Things happened in Big Ten baseball this weekend mostly according to what I said they would on Friday except for this top outlined series:
Minnesota Swept Michigan State
Holy cow! I expected this to be a close series, but Minnesota might have exposed Michigan State as fraudulent, sweeping the series 3-2, 4-3, and 9-4. Granted, the first two games were one run games, but the series was played in East Lansing. The Spartans are on a four-game losing streak.
The Gophers are now 6-0 in conference, and get Rutgers at home, then go to Indiana for their next two conference series. What a great start to the season for Minnesota.
Purdue won their series against Ohio State 2-1
Ohio State falls to 1-5 in Big Ten play while the Boilermakers win their first road conference series in two years, the last coming against Nebraska in 2015.
Some head-scratching decisions by the Buckeyes led to a series loss to the Boilermakers.
Purdue baseball Wins First Road Big Ten Series in Two Years - Hammer and Rails
A quarter of the way through the conference season Purdue is 3-3.
Nebraska won their series against Indiana 2-0-1
Ben Miller had a YUUUUGE weekend for the Huskers and Jake Schleppenboch hit his first career homer. This was a nice start to the conference season for Nebraska against a team that seemed to have had a hot offense going.
Hoosiers and Huskers beat by the buzzer - The Crimson Quarry
This is the second (YES, SECOND) Hoosier baseball game to end in a tie this season
Maryland swept Rutgers
Not really a surprise here as you should just keep making fun of Rutgers from now on. The Terps get the sweep, 5-1, 6-1, and 9-1, meaning the Terps outscored Rutger 20-3. That's a decent Big Ten football score.
Nebraska and Maryland meet this weekend in Lincoln.
Maryland baseball sweeps doubleheader and weekend series against Rutgers - Testudo Times
The Terps won both Sunday games by a 15-2 combined score.
Michigan blasted Penn State
It wasn't just that the Wolverines swept here, it's that the scores were 10-6, 15-2, and 14-1. If you thought Rutger got their asses kicked, Penn State lost 39-9 over three games. Add in Michigan's previous two games against Toledo (12-0) and Central Michigan (13-4), and the Wolverines outscored their opponents 64-13.
Michigan gets Illinois at home for the next conference series, so they're just gonna keep blasting away.
Iowa swept UNLV
Decent series for the Hawkeyes, but, again, expected as UNLV had come in on a losing streak, and then left on an even longer one. Scores were 3-0, 6-5, 7-6… so two one-run games. In the second game of the series the Hawkeyes had to score three runs in the bottom of the ninth, and in the final game, the go-ahead run was scored because of a throwing error by UNLV, so not exactly the strongest of stands by Iowa, but they did manage to get the sweep.
Illinois swept Indiana State
Nice showing by Illinois. They came in on a losing streak and swept a team that had just knocked off Indiana. Scores: 6-4, 2-1, 5-2.
Northwestern won their series against Air Force
Late comebacks lead Northwestern baseball to series win over Air Force - Inside NU
The Wildcats got some clutch hits in the second game and their first walkoff of the year in the third.
Wisconsin does not have a baseball team.
Women’s Basketball
A new champion in women’s basketball, as Mississippi State pulled the upset of the ages, beating UConn in the semis to advance to the title game.
When Mississippi State got called for the flagrant foul at the end of the UConn game, I made the comment that “WBB is a crap sport” on our internal Slack chat system. I think ranchbabe took offense, but in watching WBB over the years officiating seems to be similar to the NBA - in favor of the stars, or in this case, the higher ranked team. I am glad that Mississippi State won that game, as I’m sure many are. (I’m sure there are many who just don’t care.)
Mississippi State vs. South Carolina 2017 final score: South Carolina wins NCAA Women's basketball tournament championship - SBNation.com
South Carolina wins its first ever women’s basketball national championship.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
Tonight is the men’s basketball championship - Gonzaga vs North Carolina.
I have neither team in my bracket pool thang, so I have no skin in this game. I like to pick someone to root for, though, and I’m gonna pick the team that has the enormous Polish guy and that would be Gonzaga with Przemysław Marcin "Przemek" Karnowski.
There’s just something kinda cool about an enormous Amish-looking human playing basketball and squashing everyone and everything around him. It’s that and that I really don’t identify with any other player on the court.
Also.. Gonzaga reminds me of gazongas, and I like gazongas.
Other Stuff
2017’s projected 130-team college football rankings, from Bama through UAB - SBNation.com
Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida State lead the way in the 2017 S&P+ projections.
Nebraska is 42nd.
Changing the culture of Minnesota Football - The Daily Gopher
There is more than one way to build a winning football program. And for the foreseeable future, that way is rowing the boat with P.J. Fleck.