Selecting a Big Ten All-Star Game
Posted by Brendan Brody on February 13th, 2015It’s NBA All-Star Weekend and we’re about a month away from the Big Ten’s postseason honors being announced. So with that in mind, let’s have some fun and decide which league players would make a hypothetical Big Ten All-Star Game. Drawing from the East and West divisions that separate conference teams during football season, here’s one opinion on how the selections would shake out if this game were to actually take place.
Myles Mack is one of a number of candidates on a guard heavy East squad. (AP)
Eastern Big Ten Conference All-Stars
Starters
- Troy Williams, Indiana
- Branden Dawson, Michigan State
- Jake Layman, Maryland
- Melo Trimble, Maryland
- D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State
Bench
- Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
- Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
- Sam Thompson, Ohio State
- Dez Wells, Maryland
- DJ Newbill, Penn State
- Myles Mack, Rutgers
- James Blackmon Jr., Indiana
The contrast between the types of talent on these two teams would be remarkable. The East group has essentially all the best point guards in the conference and would have to play similarly to how Indiana plays, which makes Williams a logical choice to start in a lineup that would look to run and then run some more. Think of all the dunks that would come from an uptempo setting with Russell tossing lobs in the directions of Williams, Dawson and Thompson on the break. There might be some voting controversy here with Trimble getting the starting nod over Ferrell, but we’ll keep it that way for now since Maryland just beat Indiana and moved one game ahead of the Terps on Wednesday night. All in all, this team has shooting, speed and off-the-charts-athleticism.
Western Big Ten Conference All-Stars
Starters
- Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
- Aaron White, Iowa
- Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin
- Andre Hollins, Minnesota
- Terran Petteway, Nebraska
Bench
- AJ Hammons, Purdue
- Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa
- Malcolm Hill, Illinois
- Raphael Davis, Purdue
- Bronson Koenig, Wisconsin
- Sam Dekker, Wisconsin
- Shavon Shields, Nebraska
It was unintentional that these two all-star teams turned out this way, but while the East would look to run the other group out of the gym, the West would seek to get things done in the paint. There aren’t as many great athletes on this team, but Wisconsin’s entire front line, two of Iowa’s lengthy frontcourt trio, and the league’s leading shot-blocker are all here. This team also has more depth — selecting the 11th and 12th spots here was much more difficult. Notable omissions were Minnesota’s Maurice Walker, Wisconsin’s Josh Gasser, Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh, and Illinois’ Kendrick Nunn. Uthoff was selected to give the team a bit of a presence from the outside; McIntosh plays for a 1-10 team; Davis got the nod over Gasser due to his slightly better perimeter defense and scoring; and Koenig narrowly beat out fellow sophomore Nunn because there has to be at least one point guard on this squad.
Now if only someone could put this one together. My money would be on the East, but it would be fascinating to see how things played out.
Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.
This post was clearly a fun hypothetical exercise, not rigorous analysis, so I feel a little petty pushing back on it. That said, there is literally no argument to be made for starting Trimble over Ferrell. Yogi’s stats are better across the board, and he was the best player on the court Wednesday night. If the most you can say in support of Trimble is his team beat Yogi’s team by 2 at home, then it’s worth pointing out the Terps also lost by 19 in Bloomington.
Matt:
In looking at it again, I agree with you. Honestly for me more thought was put into picking the rosters than the starters. I kind of went the “reward Maryland” route because they’re second in the league. But I tend to think Yogi is slightly better, especially on the offensive end. He had the best handles out of anyone in the B1G, and might be the best passer.