Here's this week's items of interest to the B1G.
SmartMuffin: What exactly should we make of the mid-week games, particularly the upsets? For RPI they all count the same, but you guys don’t seem to consider them as much for ranking purposes, and it sometimes feels like the coaches/teams themselves don’t even take them quite as seriously as a proper weekend series…
Aaron Fitt: Yeah they just aren’t as important as weekend games — but that doesn’t mean they are irrelevant. They are a piece of the pie, and as you point out, the RPI treats all games the same. Plenty of teams have built their postseason resumés on the strength of midweek excellence against quality competition. But ultimately our game is about winning weekend series, and that’s what we will always value most.
Jackson: Does it feel a bit like Oregon has been skimming by? Can you really take the Ducks serious yet?
Aaron Fitt: I certainly take them seriously — lots of players back there with experience from back to back supers, and I mean c’mon, they’re 19-5. It’s baseball, you’re not gonna go undefeated. Sure they laid an egg Saturday against Rutgers, and also last Sunday against an improved Minnesota team. Feels like that falls into the “that’s baseball” category. Before that they won 11 straight, including a bunch by hugely lopsided scores. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re just skimming by.
Billy Gersh: Is UCLA a real player in the top 25 this year, or is their placement this week a short lived stay?
Kendall Rogers: Well, UCLA hasn’t had a losing weekend to date, so it’s hard to call them remotely a fraud considering its consistency. The UCLA bullpen, in particularly, definitely looks very good right now.
Izzo: How many B1G teams ultimately make the tournament?
Aaron Fitt: Hmm… I’m starting to get concerned about some of the mediocrity I’m seeing in the overall records in the Big Ten. A bunch of teams have not done as well as I expected in nonconference play, and as a result they have RPI problems that feel like they are most likely to compound as they play each other more and more. So I’m going to say four bids, ultimately. A few weeks ago I was thinking more like six, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s trending that way. Long way to go though, could certainly wind up with more than four.
SmartMuffin: What exactly should we make of the mid-week games, particularly the upsets? For RPI they all count the same, but you guys don’t seem to consider them as much for ranking purposes, and it sometimes feels like the coaches/teams themselves don’t even take them quite as seriously as a proper weekend series…
Aaron Fitt: Yeah they just aren’t as important as weekend games — but that doesn’t mean they are irrelevant. They are a piece of the pie, and as you point out, the RPI treats all games the same. Plenty of teams have built their postseason resumés on the strength of midweek excellence against quality competition. But ultimately our game is about winning weekend series, and that’s what we will always value most.
Jackson: Does it feel a bit like Oregon has been skimming by? Can you really take the Ducks serious yet?
Aaron Fitt: I certainly take them seriously — lots of players back there with experience from back to back supers, and I mean c’mon, they’re 19-5. It’s baseball, you’re not gonna go undefeated. Sure they laid an egg Saturday against Rutgers, and also last Sunday against an improved Minnesota team. Feels like that falls into the “that’s baseball” category. Before that they won 11 straight, including a bunch by hugely lopsided scores. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re just skimming by.
Billy Gersh: Is UCLA a real player in the top 25 this year, or is their placement this week a short lived stay?
Kendall Rogers: Well, UCLA hasn’t had a losing weekend to date, so it’s hard to call them remotely a fraud considering its consistency. The UCLA bullpen, in particularly, definitely looks very good right now.
Izzo: How many B1G teams ultimately make the tournament?
Aaron Fitt: Hmm… I’m starting to get concerned about some of the mediocrity I’m seeing in the overall records in the Big Ten. A bunch of teams have not done as well as I expected in nonconference play, and as a result they have RPI problems that feel like they are most likely to compound as they play each other more and more. So I’m going to say four bids, ultimately. A few weeks ago I was thinking more like six, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s trending that way. Long way to go though, could certainly wind up with more than four.
