AD Josh Whitman open letter on the Big Ten regular season title

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#7      

LostinNebraska

L
LostinNebraska
It's not often that a letter from an Athletic Director is so inspirational that it actually gives you chills. I feel like suiting up like Bill Murray in Space Jam and running through a brick wall for the team now.
helpful bill murray GIF by Space Jam
 
#11      

sbillini

sbillini
st petersburg, fl
sbillini
great letter, and i agree with virtually everything he says. But, i hate to say it, there is one glaring issue (quote below). I didn't know this was agreed to beforehand. Not sure why you would agree that winning %age is the metric upfront. I think there was a reasonable enough chance that not all teams would play the same # of games that the scenario we're in right now was possible. Seems short-sighted to not object earlier.

To be clear, just because they were short-sighted then doesn't justify being short-sighted now. Given the world we've been in for the past year, i think it's entirely fair to be flexible and be willing to adjust to circumstances. But the quote below makes that argument more difficult to make.

Nonetheless, I agree with the sentiment, esp towards the end. just go out and prove them wrong on the court. :illinois:

"In November, the conference agreed that winning percentage would be used to determine the regular-season champion in basketball. At the time, we stared into an uncertain future, not knowing how many games teams would be able to play."
 
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#13      

Deleted member 186590

D
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Deleted member 186590
Very well said by Josh - he seems as fired up as we are about the situation! It did clarify the timeline, it seems the conference did declare winning percentage the way to determine the conference champion, but intentionally did not elaborate on number of games needed to be played, etc. because of the football fallout - so that is why the big ten and AD's were discussing the finalized criteria to determine the champion up to the last week of the season when it was apparent everyone was making up their games besides Michigan

So, if Northwestern after starting 3-0, had a covid outbreak and decided not to play the rest of the year, they would have been crowned champions? I think everyone would agree that wouldn't have made sense, so you have to adjust the criteria to the situation. I think this is likely what is getting Josh riled up - the Big Ten has been making it up as they go along, but they weren't willing to come to a reasonable, equitable solution at the end for this very scenario
 
#14      

Deleted member 747903

D
Guest
Deleted member 747903
sbillini said:
great letter, and i agree with virtually everything he says. But, i hate to say it, there is one glaring issue (quote below). I didn't know this was agreed to beforehand. Not sure why you would agree that winning %age is the metric upfront. I think there was a reasonable enough chance that not all teams would play the same # of games that the scenario we're in right now was possible. Seems short-sighted to not object earlier.

To be clear, just because they were short-sighted then doesn't justify being short-sighted now. Given the world we've been in for the past year, i think it's entirely fair to be flexible and be willing to adjust to circumstances. But the quote below makes that argument more difficult to make.

"In November, the conference agreed that winning percentage would be used to determine the regular-season champion in basketball. At the time, we stared into an uncertain future, not knowing how many games teams would be able to play."
Click to expand...

Most if not all conferences agreed to winning percentage. In the moment there really was no other option.

I'm surprised no conditions were put in place to account for a situation like this though. Doesn't change the fact that the B10 has changed the rules once already for football.
 
#20      

Jon

J
Jon
this was great! Also, I am extremely hyped for the possibility that we might literally use an axe to cut the net down. Probably too dangerous to be viable. It would be the most badass image in our school's history to have Masked Ayo holding an axe and a net.
 
#21      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
I could let this go, but a few facts stick in my craw:
1. BIG forced other teams with Covid issues to make up games, even if it meant playing a condensed schedule.
2. Howard actively stumped for Michigan not to have to make up all of their games.
3. BIG didn’t force UM to make up all of their games.
4. As a result, UI and several other teams who had games postponed through no fault of their own, wound up playing a more condensed schedule than Michigan.

If Michigan played a condensed schedule like everyone else, there is a not insignificant chance they come out at least once flat, or with tired legs, and get beat as a result. IU and PSU are certainly inferior to UM on paper, but IU was fighting for their tourney lives and beating UM would have made PSU’s season. UM definitely could have dropped one of those games on tired legs, or maybe would have ran out of steam at Wisconsin or OSU.

All that being said, onto bigger and better things. It just makes what we did all the more impressive. I like the way we are playing right now!
 
#23      

Calillini

Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Calillini
Can someone clarify this for me. Did scUM unilaterally decide not to play games where the COVID protocol would have allowed the game(s) be played. If so, at that point the BIG should have stepped in and warned scUM that this was not an option. Otherwise they could have just sat on their no loss a$$es and won the championship without further effort.
Correct me if I am wrong, did they cancel games they could have played?

Maybe RockfordIllini already addressed this. If so, apologies.
 
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#24      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
Calillini said:
Can someone clarify this for me. Did scUM unilaterally decide not to play games where the COVID. Protocol would have allowed the game(s) be played. If so, at that point the BIG should have steeped in and warned scUM that this was not an option. Otherwise. They could have just sat on their no loss a$$es and won the championship without further effort.
Correct me if I am wrong, did they cancel games they could have played?
Click to expand...
Michigan men’s basketball took an extended hiatus longer than they were required to. They didn’t want to play us on a Thursday when their women’s team was playing because they hadn’t gotten enough practice time in. Their extended hiatus contributed to them not being able to make up games they ended up missing.
 
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