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Three Takeaways From IU's 8-7 Loss To Illinois State

4. Thank Rutgers for the regular season title. It probably got us our bid.

That sweep may have fooled some of us into thinking we were better than we actually are.
 
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4. Thank Rutgers for the regular season title. It probably got us our bid.

That sweep may have fooled some of us into thinking we were better than we actually are.
Huh? Yeah, we swept a below average Rutgers team. That hardly got us the bid. We had the bid wrapped up long ago. There was no question of us getting a bid....unless maybe they swept us, but that was never going to happen. And what got us the title, was us sweeping them AND Nebraska helping out beating Michigan, and us beating Michigan 2 out of 3.
 
Huh? Yeah, we swept a below average Rutgers team. That hardly got us the bid. We had the bid wrapped up long ago. There was no question of us getting a bid....unless maybe they swept us, but that was never going to happen. And what got us the title, was us sweeping them AND Nebraska helping out beating Michigan, and us beating Michigan 2 out of 3.
Given some of the meh-to-poor quality teams (MEM, WRST, USD, KENT) we lost to out of conference, I’m not so sure. I think being the regular season champ made it hard for us to be left out.

And MICH was one of the last four in despite finishing half a game behind us. Had our standings been switched, I’m not sure we get in.
 
Given some of the meh-to-poor quality teams (MEM, WRST, USD, KENT) we lost to out of conference, I’m not so sure. I think being the regular season champ made it hard for us to be left out.

And MICH was one of the last four in despite finishing half a game behind us. Had our standings been switched, I’m not sure we get in.
Michigan played a poor non-conference schedule and their SOS against their out-of-conference foes was ranked 184 to our 26. I think we were in no matter whether we won the B1G regular season championship at the end or not, that is barring a complete collapse against Rutgers.
 
Michigan played a poor non-conference schedule and their SOS against their out-of-conference foes was ranked 184 to our 26. I think we were in no matter whether we won the B1G regular season championship at the end or not, that is barring a complete collapse against Rutgers.
Even one loss to Rutgers would’ve been bad considering their RPI and what the games meant (and would’ve also meant MICH got the regular season title).

Oh well—let’s beat UIC.
 
Maybe MICH was better than we thought.
No, I don't think so. They were playing with the conference championship on the line at the end of the season, and went 2-4 against IU and Neb, with their IU series on their home field. You have to give them credit for what they have done in the postseason, but I don't think they would have advanced if they were in the Louisville Regional, but we will never know and maybe that is the bias in me.
 
Maybe you were being overly dramatic?
No, maybe IU was what it was and the half game that MICH didn’t play plus RUTG being abysmal gave us a break.

Sometimes breaks are okay. See 2016 regular season basketball championship. But clearly after the RUTG series we looked more like the team who lost to four subpar teams early than the team who won two straight at MICH.
 
No, maybe IU was what it was and the half game that MICH didn’t play plus RUTG being abysmal gave us a break.

Sometimes breaks are okay. See 2016 regular season basketball championship. But clearly after the RUTG series we looked more like the team who lost to four subpar teams early than the team who won two straight at MICH.

So one win against Rutgers and we're a 2 seed. But if we'd lost one to Rutgers we don't get in?

I'd call that overly dramatic.
 
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No, maybe IU was what it was and the half game that MICH didn’t play plus RUTG being abysmal gave us a break.

Sometimes breaks are okay. See 2016 regular season basketball championship. But clearly after the RUTG series we looked more like the team who lost to four subpar teams early than the team who won two straight at MICH.
One could say that Mich caught a break by having one of the easier conference schedules. If you are talking about losing to subpar conference teams, we did lose to some of them, but we always took the series. Quite a few of the subpar B1G teams seemed to always have one really good pitcher on the mound to start a series and then their pitching would really fall off after that. Milto often pitched well enough to win those Friday games, but our hitters were often handcuffed by that one above average pitcher, especially with our propensity to strike out against those types of pitchers.
 
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