It's a new year in the Nation's top conference. The WIS poll ranks both Purdue and Northwestern in the top 10, #2 and #10 respectively, Penn State and Michigan are the only other Big Ten teams to be ranked in the top 25 at #17 and #21 while both Ohio State and Illinois are receiving votes.
Last year this conference once again proved that they were taking over the top conference in the Nation title from the Big Sky that held the title during its prime. But what is to expect from the conference this season? Every team just keeps getting better. I guess that's what you would expect with almost 40k additional recruiting monies due to the conference superb success in last year's National Tournament where four of the final eight teams came from the Big Ten.
So on to this year, what is to expect? There were some big name recruits that came into the conference this year, especially at the shooting guard position where the conference locked up 2 of the top 3 in Northwestern Freshmen James McCourtney from Michigan and Illinois Freshmen Eddie Manley from Georgia. Also new on the scene in University Park, PA is highly recruited Michael Courtney a center from New Jersey.
Everyone from last years 1st team All-conference team has graduated as have 5 of the other 10 All-conference selections from last season. Of the other 5 remaining Season 13 All-Big Ten selections all were juniors, James Myers of Iowa, William Berry of Illinois, Joseph Beckett of Northwestern, Stephen Landesberg of Minnesota and Norman Brainard of Purdue who was the 35th pick of the NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. This leaves only 4 players returning from last season's All-Big Ten team, which should make for an exciting season!
Recruiting Review
Rank | School | # | Top Recruit | Comments |
1 | Penn State | 5 | Michael Courtney | Hit big with all 5 'ships. Courtney and Duhon are future All-American candidates… |
2 | Northwestern | 4 | James McCourtney | McCourtney is a raw prospect, he will be a beast in a year or two… Pierce is arguably their best recruit, he can play… |
3 | Illinois | 4 | Eddie Manley | Manley is a great ball player, but how long before he is in the pros?... Fitzgerald is solid but does he have much room to grow?... |
4 | Ohio State | 3 | Joseph Middleton | No super studs here, but coach filled all the holes with some solid prospects… |
5 | Michigan State | 3 | John Zarebski | Zarebski is the future of this program, should be fun seeing him develop… Kirby is a solid prospect; he is still a few steps too slow to contribute a whole lot… |
6 | Michigan | 3 | William Werts | Werts comes in to an already crowded backcourt, he could develop into a very nice starting four man… |
7 | Iowa | 4 | Lyle Bradford | Bradford and Dix can help out right away off the bench… Alexander could develop into a very productive shooting guard… |
8 | Indiana | 3 | Edwin Gary | Gary is still unpolished but he could be a very good player given time to develop… Smitreski could start the season as the starting point… |
9 | Notre Dame | 2 | Jason Smit | Smit still needs to work on his foot speed to reach his full potential, but he could be a very good player… |
10 | Wisconsin | 3 | Samuel Peterson | Arthur Lusk could end up being the best player out of this class… |
11 | Minnesota | 4 | Ryan Parrish | Tough year In Gopher country, Parrish could be a solid player in a few years as could the others… |
12 | Purdue | 2 | Charles Weiss | Purdue struck out big, twice… Weiss could develop into a reliable Big Ten starter… |
Big Ten East
School | Recruiting | Top Player | Top Newcomer |
(#21/#21) Michigan | 6 | Corey Linthicum | William Werts |
Minnesota | 11 | James Kimball | Ryan Parrish |
Iowa | 7 | Joseph Barbour | Lyle Bradford |
Notre Dame | 9 | Darrell Schroeder | Jason Smit |
Wisconsin | 10 | Russell Griffin | Robert Pennell |
Michigan State | 5 | Justin Cote | John Zarebski |
Michigan wins a close fight for the title with Minnesota… Linthicum, Sweat, Mitchell and Freshmen William Werts are great on the perimeter but do they have the depth underneath? That's what separates this team from a National Title contender, unless Werts is able to adapt to the PF position… Seidel and Kimball have to carry the load for the Gophers of Minnesota; it might be enough to get them the conference title… Foxworth and Ruff make a great Senior laden guard combo that could lead to a few postseason wins… Iowa has some talent but can they put it all together? At times they showed they could last year but they had some really bad losses too… Myers and Barbour have to carry them, Thompson is a solid player but the guards in this conference are so good and they lose some there on almost every team… They return some good players in South Bend but are they really Big Ten Caliber?... Snyder is FAST and plays great defense but he really isn't cut out to be a starting point in this league… Schroeder is a great point option, but who plays the 2? Snyder is a good backup point but really isn't a two and Snyder isn't a starting point so you can't move Schroeder to the 2 if he could shoot… Griffin is a stud… Cole/Griffin is a great starting guard combo but after the two of them there really isn't any help after Graham at center… lawdogg comes over from Penn where he had 3 top 7 picks in the NBA Draft this year… Used some of the same strategy we saw at Illinois, got a big piece to build around, Zarebski will be a force… Cote was talking about going pro last year, scouts told him to come back and work on his jumper…
Big Ten West
School | Recruiting | Top Player | Top Newcomer |
(#3/#10) Northwestern | 2 | Joseph Beckett | James McCourney |
(#8/#2) Purdue | 12 | Larry Gardner | Charles Weiss |
(#15/NR) Ohio State | 4 | Robert Ferguson | Timothy O'Baker |
(#20/#17) Penn State | 1 | George Margolis | Michael Courtney |
Indiana | 8 | Ronald Mott | Ivan Smitreski |
Illinois | 3 | Gregory Roux | Eddie Manley |
Evanston almost brought home the title last year, they look to be right back in the Final Four talk again this season… Beckett passed up the pros to come back and win the title, he leads a talented group that includes raw shooting guard prospect James McCourtney… West Lafayette is yearning for a title before legendary coach Rails retires as has been rumored… The talent is here, they are overloaded at guard but they can find time for everyone… Ohio State could easily win this conference outright… Ferguson and Cloutier are great together on the outside… Michael Courtney could be the NFOY… They might be young but they are very talented… You could argue Indiana as high as 2nd in this conference, they prolly don't have the talent to actually finish there though… Ronald Mott is a talent, he is this teams leader… They went all out to get Eddie Manley, he's got a lot to live up to now… They have some pieces but who the hell is going to rebound the ball?...
Awards
First Team Big Ten
PG-Ricky Perry, Sr., Purdue
SG-Robert Ferguson, Jr., Ohio State
SF- Ronald Mott, So., Indiana
PF-Joseph Beckett, Sr., Northwestern
C-William Berry, Sr., Illinois
Player of the Year:
Joseph Beckett, Sr., Northwestern
Conference Tournament Champion: Penn State
National Tournament Bids: 7 (Minnesota, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana)
Postseason Invitational Bids: 3 (Iowa, Illinois, Notre Dame)
