Conference Preview #2

Now we get to the nitty gritty. To be honest as I started researching the Big 10 I wondered if #2 was too high for them. They have a legitimate National Champion contender in Wisconsin but so many other teams lost so much that in might be a down year. Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State have lost so much I’ve seen one magazine list Nebraska as the #2 team in the conference. I’m not willing to go that far but I think the gap between 2 and 5 is small.

League Champion: Wisconsin Oh so close to a sealing that victory from Kentucky but it just wasn’t enough. Perhaps this is the year. The Badgers return all but Ben Brust from last year and boast not 1 but 2 potential players of the year in Sam Dekker and Frank “the Tank” Kaminsky. There is no doubt this team will go as far as these two take them but I’m interested in seeing how Nigel Hayes plays with Dekker and Kaminsky getting all the attention. I think he can shine out there. Don’t sleep on Duje Dukan either. There’s a ton of talent; they could be my pick for National Champion.

At-Large: Michigan State They lost 3 of their top players but Tom Izzo always finds a way to piece together a winner. It’ll be a little bit of a struggle this year but he’s got enough left in the cupboard to finish in the top 3 in the B1G.

At-Large: Nebraska If there is a player who can win Big Ten player of the year not from Wisconsin it will be Nebraska’s Terran Petteway. This guy (I sound like Jon Gruden now) is a transfer from Texas Tech that averaged more than 18 points a game and led the Cornhuskers to the dance last year. Tim Miles is an underrated coach and this is his breakout year

At-Large: Ohio State Basically see Michigan State but without the Coaching comments. Instead they will rely on a transfer from Temple, Anthony Lee. He’s really good and should keep Ohio State on the plus side of .500

At-Large: Michigan Even more losses than OSU and MSU but they still have John Beilien. The Wolverines are very young this year and will struggle defending the middle with their lack of size. I expect this team to look a lot like Bielien’s teams from West Virginia back in the day. .500 is a solid goal in the conference.

At-Large: Iowa Iowa losses Roy Marble but return most else. Their up-tempo style fits the team well and gives the bad teams in this conference fits. They should be able to feast on the lower half (hey, look Rutgers is in the Big Ten) but get out coached by the top half. Fran McCaffrey is a nut job.

At-Large: Minnesota Richard Pitino is about 2 years from being a contender in the Big Ten. For now he’ll wade around the middle are winning just enough to get a double digit seed in the big dance. His star is on the rise and this is just a stepping stone for better things.

At-Large: Illinois Welcome to Dayton and the First Four. Illinois return their top 2 players but need to mix in a bunch of transfers to fill out the roster. A very average group that gets just enough big wins to get in.

Also Considered: Maryland (but not really)