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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON RANKINGS
- Michigan State
- Maryland
- Ohio State
- Purdue
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Penn State
- Indiana
- Minnesota
- Rutgers
- Nebraska
- Northwestern
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON CONFERENCE HONORS AND ALL BIG TEN TEAM
Cassius Winston – Senior Guard, Michigan State – Preseason Player of the Year
Ayo Dosunmu – Sophomore Guard, Illinois
Joe Wieskamp – Sophomore Guard, Iowa
Anthony Cowan – Senior Guard, Maryland
Jalen Smith – Sophomore Forward, Maryland
Zavier Simpson – Senior Guard, Michigan
Xavier Tillman – Junior Forward, Michigan State
Cassius Winston – Senior Guard, Michigan State
Kaleb Wesson – Junior Forward, Ohio State
Lamar Stevens – Senior Forward, Penn State
Nojel Eastern – Junior Guard, Purdue
COMMENTS FROM DAVID. Michigan State is the obvious preseason favorite and could even be ranked #1 in the preseason AP and Coaches polls. They did lose three starters, so it wouldn’t shock me if they had a couple of stumbles early on, but it’s not crazy to expect them to be playing like a Final Four caliber team by the end of the year.
Maryland is another team that everyone is going nuts over, and understandably so. They finished in the rankings and return four starters. That’s generally a solid indicator that good things are on the way.
Purdue lost a lot, and it may take them some time to get their footing, but they went through similar growing pains in the first half of last season before they began thundering down the stretch. It could be similar this year.
Michigan is also replacing three starters, but they always seem to end up doing better than what people are saying about them in October. They’re picked to finish fifth, but don’t be surprised if they end up being better than expected. Again.
Ohio State’s Head Coach Chris Holtmann seemingly has quite a long streak that dates back to his days at Gardner Webb of finishing better than expected. Some of his better teams at Butler began the season unranked, and his last two years at Ohio State had them finishing a lot better than where they started. I don’t know if it’s fair to call the Buckeyes a sleeper since so many think that they’re going to be a top 25-ish team, but I bet they end up as a protected seed. Three starters are back, including Kaleb Wesson.
Indiana is interesting. They began last season 12-2 and actually had all indications of being not just a tournament team, but a wearing-white-in-the-first-round caliber team. Even after a long string of losses, they still had some moments where they looked good and were in the discussion to make the tournament all the way until the end. Not much is expected of them this year, but I’m not ready to write them off just yet. We at HoopsHD have close ties to some people who are IU fans, and it always makes me happy when they are unhappy, but I’m actually optimistic about the Hoosiers this year.
Iowa and Illinois are two teams that I have more questions about than answers. Illinois in particular returns four starters, and logic would dictate that they should improve with experience, but their level of suck has been so high the last two years, you wonder if they’ll improve so much to the point that they are actually relevant. Iowa returns three starters from a team that made the Round of 32 and should once again be in the picture come March.
Wisconsin is another team that made the NCAAs and has three starters back, so they will probably be in the mix.
As for everyone else, thank you for playing!!
COMMENTS FROM JOHN: There were a few notable coaching changes in the Big Ten during the offseason – one of which (Tim Miles) was expected and one that came out of left field (John Beilein). For Michigan, it’s a homecoming for former Fab Five standout Juwan Howard. While he was an experienced assistant head coach in the NBA with the Miami Heat, this is his first head coaching job at any level. He did convince longtime Saint Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli to be a part of his coaching staff – it’s always a plus to have an experienced coach on the bench, especially one that has an Elite 8 and another Sweet 16 appearance under his belt during his Saint Joe’s tenure.
For Nebraska, Fred Hoiberg will take over for Miles as head coach in Lincoln. He had a good run as head coach at Iowa State but a forgettable one as head coach of the Chicago Bulls. Matt Abdelmassih is also a nice addition to the coaching staff – he was the lead recruiter for St. John’s under Chris Mullin (think Shamorie Ponds, Marvin Clark, etc.). Beyond that, it’s a rather inexperienced roster this year and more likely than not will be a season of growing pains for the Huskers.
Penn State may be a darkhorse team worth watching this season. This might be a now-or-never season for Pat Chambers and company at Penn State, but they have had a slow but steady climb the past few seasons. Lamar Stevens will also be a player to watch this season for the Nittany Lions.