Best conference in the country? Believe it. I think nine teams have the right to dream about getting a bid (Indiana and Iowa on the outside). CBS has to love that this conference could have such a huge year. And forget your jokes (OK, don’t) about the low-scoring, drag-it-out snorefests, because you’ve gotta be thinking this league will bring significantly more firepower this year, right? Right?
Who’s in the Top 25: Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota.
Last three regular-season champions: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State.
2009 Tournament record: 14-8.
Five best players:
• Junior Robbie Hummel (Purdue). Hummel is my kind of player. He’s tough, has gotten better with each month of his college career, hits clutch shots and absolutely never, ever whines. I used to think Purdue could only go as far as he could carry them. That’s no longer the case.
• Junior Kalin Lucas (Michigan State). It’s unlikely Lucas will be able to make as big a jump from his sophomore to junior year as he did his freshman to sophomore. But he’s played his way right into the Draft and is said to have put on 10 pounds of muscle.
• Junior Manny Harris (Michigan).Harris should probably be ready to play some more minutes per game (he averaged 32 last year) in the 2009-10 campaign. He did the right thing by coming back to school. Sometimes a humbling Draft experience can do wonders for a player who’s got such natural ability to fall back on. Pencil him in for one or two buzzer-beaters this season.
• Junior Evan Turner (Ohio State). There’s rumors of the Bucks bringing in the top (THE TOP) class for next year, so how motivated will Turner be this season? It’s natural to wonder about minutes, touches and production for any player with talent. Turner was terrific last year and is a mismatch every time he steps past the 3-point line.
• Senior Kevin Coble (Northwestern). Coble has led the Wildcats in rebounding and scoring for three straight years. He’s improved, helped get the guys in purple tantalizing close to getting to The Dance. He deserves to be on this list.
Freshmen to watch:
• Royce White (Minnesota). White was considered to be the favorite of favorites to take the Freshman of the Year trophy among the six bigs — before he was arrested for stealing and abusing people in malls.
• D.J. Richardson (Illinois). A player who can find a spot to score from two or 22 feet away, Richardson has become symbolic for Bruce Weber’s ability to recruit blue-chip players.
• Sandi Marcius (Purdue). Croatian transfer should be causing headaches for opponents by Valentine’s Day.
Coaching changes: None.
Five storylines to follow:
1) Purdue proving it. Team’s got the preseason Player of the Year, one of the best defenders (Chris Kramer), a strong backcourt and only loses about 12 points per game from last year. There’s no reason the Boilers can’t have 30 wins by the end of the Big Ten tournament.
2) This! Is! Familiar! The Spartans made a title game appearance last year, once again proving Tom Izzo to be one of the five best coaches in the game. You know it’s true. I like Michigan State to really flirt with winning it all this year again.
3) Will they beat each other up? Lots of good teams, you wonder if the quality across the plane will end up hurting come at-large time. The Big East was properly given its amount of bids (eight) last year when it was clearly the best conference. We don’t know if the Big Ten hype will meet what the Big East did, but if it does, will the games play out in its favor, too?
4) Tubby’s troubles. Things were looking really, really good for Minnesota this year before all the crap started going down with this team. I’ve always thought Smith was a really good disciplinarian and has had to deal with more bullshit than he really ever deserved. If the Gophers are stumbling a bit come Big Ten play, people will only point to a young, immature team as the reason.
5) Sizing them up. <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> Ohio State isn’t a big team, but they’re not that tin, either. The problems will probably come in the rebounding department. Thad Matta has averaged more than 25 wins since he got to Columbus, so you know plenty more W’s are coming down the pike. And, again, the point guard position looks to be a little questionable. It could be weird to see a team be so thorough in every facet of the game except the two I consider to be the most important: rebounding and point guard play.
Calendars circled:
— Jan. 19: Purdue @ Illinois
— Feb. 9: Purdue @ Michigan State
— Feb. 18: Wisconsin @ Minnesota
— Feb. 21: Ohio State @ Illinois
— Feb. 27: Michigan @ Ohio State
— March 15: Michigan @ Michigan State
“Ohio State is a bunch of 6?4 to 6?7 kids who can play. They have two problems though.
1. After Lauderdale (who is a space eater and that’s about all), they have no big bodies. When I say none, I mean none.
2. They have no real point guard… sorry PJ Hill. Crater left last year and left a big hole (one that he wouldn’t have filled anyway). The point guard position was their biggest weakness the last 2 years (when Conley left after 1) and it continues to bite Matta. It’s a problem for next year, because they have a freshman coming. If Craft can’t do it, they will waste another year of great talent because they have no floor leader.”
