2013 Big Ten/ACC Challenge

For the first time in the now fourteen years of the event, every Big Ten team will be participating in the challenge. Before this year someone was always left out but thanks to the expansion of the ACC every team from the land of the good will get a chance to do their part in proving which conference reigns supreme in basketball this season. This may prove to be more challenging than usual because the ACC has elected to keep the three bottom dwellers from last season (Clemson, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech) out of the event while allowing newcomers Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse to participate. The ACC won the first eight challenges and the Big Ten won the next four before the two conferences tied last season.  Here's a look at what's on tap this time around:

Indiana @ Syracuse (Tuesday 7:15pm, ESPN)

This is an intriguing matchup. IU faces off against the team that upset them in last season's NCAA tournament.  Syracuse continues to employ a tough zone defense where they encourage three point attempts while driving to the hoop is difficult. This does not play into Indiana's strengths as so far they are struggling with the outside shot.  Where Indiana does excel is getting to the free throw line. It will be interesting to see if IU is able to continue this trend as high volume free throw shooting teams are often neutralized when facing zone defenses.  Syracuse has been surprisingly efficient on offense despite shooting poorly from the line so far. There's just too much riding on Yogi Ferrell's shoulders in this one though the Hoosiers should have an advantage in the post.

The Pick: Syracuse 77-68.

2013-2014 Men's Big Ten Basketball Preview

Now that I've previewed all twelve teams it's prediction time.  Below I've listed my best guess at the conference standings as well as the awards. In April we can all

Gary Harris & Adreian Payne may be the two
best players in the entire BIG conference.

look back and see how wrong I am.

Standings

	W	L
Michigan St.	14	4
Wisconsin	13	5
Ohio St.	12	6
Michigan	12	6
Purdue	11	7
Iowa	10	6
Indiana	9	9
Illinois	7	11
Penn St.	6	12
Minnesota	5	13
Northwestern	4	14
Nebraska	4	14

All Big Ten First Team
G Aaron Craft - Ohio State
G Gary Harris - Michigan State
G Nik Stauskas - Michigan
F Adreian Payne - Michigan State
F Sam Dekker - Wisconsin

All Big Ten Second Team
G Tim Frazier - Penn State
G Josh Gasser - Wisconsin
G Andre Hollins - Minnesota
F Glenn Robinson III - Michigan
C AJ Hammons - Purdue

Big Ten Freshmen Team
G Derrick Walton, Jr. - Michigan
G Tai Webster - Nebraska
F Zak Irvine - Michigan
F Kendall Stephens - Purdue
C Noah Vonleh - Indiana

BIG Tournament Champ: Michigan State
Defensive player of the Year: Aaron Craft
Big Ten Player of the Year: Adreian Payne

2013-14 Mens' Basketball Big Ten Preview: N & O

This is the third set of team previews for the Big Ten.  Today I'm breaking down N & O.  It's not pretty.

Nebraska Cornhuskers
Head Coach: Tim Miles
Last Season: 15-18 (5-13), tenth in Big Ten
Graduated: G Dylan Talley, C Brandon Ubel, F Andre Almeida
Transfered: None
Left Early: None
New Faces: Tai Webster, Nathan Hawkins, Nick Fuller
2013 recap: Nebraska entered the season with no expectations and they didn't disappoint.  In fact they may actually have brought a tad bit of excitement to some disillusioned fans.  Predicted to finish dead last in the conference, they fought and clawed their way to a tenth place finish.  They even upset Purdue in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Three starters graduated leaving the roster at its youngest since making the switch from the Big 12.
The Starters:

Pos Players Height Wt Year PG Tai Webster 6'4" 194  Fr. G Ray Gallegos 6'2" 182  Sr. G Shavon Shields 6'7" 219  So. F Leslee Smith 6'8" 255 Jr. C Walter Pitchford 6'10" 234 So.

Freshman Tai Webster is the top freshman on the team this season.  He's a recruit from New Zealand and reports say that he's extremely talented on offense. He'll be looked upon to lead the team from the get-go with guard Ray Gallegos suspended.  Gallegos really improved

Gallegos will need to be on the court not
in court to help Nebraska this season.

his numbers as a junior specifically by increasing his scoring by ten points per game.  He's the team's number one option on offense, at least until Webster establishes himself.  Shavon Shields is listed as a guard but is more of an extremely poor man's Toni Kukoc (that is barely a compliment).  If he makes the leap Nebraska may have something here. Leslee Smith is the type of guy you'd like to come off the bench but Nebraska's not quite there yet. He offers good length and can play out of the high post.  Walter Pitchford is a work in progress at the center position. He's a transfer from Florida so he has some talent. He'll need to develop quickly to help the Cornhuskers stay competitive.
The Bench:

F Terran Petteway 6'6" 209 So. C Kyle Kurowski 6'11" 214 Jr. G Nathan Hawkins 6'5" 198 Fr. G Deverell Biggs 6'0" 175 Jr. G Benny Parker 5'9" 166 So. G David Rivers 6'7" 198 Jr. F Nick Fuller 6'6" 199 Fr.

Forward Terran Petteway is my pick for the team's breakout player. Last season as a freshman he was virtually invisible. Now, with a year of experience he should get an opportunity to prove himself. Center Kyle Kurowski will get minutes backing up Pitchford but don't expect him to make much of an impact in the box score.  That's just not his game.  Guards Nathan Hawkins, Benny Parker, Deverell Biggs, and David Rivers will be fighting for playing time amongst themselves.  I'm not sure who the best option is here but expect the winner of this competition to have a prominent role in coach Miles' rotation.  Freshman Nick Fuller may redshirt this season but his size and length are something that have Husker fans intrigued.
2014 Outlook: The two transfers and three freshman recruits are a nice way to get Tim Miles on the right track. These players bring an improved athleticism and overall skill that the previous regime lacked. Plus now Nebraska has a state of the art facility in which to play their games. There will be excitement early but most of it won't be about the team. If things go right they can finish as high as 8th in the conference, I'm just not willing to bet on it.
Projection: 12th in Big Ten

Big Ten/ACC Challenge Preview

This week the Big Ten/ACC Challenge will kick off for the thirteenth time.  ESPN created this event as a way to match the two best basketball conferences up against each other in an attempt to prove which conference had more game (ratings, anyone?).  The ACC won the first ten challenges, even winning eight of the eleven matchups in 2006 and 2007.  In 2009 the Big Ten finally proved victorious when Ohio St. beat Florida St. in the final game of the challenge. Last year the Big Ten won the challenge again by an identical score of 6-5.  With the addition of Nebraska, this year will mark the first time each conference has an equal number of teams (12) so no one will be left out.  Maryland has the longest active winning streak (6) and Iowa has the longest losing streak (5).  Here’s a look at this year’s matchups:

Michigan @ Virginia (Tuesday ESPN2, 7pm)

Virginia gets to host one of the BIG’s contenders in the tip-off game.  They’ve excelled on the defensive side of the ball thus far (Drexel only managed 35 points on Nov 19) while playing at a pace Wisconsin would be proud of.  Michigan’s only loss thus far came at the hands of Duke in the Maui Invitational.  Michigan loves to shoot a lot of 3’s but as a team are shooting 62% on their 2’s. It will be interesting to see if Michigan's offense can crack Virginia's stout defense.

The Pick: Michigan in a nail biter 61-58.

2011-12 BIG Basketball Preview: Season Predictions

Now that the individual team previews are complete I'd like to do my predictions.  Hopefully these will turn out to be more accurate than my 2011 MLB predictions.  Remember, the season kicks off Friday but Big Ten conference games won't begin until the final week of December.  That's a lot of games before the real season starts. We'll likely learn who's really good and who's really bad but won't learn how the middle of the conference stacks up until they begin playing each other head to head. 
A special thanks goes out to Ken Pomeroy for making advanced statistics available to everyone on the internet. His website made information gathering simple and has been a valuable tool in many of my NCAA basketball posts. 
Take a look after the jump to see my guess at how it'll all shake out:

2011-12 BIG Basketball Preview: Northwestern

I know John Shurna looks like he should be starring
for his high school J.V. team but the guy can really ball.
Too bad he plays defense like there's no foul limit. You get five, man. Just five.

Head Coach: Bill Carmody – 160-176 (.476)

Lost: G Michael Thompson, G Mike Capocci

Returning:  F John Shurna (Sr), G Drew Crawford (Jr), C Luka Mirkovic (Sr), G JerShon Cobb (So), G Alex Marcotullio (Jr), F Davide Curletti (Sr)

New faces:   SG Tre Demps, PG David Sobolewski, PF Mike Turner

Preview: Will this be the year the Wildcats finally make the Big Dance? Losing Michael Thompson is really going to hurt but the good news is the rest of their core is returning.  Northwestern’s strengths are good strengths: low turnover rate, excellent 3-point shooting, and a top-notch overall offensive efficiency which stems from their distinct style of play that can be difficult to prepare for. Unfortunately, their flaws are glaring and often debilitating. The team was opportunistic in forcing turnovers but simply could not stop their opponents from scoring. Last season the NCAA average FG% was 47.8 but when playing Northwestern, opponents shot 52.6%. Furthermore, their post players have a tendency to pick up lots of cheap fouls. A deep team can overcome this.  Northwestern, however, is not a deep team.  Fixing one of these two would flaws would seem to be enough to push Northwestern into the upper half of the conference but it doesn’t seem Carmody or this group players are able to improve on the defensive side of the ball. The starting five (Shurna, Crawfrod, Mirkovic, Cobb, and one player to bedetermined) should at least continue last season’s offensive fireworks.  And as long as Northwestern stays efficient on the offensive end they’ll have a chance for upsets.  Alas, it seems the NCAA window has passed this team by without them making an appearance.

Shot in the dark at the starting 5:

G Drew Crawford

G JerShon Cobb

G Alex Marcotullio

F John Shurna

C Luka Mirkovic

2009-2010 Big Ten Preview

Another exciting season of NCAA Basketball is underway. As I did last year, I will again predict the Big Ten standings for the upcoming season. Here we go:

11. Iowa

Coach: 2009 proved to be even more difficult to stomach than anyone expected in Iowa City. Last year I wrote:

Lickliter's biggest challenge is getting good players. He's been the first to admit that it's a challenge to recruit Big Ten players and not just guys who fit his scheme.

This appears even more apparent this season after a mass exodus of last year's team. If the Hawkeyes don't improve upon their 15-17 record this could be it for Lickliter.

Lineup: G Matt Gatens, G Anthony Tucker, G Cully Payne, F Jarryd Cole, F Brennan Cougill

Bench: Eric May, Devan Bawinkel, Aaron Fuller, Andrew Brommer

Star: Matt Gatens is head and shoulders the best player on this team. With his versatility and high percentage shooting, he could go down as one of the best Hawkeyes ever.

Top Freshman: Cully Payne

NIT Bid: No

10. Indiana

Coach: Tom Crean has shown he is a master recruiter and a patient mentor. He inherited a Hoosier team bereft of all talent and only managed to win one conference game. This season, with the conference's top recruiting class and a few of last year's recruits on board, IU looks to make some noise as they attempt to move up the ranks. They're still a year away though.

Lineup: PG Verdell Jones III, G Maurice Creek, G Jeremiah Rivers, F Tom Pritchard, F/C Christian Watford

Bench: Derek Elston, Devan Dumes, Jordan Hulls, Bobby Capobianco

Star: Look for Verdell Jones to really improve now that he has some legitimate players around him.

Top Freshman: Christian Watford

NIT Bid: No

9. Penn St.

Coach: Last year may have been the most successful season in Nittany Lion history. Snubbed by the NCAA despite finishing 4th in the Big Ten and winning 23 games, this team went on to win the NIT championship proving its doubters wrong. Yet Ed DeChellis knows this season may be even tougher after the departure of three seniors. But as long as Talor Battle is around this team will scare people.

Lineup: G Talor Battle, G Jeff Brooks, F Andrew Jones, G Chris Babb, F David Jackson

Bench: Tim Frazier, Cammeron Woodyard, Adam Highberger

Star: Talor Battle was all Big Ten last year as a sophomore. This guy is a true game changer.

Top Freshman: Tim Frazier

NIT Bid: Yes

8. Illinois

Coach: Bruce Weber got his team back to the tournament last year. However the good news ends there. When Sr. guard Chester Frazier got went down late in the year, the Illini offense went with him. Putrid offensive showings vs. Purdue in the Big Ten tournament and in a blowout loss to 12th seeded Western Kentucky have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Unfortunately last year's team had several seniors so a minor step back may occur this season. For the first time in his tenure, Weber managed to bring in two of the top freshmen in the conference. If these two can contribute right away look for the Illini to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Lineup: G Demitri McCamey, G Brandon Paul, G DJ Richardson, F Mike Davis, C Mike Tisdale

Bench: Alex Legion, Bill Cole, Dominique Keller, Jeffrey Jordan

Star: Mike Davis exploded last year. Named to the Big Ten 2nd team, he averaged 11.3 pts/game and led the Big Ten in rebounding.

Top Freshman: DJ Richardson. Richardson's team went 33-0 and won the state title his senior year.

NIT Bid: Yes

7. Northwestern

Coach: Bill Carmody almost got his team where no Northwestern team had ever been: the NCAA Tournament. With a team loaded with seniors this looked to be the year, if ever, they would finally make it. Unfortunately a pre-season injury to the team's best player may prevent the Wildcats from reaching their full potential. Good teams tend to struggle against NWU as their 1-3-1 zone defense causes opponents fits. I'm not sure Carmody's job is on the line but if they don't make the tournament it will be another disappointing season in Evanston.

Lineup: G Michael Thompson, G Jeremy Nash, G/F Drew Crawford, F John Shurma, C Luka Mirkovic

Bench: Kyle Rowley, Alex Marcotullio, Ivan Peljusic

Star: With Kevin Coble out for the year, Michael Thompson assumes the reins of team superstar. Only 5'10", he's a strong rebounder and penetrator

Top Freshman: Drew Crawford

NCAA Bid: No

6. Wisconsin

Coach: Never count Bo Ryan out. I, for one, thought last season's team would be awful. Although they didn't dominate the way some Badger teams of the past have done, they still won 20 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. This season will be even more of a challenge after his top two players graduated. Expect more Wisconsin basketball: slow, grinding offense and an in-your-face defense focused on rebounding. I don't see a lot of talent on this squad but as I already said, don't count Bo Ryan out.

Lineup: PG Trevon Hughes, G Jason Bohannon, G/F Tim Jarmusz, F Keaton Nankivil, F Jon Leuer

Bench: Ryan Evans, Jordan Taylor, Mike Bruesewitz

Star: Trevon Hughes is lightning quick and one of the best defensive players in the country.

Top Freshman: Mike Bruesewitz

NCAA Bid: Yes