1. B12 will be a bloodbath this year. No average teams + no great teams = whoever wins the conference title will probably have 6 losses
2. The question on NCAA selection Sunday will be:
How much will B12 teams be penalized for having so many conference losses while playing a round robin schedule in the most difficult and least variable conference? I think this year B12 could get 7 teams or maybe even 8 teams to qualify.
The one thing that needs be certain is that B12 conference losses cannot be compared equally to any other conference: the B12 is the only conference that does not play an unbalanced schedule with so little parity while stillcontaining so many high quality teams.
The B12 currently has a 14-13 record against the KenPom Top 60 which is
easily the best such record among all conferences. I could see B12 record against the SEC playing a big factor in the perception of B12 strength once the NCAA tourney field is decided.
3. Lastly, on ISU: Is this the "8-2 team" or the "8-0 team" (after moving NWB to PG and getting Brase and Lard on the floor)?
@moldy78 used KenPom projected records as an argument to tame optimism. I also tend to be in a wait-and-see approach just because I think B12 conference play will be wild. But for sheer entertainment this might something worth thinking about if you subscribe to this ISU team being very different than the one that played the first 2 games:
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