No. 1 will start the year down two. As silly as the rule may be, the top-ranked Hoosiers will open their regular season on Friday without heralded freshmen Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Peter Jurkin. The two have been suspended by the NCAA for the first nine games of the year after it was discovered that their former AAU coach, Mark Adams, provided them with thousands of dollars in plane tickets, meals, housing and personal items. The NCAA said in a statement that the two players were indeed allowed to accept those benefits from Adams’ non-profit organization that was formed to help international players obtain travel documents and to help cover costs to travel to the U.S (Mosquera-Perea is a native of Colombia, and Jurkin the Sudan). But Adams was considered an Indiana booster at the time, because he donated $185 to the school from 1986-92. Boosters can not provide benefits to players. Mosquera-Perea must pay back $1,590 and Jurkin will have to repay $250 (both to a charity of their choice), according to the Associated Press.

IU’s Freshmen Class Took an Early Hit Today (credit: scottphotography.com)

The two freshmen — part of Tom Crean’s No. 5-ranked class, according to Rivals.com — were expected to contribute immediately, although unlikely to start. Mosquera-Perea was Rivals’ No. 43 overall recruit in this year’s class, and Jurkin was unranked. The latter scored four points in 11 minutes in the Hoosiers’ exhibition win against Indiana-Wesleyan on November 1, while Mosquera-Perea was in uniform but did not play due to left foot injury that has been bothering him for most of the summer and fall.

Tom Crean was asked about the situation following the exhibition victory and said this: “What I can say about that is that we go through a lot in a program,” he told Insidethehall.com. “There’s situations that are always going to arise and every one of them has got a process to it. And we’re in the middle of that process. We just are. That’s the extent of it. They’re two great kids that are trying to get better every day and it’s not like it’s anything that we’re dealing with that just came up. It’s been a process for some time. And that’s really where we’re at with it.”

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Throughout the preseason, the Big Ten microsite will be rolling out the featured breakdowns of each of the 12 league schools. Today’s release is the Wisconsin Badgers.

Where We Left Off: We last saw the Badgers finish off what seemed like just another typical season — steady as she goes. They started the season ranked in most polls around No. 15 in the country and stayed there for most of last year, climbing into the Top 10 at one point. They won a game in the Big Ten Tournament before losing to eventual champion Michigan State and won two more in the NCAA Tournament before dropping a one-point heartbreaker to Syracuse in the third round. Finishing fourth in the conference felt just about right for a Badgers squad that weathered some early-season struggles from All-American guard Jordan Taylor to end the year with a good showing in a tough conference.

With Mike Bruesewitz out for at least a month, the Badgers will have some holes to fill in the early going. (Greg M. Cooper/US Presswire)

Positives: Even with the losses of two upperclassmen (Mike Bruesewitz — albeit temporary — and Josh Gasser, but we’ll get to that in a moment), this may be the most experienced team in the Big Ten. It will be anchored by senior center/forward Jared Berggren, and he’ll get a hand from senior Ryan Evans and junior Zach Bohannan (who transferred from Air Force) and Ben Brust. Experience comes into play most on the defensive end, and defense is arguably the important aspect of the game in the Big Ten (the Badgers led the conference in scoring defense last year). Also, the more time familiar with Bo Ryan‘s system, the more easily these guys can jump right in and hope to contend in a rough-and-tumble conference this year. And with the help of the upperclassmen, freshman point guard George Marshall should have plenty of assistance in the important area of floor leadership.

Negatives: Right now, Wisconsin is more of a “have-not” than a “have.” They’ll be without the senior forward Bruesewitz, who suffered a freak leg injury in practice in early October, until sometime around the Creighton game on November 23 (which means he’ll miss the Florida game on November 14). Then, when junior guard Gasser tore his ACL in practice later last month, that took away a second certain starter for the Badgers who were already going to be fighting to be in the top tier of a loaded conference. The pair of Bruesewitz and Gasser have combined to start 115 games for the Badgers. Those are two talented, veteran players the Badgers will be hard-pressed to replace, at least in the early going.

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1. According to Penn State star Tim Frazier, the Nittany Lions may have something in newcomer D.J. Newbill that the team hasn’t seen in some time — swagger. Frazier, an All-Big Ten player in his own right, has already come away with a strong impression of Newbill, who transferred from Southern Mississippi to Penn State. “He’s just got that Philly swagger in him,” Frazier said at Penn State’s media day on Monday. Second-year coach Pat Chambers echoed Frazier’s thoughts: “I’m going to use a very popular word right now: Swagger,” Chambers said, according to an Associated Press report. “He just has that ‘Philly chip.’ He’s got that toughness. He’s from the streets of Philly. He’s going to grind. He’s never going to give up.” Frazier could use a little help with the scoring load and it looks as if Newbill — who averaged 9.2 PPG and 6.2 RPG in 30 minutes per game as a freshman at Southern Miss two years ago — could be the man for the job.
2. The Iowa basketball program hasn’t had much success in recent years and, as The Gazette‘s Mike Hlas points out, much of that has to do with the failed tenure of previous head coach Todd Lickliter. But if one good thing did come of those years, it was the recruitment of Devyn Marble, a player who appears poised to lead the Hawkeyes this year as a junior. “When I met him the first time I was really impressed with him,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “So much of being a great player is who you are as much as what you can do.” Of course, this young Marble has plenty of shoes to fill — namely those of his father, Roy, who is Iowa’s all-time leading scorer. Marble may not reach that level of play in his Hawkeye career, but if he can give Iowa what it needs this season — a vocal leader — then the Hawkeyes surely will be better off for it.
3. In most cases, nobody likes to be called a pest. But sometimes, particularly if you’re playing for Bo Ryan, that can be a term of endearment. Forward Mike Bruesewitz has regularly fulfilled that role for the Badgers, but with the senior forward out 4-6 weeks with a leg injury, Wisconsin needs another player to step up. Enter Zach Bohannon. The scrappy junior guard impressed in the Badgers’ first exhibition, tallying 13 points but his six rebounds (four on the offensive end) may have been what stood out the most. Bohannon isn’t much of a scorer, but if he can scratch and claw his way onto the stat sheet, he could become a valuable player both before and after Bruesewitz returns. “He’s a digger,” Ryan said. “If you get lazy with a rebound, it’s gone around him.”
4. Michigan State freshmen Matt Costello and Kenny Kaminski are paying tribute this season to their friend Dorian Dawkins, who died on the Michigan State campus three summers ago at the age of 14. From Diamond Leung’s poignant story for MLive.com, Kaminski wears No. 30 so as to say “3 and nobody else” in honor of Dawkins, who was an AAU teammate of the Spartan duo who also dreamed of one day playing for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Together now, Kaminski and Costello carry memories of Dawkins with them every time they take the floor.
5. One of the most concerning aspects of Illinois‘ season last year were their inconsistencies, particularly with the knowledge that the Illini had so much potential and squandered it so often. There’s a new regime in Champaign under head coach John Groce, but there are still plenty of lingering concerns. Illinois was admittedly sloppy in an exhibition win against Division II West Chester (PA) on Sunday, and maybe the most troubling aspect were the 21 turnovers (five from senior Brandon Paul) to just seven assists. Paul has the potential to be one of the best players in the Big Ten this season, but brain lapses like those exhibited against West Chester will surely haunt Illinois again this year if not corrected soon.

Throughout the preseason, the Big Ten microsite will be rolling out the featured breakdowns of each of the 12 league schools. Today’s release is the Indiana Hoosiers.

Where We Left Off: The Hoosiers had what many figured would be this year, last year. (That confusing enough for ya?) Meaning, Indiana overreached moderate expectations for a young squad that was expected to round into a Top-10 squad this season with a more mature Cody Zeller and a highly-touted recruiting class to be mixed in with a couple veterans. But when Zeller and Tom Crean revived Assembly Hall with thrilling home victories against then-No. 1 Kentucky and then-No. 2 Ohio State (not to mention a victory against Crean’s mentor, Tom Izzo, and No. 5 Michigan State), the basketball world realized that Indiana is finally back. And they are here to stay. The Hoosiers are the consensus No. 1 team in the country, with Zeller a near unanimous preseason All-America selection and a favorite for college basketball’s player of the year. Then, couple seniors Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford with Rivals.com’s fifth-ranked incoming freshman class, and this team is loaded from top to bottom. The Hoosiers ended last season with a Sweet Sixteen loss to eventual champion Kentucky, but Indiana has its sights set on much more this year.

Cody Zeller is the face of the Hoosiers this season. And for good reason.

Positives: When talking about the positives, you have to start with Zeller. He’s the best big man in the country heading into his sophomore campaign, after averaging 15.6 PPG and 6.6 RPG as a freshman. He has good footwork, runs the floor exceptionally well, and has a great nose for the ball. There’s no reason the Indiana offense shouldn’t move through him on every possession. And that brings us to the roles of Hulls and Watford. As seniors on team that will get a lot of its scoring from underclassmen — namely Zeller and freshman Yogi Ferrell, and though Victor Oladipo is a junior, he doesn’t exactly have three years of solid game experience — Watford and Hulls should have the know-how and the presence of mind to get the ball in and out of the post and through Zeller every trip downcourt. This depth and balance of scoring talent and Big Ten experience will do wonders for the Hoosiers this season.

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The season hasn’t even started yet and Minnesota forward Trevor Mbakwe is finding himself all over the news. First, he was arrested in July for drunk driving and was in danger of being removed from the team (after he was granted another year of eligibility after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year). And now Mbakwe is in the headlines again, this time for making a wager that sounds more like it’d come from an arrogant trust fund baby at the end of a long night of partying on campus. Perhaps Mbakwe thinks the Gophers have attracted doubters in the early going — though they handled Minnesota State – Mankato, 81-56, in their first exhibition game on Thursday — so he proclaimed on Twitter on Sunday that he’d pay back his scholarship for this season if Minnesota doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

This guy has plenty of confidence in himself, and his teammates.

“I love my teammates,” Mbakwe wrote from his Twitter handle, @TMbakwe32. “They have always been there for me. If we don’t make the tourney ill pay back this years scholarship.” He then reitereated: “That’s how much I believe in this years team” and “Some ppl say I’m cocky but that’s not the case I just know how hard my teammate have worked and I believe in them and our coach #easychoice.” In his first game since his injury last November, Mbakwe scored  four points, pulled down three rebounds and added two steals in 11 minutes of limited play in the win over Minnesota State – Mankato.

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Throughout the preseason, the Big Ten microsite will be rolling out the featured breakdowns of each of the 12 league schools. Today’s release is the Purdue Boilermakers.

Where We Left Off: The last time we saw Purdue, one of the program’s most accomplished players — Robbie Hummel — was riding off into the sunset, marking the end of the “Baby Boiler” era that began when that class began its West Lafayette career in 2007. Purdue also loses fellow co-captains Ryne Smith and Lewis Jackson, leaving Matt Painter without three of the Boilers’ best scoring options from the last few seasons. So the cupboard is relatively bare, with a lot resting on the shoulders of senior D.J. Byrd and the Johnson Trio — Terone, Ronnie and Anthony. None of those four have much experience in leading the team, so scoring could be at a premium. It’s safe to call it a rebuilding year for the Boilermakers, but if they can build on the foundation the Baby Boilers set forth, Painter could have this team back contending soon enough.

With Robbie Hummel and Lewis Jackson gone, much of the scoring and leadership responsibility will rest on D.J. Byrd’s shoulders at Purdue.

Positives: After a pretty significant drop-off in recruiting since the stellar class of Hummel, JaJuan Johnson, Scott Martin (who eventually transferred) and E’Twaun Moore, Painter seems to finally have gotten it back with this incoming freshman class. Rivals has this group ranked No. 20 in the country, which also places the Boilermakers fourth in the Big Ten (Indiana clocks in at No. 5, Michigan at No. 7, Michigan State at No. 13). None of the newcomers — A.J. Hammons, Ronnie Johnson, Raphael Davis and Jay Simpson — were ranked higher than No. 77 (Hammons), but it’s a solid core and a diverse group, with each player listed by Rivals at a different position. All four should get significant playing time this season, giving Purdue fans a glimpse at what could be a very promising future.

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1. This is almost certainly not the way John Beilein and Michigan wanted to start a 2012-13 campaign that’s so filled with promise. Because of an unspecified “violation of team standards,” sophomore point guard and preseason All-American Trey Burke will sit out the team’s season debut when it takes on Northern Michigan in an exhibition game Thursday in Ann Arbor. Burke broke the university record for assists in a season last year, but it’ll be freshman Spike Albrecht starting in his place during the one-game suspension and handling the assist duties for the Wolverines. “Trey will sit out the first game as a result of some ‘out of character’ decisions he now regrets,” Beilein said in a statement, according to AnnArbor.com. “We believe he has learned a valuable lesson and we are confident he will grow from this experience.” This does not seem like a situation that will adversely affect the Wolverines’ regular season, but nobody likes to start the season with a distraction like this.
2. If there’s one way to describe Ohio State over the last few years, it may be that less is more. The Buckeyes have been regular Big Ten and national title contenders over the last decade or so, but they’ve never done it with much depth. This year could bring something Buckeye fans aren’t used to. Coach Thad Matta indicated this week that Ohio State will be rotating more players than usual this season, with a possibility for six or seven different lineups. Things did not go off without a hitch in the Buckeyes’ exhibition opener on Tuesday — a 83-71 win over Walsh College — but Matta did tinker with the lineup, sending out a different starting five at the beginning of the game then again after halftime. Ten players saw the floor for Ohio State, and eight played at least 14 minutes. If this stays true to form, that many Matta-recruited top-notch athletes over the course of 40 minutes could give teams fits this year.
3. As for the depth at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers took a hit in advance of their first exhibition game with an injury to freshman Wally Ellenson. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune,  the 6-foot-4 guard broke a bone in the middle finger of his left hand during a rebounding drill this week when it got caught on a teammate’s jersey. Coach Tubby Smith said it was a clean break and it is expected to keep Ellenson out of game action for 6-8 weeks. Now, Smith says, a redshirt could be in order. “He was playing well and he probably wasn’t going to be [redshirted], but it’s going to be something that we’re going to probably consider at this juncture,” Smith said.
4. If you have any doubt that the state of Indiana is basketball mecca, just tune into Big Ten basketball this season to see some of the conference’s brightest young stars who hail from the Hoosier State. It’ll be players like Gary Harris at Michigan State, Glenn Robinson at Michigan and Yogi Ferrell at Indiana who are expected to make an instant impact when they suit up as first-year players. Purdue will also rely on the young talent of in-state talent with Ronnie Johnson on the rise. And that’s just the short list. For some more Indiana-bred talent, check out Michael Pointer’s story from the Indianapolis Star. Or just stay tuned for what ought to be an awesome season of hoops in the Midwest.
5. Evidently, Purdue basketball will be a name game this season. As Jeff Washburn writes, if the Boilermakers’ exhibition opener is any indication, Big Ten fans can get used to hearing about the Johnsons in West Lafayette this winter. Terone Johnson, Anthony Johnson and Ronnie Johnson led the way for Purdue in its 70-61 win against Montevallo on Tuesday night, and those three are expected to be at the forefront all year long. As mentioned earlier, Ronnie is a highly-touted freshman with a big future while Terone and Anthony will also help provide formidable backcourt depth. They combined for 47 of Purdue’s 70 points in the exhibition game.

1. So the Big East is realigning … again. But what does it mean for the Big Ten? Well, for starters, it means Notre Dame won’t be joining the ranks of the Big Ten, since it’s taking its talents to the ACC for basketball season. It also means the conference that has been long regarded as the best hoops league in the land takes yet another hit after the announced departures of Syracuse and Pittsburgh (not to mention the retirement of Jim Calhoun at Connecticut). Sports Illustrated‘s Luke Winn took a look at the conferences around the country before and after these seismic shifts and noted that the Big Ten moved from the No. 4 spot (I find it hard to believe that was ever the case in the first place) up to No. 2 behind the new-look ACC. It looks like the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be a better measuring stick now than ever.
2. It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but Michigan State’s Mark Hollis is at it again. This time, the forward-thinking athletic director has the Spartans playing another aircraft carrier game (the Germany game against UConn was made official this week)… at Pearl Harbor. He also is pushing for the Spartans to host the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament in nearby Grand Rapids. Hollis has pushed for the Spartans to host NCAA Tournament games at Van Andel Arena before, but this seems more plausible.
3. From the facilities to the uniforms, the Minnesota basketball program is undergoing a bit of a makeover this summer. The Gophers will be donning new threads this season, outfitted by Nike, joining Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue as other conference teams to sport the Nike Aerographic design uniforms. According to the Big Ten Network, the faint design on the back of the uniform features design features Williams Arena, Minnesota’s block “M” logo and “1851,” the year the university was founded. Speaking of Williams Arena, the home of the Gophers will also have a new overhead scoreboard when the team takes the court this season. The high-def unit — which is 11-feet-seven-inches by 13-feet-eight-inches — was part of an $8 million facilities upgrade around campus.
4. Indiana basketball has a rich and proud history that includes plenty of memorable games against teams in and out of the Big Ten. So, Terry Hutchens asks, do the Hoosiers have a natural basketball rival? Would it be in-state foe Purdue? Or conference teams like Illinois or Michigan State? There’s plenty of history between Indiana and Kentucky, especially considering last year’s memorable game at Assembly Hall and the impasse the teams reached when trying to continue their non-conference series. What do you think? Do the Hoosiers have a significant rival on the hardwood?
5. We know how hard it can be, as college students, to come up with $186. Between tuition, rent, trying to survive on ramen noodles and occasionally enjoying a beer (or three), there’s not much left in the bank. So that’s why we agree with NBC College Basketball Talk‘s assessment of the Izzone at Michigan State offering students a chance at free student section tickets this season — “Awesome.” Spartan fans had the opportunity to take one half-court shot, and 21 students came away with tickets good for 13 Michigan State home games. Just what we need — another excuse to practice the half-court shot.

1. Coming into this summer, it was widely known that there was going to be some decisions to be made in terms of Indiana’s roster and the number of scholarship spots that would be allotted. It was also pretty widely known that Matt Roth was a likely candidate to be the odd man out. That came to fruition this week when it was learned that Roth’s time with the Hoosiers is over. The writing had been on the wall, though, with Roth already completing his undergraduate work and participating in the Senior Night festivities last season at Assembly Hall. But, as ESPN.com‘s Eamonn Brennan points out, it’s a shame to see a player who started his career at IU when the Hoosiers really needed him have it end when the rebuilding process has finally been completed.
2. If Nebraska wants to establish its authority in the Big Ten — and in its own state — it will have plenty of opportunities in its sophomore Big Ten season. The Cornhuskers’ schedule poses plenty of challenges this year, including the first five conference games in January — at Ohio State, against Wisconsin, at Michigan, at Michigan State and against Purdue. Not the easiest way to break into Big Ten play. This also comes weeks after the Huskers will host Creighton (and Nebraska-Omaha), in a fight for in-state bragging rights. Creighton has been the superior Nebraska program for years. Will the tide turn under new Huskers coach Tim Miles?
3. CBSSports.com‘s Jeff Goodman reports that Purdue is alive and well after the departure of poster child Robbie Hummel, thanks in part to a trip overseas for an exhibition set in Italy. Head coach Matt Painter recognizes that nothing is going to come easy for this group — which is suddenly without Hummel, Lewis Jackson, E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, who carried the program back to relevance in recent years — that is certain to have growing pains in the rough-and-tumble Big Ten. “Inexperience and our ability to be good defensively,” Painter said were his biggest concerns after the trip. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’re going to have to be good together.” Purdue lost three of its top four scorers from last season, and lone senior D.J. Byrd is going to have to shoulder a heavy load to keep the Boilermakers near the top of the conference.
4. Entering his senior season, it was expected that Ohio State’s William Buford would be competing for a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team and perhaps some good standing in the 2012 NBA Draft. Instead, he was inconsistent for the Buckeyes and went undrafted. He will get a chance to play professional ball, though — alongside former Purdue standout Robbie Hummel — in Santiago, Spain. “I thought trying to make it to the NBA this year was kind of a risk,” Buford said during his introductory news conference, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “So I figured why not come to the best league besides the NBA.” It’s probably not the plan Buford envisioned a year or two ago, but with his tools, he can spend a couple years overseas and have a great shot at cracking an NBA roster.
5. In any successful athletic program, the basketball and football programs have to be able to feed off each other while both maintaining a certain level of consistent excellence. That’s what they’re shooting for at Penn State, where both teams — albeit for different reasons — are undergoing some serious rebuilding. While that’s been going on, basketball coach Patrick Chambers and football coach Bill O’Brien have forged a friendship. Together, as they told David Jones of the Patriot-News, they hope to restore Penn State athletics to a place of high standing. “We’ve become fast friends,” Chambers said. “We’ve got a good relationship and a very trusting relationship.”

1. Do you want the good news or the bad news first, Indiana fans? The good news is that a solution has presented itself for the problem Tom Crean was going to have this fall with 14 players trying to fill out 13 scholarships by the first day of classes. The bad news is that means incoming freshman Ron Patterson‘s ineligibility is what led to that solution. According to the Indianapolis Star, the local product — a three-star recruit out of nearby Indianapolis — did not meet the academic requirements to earn admission. According to the Star‘s report, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound shooting guard will consider attending prep school or a different four-year school. He will have immediate eligibility wherever he goes since his letter of intent has been voided. Still, though, the Hoosiers have the top recruiting class in the Big Ten and one of the best nationally — to go along with a likely preseason No. 1 distinction.
2. Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis is at it again with his big ideas and, this time, he’s got more than just the Spartans involved. Hollis is the brainchild of yet another large-scale event, with plans to include 16 elite basketball programs — including Big Ten squads Michigan State and Ohio State — in a blockbuster event (broken into a pair of eight-team tournaments) for November 2017 in Portland, Oregon, celebrating the 80th birthday of Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Given the list of schools involved, this could be better than most NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteens. It should be an exceptionally tough ticket, but a real treat for hoops fans five years from now.
3. According to the Gazette columnist Mike Hlas, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery has been telling reporters he intends to schedule tougher non-conference foes when the program is ready for it. Now, evidently, is not that time. As Hlas points out, the Hawkeyes have three teams on the 2012-13 slate from the MEAC, the 30th-strongest conference of 32, according to the Sagarin Ratings from last year. And if Iowa plays Wichita State instead of DePaul in Cancun, the cumulative 2011-12 record of the Hawkeyes’ non-conference opponents will be 181-234 (88-124 in their respective conferences). If it is DePaul, those records drop to 166-247 and 75-137, respectively. Those figures certainly won’t help Iowa’s strength of schedule. But if they can’t beat those squads, something will really be amiss.
4. Fans in Michigan are passionately divided between Michigan and Michigan State allegiances, but with both teams now excelling, it’s a great time to be a basketball fan in the Mitten State. And how about this projection for an NCAA Tournament first-round site? The Spartans and Wolverines are both slotted by ESPN.com‘s Joe Lunardi in a very early version of Bracketology as No. 2 seeds playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. You’re not likely to get Michigan and Michigan State fans also cheering for their rivals in those games, but it would be one heck of an atmosphere at the Palace. Lunardi has seven Big Ten teams in the dance, including Indiana (No. 1 seed), Ohio State (No. 4 seed), Minnesota (No. 7 seed), Wisconsin (No. 3 seed) and Purdue (No. 12 seed).
5. Purdue is taking the early stages of its non-conference schedule way out of the conference. Way out of the country, even. The Boilermakers just wrapped up a 3-1 exhibition tour in Italy, capping the trip off with a 108-72 victory against Amici del Campetto. It’s given coach Matt Painter an early opportunity to see what he’ll be working with this season, with many new faces expected to be in the mix. The Boilermakers’ only loss on the trip was to a professional team from Lithuania. D.J. Byrd, one of the few returning contributors, was 5-for-7 from 3-point range for 16 points in the latest victory.