LATEST STORIES FROM BIG TEN WONK
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October 15, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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My 598th post here This blog is no more. It has ceased to be. Bereft of life it rests in peace. Etc.My keystrokes can now be found at Basketball Prospectus. Hope to see you over there.
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Wonked out...for goodAs previously announced, today is the last day for Big Ten Wonk (though not for John Gasaway).So here are 11 valedictory posts, in honor of the conference that's given me a title and a topic for three seasons.1. There was a national championship game last night2...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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There was a national championship game last night#1 in a series of last-day posts(1) Florida 84, (1) Ohio State 75The thing that was supposed to be so important turned out not to be. Greg Oden wasn't in any foul trouble the entire night and thus posted a 25-12 dub-dub with four...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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The Big Ten is better than people who link to me say it is#2 in a series of last-day postsI'm certainly not one of those crude unlettered souls that judges "power" conferences based solely on their performance in the tournament.Oh, wait. (Crude grunt, unlettered scratch...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Funky stats: don't bother waiting for the revolution, it's already here#3 in a series of last-day postsWe who follow college basketball confront an odd situation in April 2007. To the extent that stats can on occasion be of some use in following this sport, the numbers we need...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Leave the tournament the way it is#4 in a series of last-day postsThere is grumbling every year in the immediate aftermath of Selection Sunday, of course, as to who gets left behind. This year the grumbling seemed even louder and was given a new sound bite: an unprecedented number...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Regress your view of your coach toward the mean#5 in a series of last-day postsThere's a hoary old chestnut that says a quarterback receives too much credit when his team wins and too much blame when they lose. Said chestnut needs to be multiplied 100-fold and applied to college...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Jane Austen, press conferences, and college basketball#6 in a series of last-day postsOne of the nice things about having these here newfangled internets and eleventy-gillion channels on your HD is the ability this explosion of offerings has afforded to eavesdrop on previously restricted...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Glance toward your blogger without hope or despair#7 in a series of last-day postsI'm here before you today to defend the college hoops blogosphere.And it needs defending. It's become almost commonplace to decry the sorry state of blogdom where college basketball's concerned...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Nod perfunctorily toward your columnist#8 in a series of last-day postsFor decades the sports columnist, by virtue of their profession, enjoyed three effective though not total monopolies:1. The ability to see the games2. The ability to reach readers3. The ability to talk to players...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Hug your beat writer#9 in a series of last-day postsI don't know what the near future holds for sports coverage but I do know that, because people will continue to be interested in the games, relatively small numbers of credentialed professionals will continue to be granted access...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Later, Wonk#10 in a series of last-day postsThis blog had a good run: three seasons, 593 posts, and some page views by you all. The busiest month was this past March. The busiest day, February 21, 2006.For reasons I still don't understand, I spent the first season writing in the...
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April 03, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Yo, John#11 in a series of 11 last-day postsLast week I said that next year I plan to write about college basketball, the whole thing. What that usually means, of course, is "all the good teams, irrespective of conference."That will indeed be my starting point. (Maybe I can...
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April 02, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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A preface to previews(1) Ohio State vs. (1) Florida (9:21pm ET)Don't read any preview today without this handy accompanying piece at your side....1. Accept no discussion whatsoever of defense in any preview.Florida's players and coaches will mouth the right words at press conferences...
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April 01, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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All other D-I schools can just withdraw from every sportIn lacrosse, tennis, field hockey, baseball, and volleyball, we'll just cut to the chase from now on and have Ohio State play Florida for the championship right at the start.(1) Ohio State 67, (2) Georgetown 60Forget Greg...
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March 31, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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BONUS all-red edition! Why has capitalism failed me?Note: the Final Four preview was yesterday.This evening, like every year, I'll grit my teeth and watch the games, knowing that a certain analyst comes with the games as a multi-decade package deal.I didn't do any big wacky...
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March 30, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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The only Final Four preview I've read so far I know everybody's doing previews and I thought about setting mine apart by doing, say, a very special vowel-free preview ("Grg dn nds th bl!") or some such. But, in the end, I decided that not reading anyone else's...
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March 29, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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If the moving van goes from Morgantown to Ann Arbor....Michigan has reportedly zeroed in on West Virginia coach John Beilein.First order of business: Beilein's Mountaineers will play Clemson in the NIT title game tonight in Madison Square Garden. But once that's over and done...
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March 28, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Do "hot" coaches stay hot after they're hired?Some don't. No one could be hotter than Steve Alford was eight years ago this month. His 12th-seeded Southwest Missouri State team (since morphed into simply Missouri State) had beaten 4th-seeded Wisconsin and 5th-seeded...
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March 27, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Lincoln was right!Judging from reactions to the past two NCAA tournaments, it would seem, just as the 16th president said, that you can please all the people some of the time and some of the people all of time. And that's as good as it gets.Recall that last year with George Mason...
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March 26, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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I demand golf clubs! Rocking chairs! Liquor!I've decided that this will be the last season of "Big Ten Wonk."Next season I'll continue to write on a regular basis on college basketball. I just don't know where, exactly. Watch this space for a referral.Regular...
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March 26, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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The return of scoring margin as a March advisorIn 2005 the top four teams in "power"-conference hoops nationally in terms of tempo-free scoring margin (i.e., efficiency margin) during their respective conference seasons were Illinois, Louisville, North Carolina, and Michigan...
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March 25, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Ode to an Odenian turnJust 23 short days ago I wrote this about Greg Oden:Greg Oden's been merely outstanding. Don't get the "merely" wrong, I want him on my team. Oden's an efficient scorer who leads the conference in defensive rebounding (now that Brian Butch...
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March 24, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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The year of Lawrence WelkIn three of the four regional finals: and a 1 and a 2. (In the fourth region? A 1 and a 3. That hoops-ignorant weenie in your office pool that just picks the four 1-seeds every year has never been more smug than right now.)(1) Florida 65, (5) Butler 57The Gators...
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March 23, 2007 by
Big Ten Wonk
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Not exactly gliding smoothly through the bracket, are they?(1) Ohio State 85, (5) Tennessee 84Talk about taking Tennessee's best shot. Bruce Pearl couldn't have dreamed up a better set of circumstances:1) The Vols made 16 of 31 threes.2) UT turned the ball over just seven times...
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