Happy Valley Hoops » Iowa

Who will PSU play in the Big Tens?

UncleLar — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:35:06 +0000

No matter what happens on today, PSU goes into the record books with a seventh place finish. What’s still undecided is their tournament seed.

If PSU beats Indiana on Sunday, they finish 7th alone and play Illinois (with the winner getting Indiana in the next round)

If PSU loses and Michigan loses, then PSU and Iowa tie for 7th. Iowa gets the 7th seed by virtue of of their win over Ohio State (Iowa is 1-1 against OSU, while we are 0-1). The head to head is irrelevant among PSU, Iowa, and Michigan because each of the teams went 1-1 against the other two, so the tiebreaker reverts to best winning percentage against the highest ranked team(or combined teams in the case of ties), continuing down through the standings until a difference is found (PSU and Iowa are both 0-2 against Wisconsin, 0-2 against Indiana, 0-2 against Purdue, and 1-1 against MSU, the tie is broken when you get to OSU). So Iowa would play Illinois and we would play Michigan (with the winner getting Wisconsin).

If PSU loses and Michigan wins, then PSU, Iowa, and Michigan all tie for 7th. Michigan would get the 7th seed because they would be 0-1 vs Indiana while PSU and Iowa would be 0-2 (for tiebreaking procedures when comparing records 0-1 is better than 0-2 and 2-0 is better than 1-0). Iowa would then get the 8th seed since they own the tiebreaker over us (see previous scenario). Michigan would then play Illinois and we would get Iowa (with the winner again getting Wisconsin).

Game Predictions 03/01/08

UncleLar — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:13:20 +0000

Tonight is senior night for Penn State and the rumor mill is that fallen star Geary Claxton will suit up and make a symbolic start. Supposedly an arrangement has been struck where Michigan will allow PSU to win the jump, the refs will call an immediate time out, and Claxton will be removed from the game. If true, it’s a nice gesture by John Beilein’s squad to give the Happy Valley faithful a chance to honor their star on senior night.

In other action, Ohio State needs a win at Minnesota to improve their NCAA hopes. A loss here would jeopardize their chances for an at large bid.

Game Predictions:

PSU 70 Michigan 67
Purdue 76 Northwestern 57
Ohio State 65 Minnesota 64
Illinois 58 Iowa 54

Mark Brennan files Iowa game story

UncleLar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:22:47 +0000

Scout.com: Lions Rally to Beat Iowa via kwout

BTN Report on Iowa at PSU

UncleLar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:51:17 +0000

BTN Game Wrap Iowa at PSU

UncleLar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:18:50 +0000

Four Factor Analysis Tool (Iowa at PSU)

UncleLar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:06:31 +0000

Only one thing that immediately stands out on this chart – how much worse PSU’s defensive FG efficiency is than Iowa’s. For PSU to win, that can’t happen tonight. The Nits are either going to have to step up their D or Iowa is going to have to have an off shooting night.

PSU quite often has a rebounding edge on their opponents. At first glance, the teams would look to be quite even tonight with Iowa being a better defensive rebounding team and PSU the better offensive rebounding team. Of course, that becomes an impenetrable object vs an unstoppable force scenario. The numbers give a slight edge to PSU here. Look for a 2:1 ratio to be the key factor. PSU will need to grab at least 1/3 of the available rebounds off of their boards while keeping Iowa under that number on the opposite end. That becomes even more important if the first objective is reached. If PSU is to improve their effective defensive FG percentage, then their will be more defensive boards available on Iowa’s glass. PSU can not offord to give Iowa too many second chances at scoring.

Game Predictions 02/27/08

UncleLar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:37:15 +0000

Tonight’s matchup between Penn State and Iowa represents the closest two teams that I’ve run the numbers for this season (their power ratings differ by less than three ten-thousandth of a point). PSU is projected to win by three but that’s entirely due to home court advantage. Move this game to Carver Hawkeye and the score is reversed.

Game Predictions:

Penn State 61 Iowa 58
Purdue 71 Minnesota 64

Game Predictions 02/23/08

UncleLar — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:22:16 +0000

The embattled Hoosiers couldn’t have asked for a better opponent this weekend. Undoubtedly, their minds will be on things other than the game but their raw talent of whomever suits up should overpower Northwestern.

Game Predictions:

Indiana 77 Northwestern 60
Illinois 65 Michigan 61
Michigan State 66 Iowa 53

Battle for eighth in the power rankings

UncleLar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:57:42 +0000

#	Team	Pace	Off	Def	Pwr	Rank
8	Iowa	60.5	0.97	0.90	1.0792	107
9	Penn St.	65.2	1.05	0.98	1.0772	110
10	Michigan	65.8	1.07	0.99	1.0769	111

The teams are so close that the calculation actually has to be carried out to the ten thousandth decimal place to sort out the 8th through 10th places. Michigan’s loss to Minnesota last night dropped them back to tenth.

Game Predictions 02/19/08

UncleLar — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:08:53 +0000

Two games tonight with the marquis matchup being Purdue at Indiana with first place in the B10 conference at stake. Northwestern also visits Iowa.

Game Predictions:

Indiana 70 Purdue 64
Iowa 64 Northwestern 55