Indiana beats NU at home

Not by a big margin, but NU's not a terrible team this year. Nobody in the conference is really.

Nothing reassuring here, exactly, but the Hoosiers needed to get the win to unwind before taking on UConn. Should be a good game, as IU led the Huskies in Storrs last year for about 30 minutes, and will almost certainly lead for a while again. But will it be at the right time (when the buzzer sounds at the end of the game), who knows?

I wrote to Big Ten Wonk and pointed out that with Illinois road win against Wisconsin, now Iowa was probably the new favorite thanks to their soft schedule and having already beat Illinois at home.

I'm betting Iowa finishes at 12-4, with losses only coming at Indiana and at Illinois.

Tying for second place:

Illinois 11-5 (Predicting Further Losses at Ohio State, at Michigan, & at Michigan State)
Michigan 11-5 (PFL: at Iowa, at MSU., & at OSU)
Michigan State 11-5 (PFL: at Iowa & at Indiana)
Wisconsin 11-5 (PFL: at MSU and at Iowa)

Sixth goes to Indiana 10-6 (PFL: at Wisconsin, at Illinois, & at Michigan)

with Seventh to Ohio State 10-6 (losing tie-breaker to IU on head-to-head, with PFL at Michigan, at Wisconsin, & at MSU)

That means IU would probably have a rematch with Minnesota in the first round of the Big ten Tourney, perhaps face Michigan in the second, and then probably square off against Michigan State in the semifinals. But just thinking about it all makes my head hurt, so I'm signing off for now. A win v. UConn would be huge for the confidence of this squad, tho'. Go Hoosiers.