU
West: AZ or Zaga

If AZ wins Big12, and Duke and UConn dominate, those are your other #1s. HOU/ISU/Zaga would be #2s. And probably Purdue I suppose. Although I am not so confident about HOU right now, and there's a few other wildcards out there (BYU, Tech, MSU). I am not confident in Vandy maintaining.

If AZ doesn't win the Big12, they probably end up as #2 in West with Zaga the #1.
If either of UConn or Duke doesn't do so hot, then that makes more space for HOU or ISU depending on which ends up better. I think UConn sucking would help ISU the most - that would make space for Duke in the East, and give ISU a better shot at the South - assuming you want to avoid Michigan as long as possible.

If it ended today, I think ISU is probable #1 in the South with Duke as the #2. Or the reverse, more likely due to "brand". Either way, you're reward is playing Duke in the E8 at (checks notes)... Houston! That's not so bad, I just assumed it would be in effing Raleigh lol.
 
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If you had told me prior to the game yesterday that we get outrebounded, basically draw the turnover battle and Milan+Batemon go 0-5 from 3, I'd have said we lose by at least 15. Instead we won by 10.

Amazing job by the team to grind out that win, especially Tamin making big shot after big shot down the stretch. Per Torvik that was our WORST offensive game of the year and our BEST defensive game.

View attachment 165647

For as worked up as people get about offensive lulls and fatigue, is this not Otz's philosophy in a nutshell? "We won't always have an NBA-ready scorer like Baylor, and we won't be able to buy a NPOY like Michigan or BYU, but the rules of basketball only require that we keep our opponents from scoring more than us."
 
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If you had told me prior to the game yesterday that we get outrebounded, basically draw the turnover battle and Milan+Batemon go 0-5 from 3, I'd have said we lose by at least 15. Instead we won by 10.

Amazing job by the team to grind out that win, especially Tamin making big shot after big shot down the stretch. Per Torvik that was our WORST offensive game of the year and our BEST defensive game.

View attachment 165647
I was worried that we were due for a flat shooting night, and it's incredibly impressive that they found a way to win by 10 on the road through one of those.
 
I think OSU is way better than the 94.7% suggests. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're a conference contender, but they do have some potential there. I also don't like playing them twice in a two week span.

Was just thinking this...that's an awfully high number for any conference game imo and Okie State isn't bad.

Different teams and all but they've also just been a terrible match up for ISU or ISU has not played very well vs. them.

And ISU is good but the last week itself has shown us some top ranked teams are absolutely capable of getting in trouble. Imo UConn and Michigan for starters were fortunate to have their opponents look like they forgot how to play basketball down the stretch.
 
It isn't the entire story of resume for any team, of course, but thru 1/7 games, only two teams are 5-0 in Quad 1: Iowa State and Vanderbilt. (Duke is the only other w/ 5 wins, 5-1).

Three are 4-0 in Q1: Arizona, Michigan, Nebraska. U-M has a leg up among those, 9-0 in Q1/Q2.
 
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I think OSU is way better than the 94.7% suggests. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're a conference contender, but they do have some potential there. I also don't like playing them twice in a two week span.
If you watched the Texas A&M or UCF game they would look like a dangerous team, the rest of their schedule they have looked average at best and had been trending down until the UCF game.
 

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