1. Amir Williams was a star recruit coming out of high school, but the sophomore center rode the bench for much of his freshman campaign. Now, Ohio State is counting on Williams to be a major contributor, but before he becomes the star that many projected, he has to improve his consistency. He had 10 rebounds in a loss to Duke, but has struggled to rebound in other games. Free throws have been an issue at times, too, but he was 6-of-7 from the line against the Blue Devils. The potential is there, but the stat sheet needs to reflect that potential every game. As for the hype, coach Thad Matta isn’t a big fan of those recruiting sites: “I think that’s what’s kind of wrong with society today. Joe Blow’s got an opinion and everybody think that’s the gospel.”
2. After a fast start to the season, Michigan State freshman guard Gary Harris suffered a shoulder injury and missed two games. In the three games since coming back, he’s been inconsistent shooting the ball, and part of that could be due to a shoulder harness that he’s been forced to wear. However, Harris refuses to use the harness as an excuse for his poor shooting. He said confidence isn’t an issue, but each game it takes him some time to get used to the harness. Despite a poor shooting start in the Spartans’ game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff, he still provided a spark for his team and finished with 13 points and three steals.
3. Minnesota is ranked anywhere between No. 14 and No. 21 in the nation in various polls, and is likely just a few wins away from being the highest-ranked Gophers team in the Tubby Smith era. There is certainly star power in Minneapolis, as the Gophers boast Andre Hollins, Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams, but the depth of this team is equally impressive. Austin Hollins and Joe Coleman have both been key contributors. The scary part? Mbakwe comes off the bench, since he is struggling with injuries. The last time Minnesota was ranked this high, it ended up missing out on the NCAA Tournament. As long as the depth stays solid, that isn’t likely to happen this year.
4. Trey Burke is having an All-America-caliber sophomore start for Michigan after a breakout freshman year, and he’s drawing high praise from the national media. Burke will be in the NBA soon enough, and he’s already drawing comparisons to one of the NBA’s best in Chris Paul. ESPN has a nice article comparing the two, highlighting their exceptional passing abilities. Not only are both good at getting their teammates involved, but they also both know how to score when necessary. Of course, Burke still has a long way to go in order to reach Paul’s status, but he certainly has the potential to eventually become an NBA star.
5. Last year, Baylor’s big men dominated a Northwestern team that essentially didn’t have one en route to a huge win in Evanston. This year, however, the Wildcats’ frontcourt — still considered a weak link — took it to the Bears in Waco for their best win of the season to date. NU out-rebounded Baylor 34-27 and unheralded Wildcats freshman Alex Olah outplayed Bears blue-chip recruit Isaiah Austin at center. The physicality from Olah, Drew Crawford, Jared Swopshire and Reggie Hearn was a welcome change from how the Wildcats normally operate. Their consistency still needs to come, especially at center, but the Wildcats showed they have the potential to play with teams that are much more talented then them on the inside.

A few takeaways from Miami‘s impressive eight-point win over Michigan State tonight:

1. The Hurricanes should be near the top of the ACC. This isn’t so much a reflection of the Hurricanes being a great team as it is of how weak the ACC is this season (outside of  Duke). North Carolina and North Carolina State have the pieces to be very good (particularly the Wolfpack), but we haven’t seen any indications of that so far this season. The Hurricanes are a step below the Blue Devils and likely the Wolfpack too when they get their act together, but they should be in the next tier competing against UNC, FSU, and Maryland. This win should also be a resume-booster when Selection Sunday rolls around as the Spartans will probably pick up plenty of solid wins in the Big Ten making this win even more impressive for the Hurricanes. The improvement Miami has shown from its embarrassing loss to Florida Gulf Coast can be explained in large part by the return of Durand Scott, but he didn’t do it by himself tonight as he was helped out by Trey McKinney Jones and Shane Larkin, who both had big games in scoring 33 of the team’s 67 points.
2. Michigan State is still going through growing pains without Draymond Green, who was a huge part of the Spartans’ success last season, and it has been evident early in the year even if they were able to pull out a last-second win earlier this month against Kansas. In his postgame press conference, Tom Izzo stressed the difficulty he has had finding a rotation with the injuries the team has had so far this season. He also harped on his team’s inability to guard ball screens and after initially trying to go with the “unnamed player” line, he called out Keith Appling, who he said had his worst game as a Spartan. As always we expect this Spartan program to be around in March, but they still have quite a bit of work left before they are ready to compete against Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State and even then they may not have enough to be a serious threat to those three.
3. He went through some rough patches tonight as you would expect from a freshman returning from injury, but it is clear that Gary Harris will become the go-to guy for this Michigan State team if they are going to approach their typical lofty standards. Travis Trice and Keith Appling are solid players, but Harris is the one with the potential to become a star and is the only Spartan who has the ability to get to the basket when the team needs him to do so. As Izzo pointed out in the postgame press conference, Harris is not at 100% as he recovers from a shoulder injury, but when he does he should be a force in the Big Ten. Harris is one of the most highly touted players to come to Michigan State and while it is still early in the season all signs are indicating that he will live up to the hype.

Miami Students Rush the Court.

Offered without comment…

1. With another big non-conference game looming with Michigan State’s trip to play at Miami on Wednesday, Tom Izzo said Monday that there’s a chance sophomore guard Travis Trice and possibly even freshman wing Gary Harris could get some minutes. The Spartans have missed the two badly — Harris is nursing a sprained shoulder and Trice has had concussion symptoms since the season opener — in their recent games. MSU snuck by Boise State and Louisiana-Lafayette at home and it’s been clear that the team is fatigued and more turnover-prone without two of its best run-and-gun players. Harris, also the team’s leading scorer, was expected to miss 2-3 weeks, but Izzo says his healing has progressed well.
2. With this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge — the conference’s premier early-season event — on the horizon this week, BigTenNetwork.com is ranking the best games from this year’s Challenge. The ACC handled the Big Ten in the first 10 renditions of the Challenge before the Big Ten came storming back to take the crown the last three years. It seems as if the Big Ten is poised for an excellent all-around season, with Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan making a case for early Final Four picks, and depth is at an all-time high. Which games are you most looking forward to this week?
3. Many didn’t know what to expect from Illinois this season under first-year head coach John Groce, but the early returns have been stellar. The Illini are undefeated after winning the always-prestigious Maui Invitational and, as the Chicago Sun-Times’ Herb Gould points out, every Maui Invitational champion since 1986 has gone on to the NCAA Tournament. Groce said he’s seen a lot of character in his young team, particularly in coming from behind in a few games. “Is [Maui] the end-all, be-all? No,” Groce told the Sun-Times. “We still have work to do. We have to rebound better. We have to foul less. We have to execute some things better offensively. By no means have we arrived. At the same time, we feel blessed to have had a chance to play for that trophy and to have won it.”
4. It’s hard to imagine any single player means more to one team in the Big Ten than Tim Frazier does to Penn State. And now that he’s out for the season with a ruptured Achilles, the Nittany Lions are learning how to move on without him for the time being. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” coach Patrick Chambers said Monday, according to StateCollege.com. “The text messages I received when he went down, the text messages I still receive, I went to the football game the other day and everybody is like, ‘I’m so sorry.'” Chambers says the team needs to find ways to work through it, and that starts with the flow of the offense finding its way without its natural point guard and senior leader.
5. Purdue is certainly rebuilding this year, and the team’s long-term future may have taken a bit of a hit with an injury to recruit Kendall Stephens, a 6’5″ senior guard at St. Charles (IL) East High School. The Indianapolis Star‘s Jeff Washburn reported Monday that Stephens, who scored 30 points and was named MVP of a recent holiday tournament, is playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that is expected to require surgery. If so, he’s likely to miss summer workouts before his senior year, which can be a critical time in a freshman’s development if he is to contribute early.

1. Penn State was never on anyone’s short list to be a Big Ten Tournament contender, but it has one of the best players in the conference in guard Tim Frazier. The Nittany Lions’ prospects got even worse on Monday, as Frazier went down with an Achilles injury. Coach Pat Chambers confirmed on Tuesday that Frazier would miss the remainder of the season. Frazier should be able to get a medical redshirt to play next season, so that’s good news for Chambers’ rebuilding squad. However, this year will likely be rough without Frazier, who was Penn State’s leader last year in every major statistical category. Now, D.J. Newbill, Ross Travis and Jermaine Marshall all need to step up. If they all show improvement and take on bigger roles, the Nittany Lions could have a decent team next year when Frazier returns.
2. On the subject of injuries, Michigan State may have taken a major hit when star freshman guard Gary Harris left the game with a left shoulder injury. Coach Tom Izzo did not sound optimistic about the situation, saying at best case Harris would be out with a sprain, and at worst would be out “a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot, lot, lot longer.” Harris will get an MRI on Wednesday, but it’s a bad situation no matter what. Harris is the team’s leading scorer and has broken out early this year for the Spartans. He went out at the beginning of Tuesday’s game and MSU struggled without him, beating Boise State 74-70. If Harris is out for an extended period of time, MSU will need Keith Appling and Denzel Valentine to step up and provide more consistent scoring.
3. It’s not often that you see a 6-foot-1 guard atop a list of rebounding leaders, but that’s exactly what Ben Brust has done at Wisconsin. In fact, he was tied for third in the Big Ten in rebounding before Tuesday’s games, behind Michigan State’s Derrick Nix and Indiana’s Cody Zeller. Brust has put together a phenomenal start for the Badgers. He’s second on the team in points per game, and leads in both rebounds per game and assists per game. He recorded a double-double in the opener against Southeastern Louisiana and did the same against Cornell. Tuesday, he had another double-double, this time leading the team in both points and rebounds with 20 and 12. Wisconsin needed someone to step up at guard in place of injured Josh Gasser, and it looks like the Badgers have found their guy.
4. Ohio State’s team is full of young talent as it is, but the Buckeyes will be adding even more young stars in the coming years. This week, OSU got the commitments of 2014 forwards Jae’Sean Tate and Kieta Bates-Diop, both four-star recruits. Tate chose the Buckeyes over Michigan, while Bates-Diop chose them over Illinois, Michigan and Purdue. OSU just signed four-star forward Marc Loving and four-star guard Kameron Williams for the 2013 class, and are still on the board for some top 2014 prospects. It’s tough to judge recruits just based off their star ratings, but considering the other offers Tate and Bates-Diop had, this was a big win for OSU. The Buckeyes will have no shortage of talent in the years to come.
5. Michigan has climbed to No. 4 in the rankings without playing anyone of not this year, but that changes when the Wolverines head to Madison Square Garden to face Pittsburgh in the 2K Sports Classic. After the matchup with the Panthers, Michigan will face either Kansas State or Delaware. This will be a chance for coach John Beilein to see how his young team performs on the big stage. He said that he hopes his team is ready after a week of fixing the “holes” they’ve had. There haven’t been too many holes for the Wolverines, who have dominated lesser competition behind star sophomore point guard Trey Burke, senior Tim Hardaway and freshmen Glenn Robinson III and Nick Stauskas. Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary have been impressive, as well, which is a tribute to this team’s outstanding depth. Now the Wolverines have to prove they can replicate that success on the big stage and against quality opponents. They’ll get that chance against Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Chris Johnson is an RTC National Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. No. 1 Hoosiers Survive First Real Test. The Legends Classic Championship did not feature the matchup we all spotlighted on calendars and hyped up to ridiculous proportions in the preseason. It didn’t come down to a titanic mid-air class of Shabazz Muhammad exploding to the rim and Cody Zeller attempting an acrobatic swat on a final possession. That’s half true because UCLA never made it there. Georgetown took down the vaunted Bruins Monday, and for entertainment purposes, a Hoyas win in all likelihood set up a tougher challenge for No. 1 Indiana than anything UCLA could have mustered at this early stage. The Hoosiers handled said challenge, though not without producing a fair measure of late-game drama. Tuesday night’s Legends Final was the first showcase game for the preseason national championship favorite. The proceedings matched every bit the hype. But Indiana’s spotlight game wasn’t the only major storyline from Tuesday night. Shall we dig in to the rest of college hoops’ biggest developments?

Your Watercooler Moment.  NCAA Scoring Record Snapped.

On a night where Indiana staged its biggest game yet, and Michigan State potentially lost a crucial asset, Thomas’ 138-point game shines through (photo credit: AP Photo).

Say what you will about competition level or defensive effort, throw out any “volume shooter” pejoratives you like, because Jack Taylor’s 138-point game in Division III Grinnell College’s 179-104 win over Faith Baptist Bible is downright impressive any way you slice it. Taylor, a 5’10’’ sophomore cashed 27 three pointers and finished 52-of-108 from the field. This counts as an offensive explosion of the highest order, not just by Taylor, but also by Grinnell.  For those familiar with the program, though, the wow factor must have been tempered somewhat by the Pioneer’s recent track record: before last night’s win, Grinnell combined to score 241 points in its first two games, both wins. I’m a sucker for high-scoring affairs just as much as the next guy, but at what point does a desire to push the pace and execute quickfire offense sacrifice reasonable strategic wisdom? Does the Grinnell playbook just exclude defensive strategy all together? Or is the offense-focused system just some incredible recruiting tool that’s all too popular among players to pass up? There’s playing fast, and then there’s Grinnell. Whatever your level of affinity for pace, it’s hard to quibble with Taylor’s awesome display Tuesday night. No matter how distorted, or how amenable to high-volume shooting and ball-dominating tendencies, Grinnell’s offense gave Taylor a night he will never forget. And no one — not for stylistic eccentrity, not for the inordinate number of shot attempts he took to get there, not for the clear and concerted effort his team made to get Taylor as many shots as possible so he could score as many points as possible — can begrudge him that.

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1. Michigan State freshman Gary Harris came into this season a highly touted recruit for Tom Izzo. He was ranked in the top 30 by Rivals and proved his worth against Kansas by scoring 18 points on Tuesday night. But the other freshman Spartan, Denzel Valentine, may end up being just as valuable as Harris this season. Valentine has the ability to become a great guard in Izzo’s system with his passing skills (four assists against KU) and the zeal to buckle down on the defensive end. Both Harris and Valentine may end up being a dynamic duo for Izzo over the next couple of years assuming both of them stay in school.
2. Bo Ryan may find guards to fill in the void created by Josh Gasser’s injury on the offensive end but the defensive side might suffer a bit this season. Shane Ryan of Grantland outlines the Badgers’ defensive issues based on the road game against Florida on Wednesday night. Gasser was a lockdown defender on defense last season and his freshman replacements, George Marshall and Traevon Jackson, may have issues keeping up with superior backcourts. Both of them are athletic enough but it takes a while for freshmen to understand and communicate properly about the defensive sets. Ryan’s teams have ranked in the top 10 defensively in the nation for a long time and will need to figure out their issues soon before conference play begins.
3. After long discussions with Minnesota’s Charles Buggs‘ family, Tubby Smith and Buggs have decided that he will redshirt this season. The 6’9″ forward’s services may not be needed because Trevor Mbakwe will play a major role in the frontcourt for Tubby Smith. Buggs weighs about 195 lbs. right now, so one of his main goals during the redshirt year will be to add some size in order to compete in the rugged B1G. Smith compared him to forward Damian Johnson who redshirted as a true freshman and became a key defensive player for Smith in Minneapolis. Rodney Williams will mostly play at the power forward position once Mbakwe is back to 100% game shape over the next couple of months.
4. Northwestern has signed point guard Jaren Sina and guard Nate Taphorn for the 2013-14 season. Sina was also considering Seton Hall, Alabama, Memphis and Pittsburgh, while Taphorn is supposed to have great range on his jumper and should contribute from the wing next season after Drew Crawford’s graduation. Head coach Bill Carmody continues to bring in quality guards to Evanston but he will have to recruit some athletic size who can hold their own in the paint if he wants to win more than nine or 10 games in the conference season. Forward Chier Ajou may end up being a valuable big man for Carmody as he gains more experience over the course of the season.
5. After a 2-0 start, Illinois will play Hawaii on the road on Friday night. John Groce and his Illini took a trip to Pearl Harbor and met some World War II veterans while in Honolulu. The Illini could beat Hawaii convincingly but they will have a big challenge against USC on Monday night to kick off the Maui Invitational in Lahaina. This talented group of new Trojans may not compete with Arizona and UCLA for the Pac-12 regular season title but could very well end up among the top five teams in their conference. A win against USC would be a huge confidence booster for Illinois as it learns to adjust to Groce’s up-tempo offensive schemes.

With a 67-64 win against No. 4 Kansas in the Champions Classic in Atlanta on Tuesday night, No. 8 Michigan State avoided starting consecutive seasons 0-2 for the first time since the first two years of Spartan basketball (1899 and 1900). Now, after a grueling five days that included two games on a national stage — on Friday at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany and Tuesday at the Georgia Dome — the Spartans can settle in to a more manageable non-conference slate with a 1-1 start. There’s plenty to feel good about with this group of Spartans, but still some early-season concerns. Here are a few thoughts from Tuesday night’s game:

Keith Appling took over late in Michigan State’s 67-64 win over Kansas on Tuesday. (Paul Abell/US Presswire)

1. Keith Appling might just be ready to lead — In more ways than one, perhaps. The Spartans desperately need a go-to scorer, and they desperately need a leader this season after the departure of Draymond Green. Appling showed on Tuesday that he can be both, turning in a game-high 19 points — including a late 3-pointer that appeared to be the dagger, and then a beautiful drive-and-scoop off the glass that ultimately was — and taking control of the game when the Spartans needed leadership. Appling had a realization of sorts after the UConn game that the offense was going to have to run through him this season. It can be a difficult thing to harness, particularly since he’ll be shifting between the one and two when Travis Trice is healthy and in the rotation, and because the Spartans want to run the fast break but also have a wealth of half-court sets. But Appling’s ability to shoot the ball presented itself on Tuesday (6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 from deep) and he turned the ball over just twice in 38 minutes. But most importantly, those shots came in crunch time. The Spartans needed big baskets a couple times against Connecticut and never got them. Tuesday, Michigan State’s go-to scorer obliged. Read the rest of this entry »

Evan Jacoby is a regular contributor for RTC. You can find him @EJacobyRTC on Twitter. Night Line runs on weeknights during the season, highlighting a major storyline development from that day’s games.

With the departure of first team All-American and do-it-all superstar Draymond Green from this year’s Michigan State roster, the Spartans figured to take a new offensive approach this season away from the high post, Draymond-centric attack they featured last year. What they didn’t expect was a surprising season-opening loss to depleted Connecticut last Friday in which they shot just 37.5% from the field. Tuesday night presented another massive challenge in defending national runner-up Kansas, and Tom Izzo’s team found a way to change the narrative by converting 52.1% of their field goals and defeating the Jayhawks, 67-64, in the Champions Classic in Atlanta. In the process, Michigan State found a new go-to offensive player in Gary Harris and a clutch late-game playmaker with Keith Appling. Replacing the versatile Green isn’t an easy task, but this year’s Spartans team learned a lot about its potential to do so with the impressive offensive performance on Tuesday night.

Michigan State leaned on Keith Appling, left, down the stretch in Tuesday’s win over Kansas (AP Photo/D. Martin)

The Spartans couldn’t have looked any different in their first two tilts of a five-day stretch to open this season. A trip to Germany to play in an aircraft hangar might have something to do with that. A Hall of Fame head coach with an understanding of how to make quick adjustments might, too. Izzo understood that his team struggled to score in the 66-62 loss to Connecticut to open the season, and it needed better production from the players expected to carry this team offensively. The freshman Harris played tentatively with a “deer in the headlights” look in the season opener, according to Izzo, en route to a 4-for-13 shooting night for 11 points. Harris was much more assertive from the get-go on Tuesday, looking to score early and often with smooth moves to the hoop and a soft touch from the perimeter, and he finished with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Harris was aggressive and productive in attacking Kansas’ guards, so much so that the Jayhawks switched their top defensive player, Travis Releford, to guard Harris in the second half. Nonetheless the frosh still found ways to score without forcing the issue.

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What a way to kick off the college basketball season. For the second year in a row, Michigan State will represent the Big Ten on a national stage to open the season while also paying tribute to our country’s armed forces. After playing in front of a national television audience (that included President Barack Obama onsite in attendance) against North Carolina on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson last year, the Spartans open the 2012-13 on Friday against Connecticut at Ramstein Air Base in southwest Germany (5:30 PM ET, ESPN).

Michigan State will wear these uniforms Friday night as they honor the U.S. troops for the second consecutive year in the Spartans’ season opener against UConn. (Photo courtesy @MSU_Basketball)

The No. 6 Spartans are coming off a season in which they overachieved by most standards, winning a share of the Big Ten regular season title, the Big Ten Tournament, and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen as one of the NCAA Tournament’s four No. 1 seeds. UConn’s 2011-12 season took a step in the opposite direction. While the Spartans weren’t figured by many to contend on a national scale, the Huskies were. And they disappointed in a huge way, sputtering to a 20-14 record and a first-round exit at the hands of Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament the year after they won it all. “We’re playing a team that’s not ranked but you’re going to see is awfully good,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, according to MLive.com. “This team will compete in that league (the Big East), no problem. Don’t look for there to be great falloff here.”

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1. Exhibition games don’t mean much in the grand scheme of the season, but you get a good first look at the freshmen. Michigan State’s Gary Harris is arguably the most interesting freshman in the conference and will be scrutinized especially as Branden Dawson tries to get back to 100% after an ACL injury. After two exhibition games, Harris has impressed Tom Izzo on the offensive end of the court. He looked really good off the dribble in the game against Northwood and scored 14 points. However, he admits that he needs to be more effective on defense specifically against the pick-and-roll. Izzo will demand Harris’ improvement on defense but his offensive production will help the Spartans during the non-conference season.
2. Speaking of freshmen in the league, Purdue has a couple of good guards who are expected to contribute immediately. Even though Ronnie Johnson and Rapheal Davis were not ranked in the top 30 by Rivals coming out of high school, both of them have the talent to be very good players in the league. Each of the freshman guards scored 16 points in Purdue’s exhibition win over Newberry with Davis scoring all of his points in the second half. Ronnie Johnson may be the primary point guard in the rotation after the departure of Lewis Jackson but Davis will play a significant role off the bench. Guard Terone Johnson (9.1 PPG last season) will carry the offensive load for the Boilermakers; he scored 18 points in the exhibition.
3. As Matt Painter tries to incorporate new talent into the rotation, Bo Ryan has to figure out how to replace Josh Gasser at the point guard position. Every guard on the roster will need to help out with Gasser’s loss and the latest scrimmage in Madison has obviously led to more scrutiny of the guards. Redshirt freshman George Marshall has been impressive and appears to be the frontrunner to replace Gasser. Traevon Jackson‘s jumpers were a good sign and Ben Brust showed why his minutes will increase this season — Brust averaged 7.3 PPG in 21 MPG last season and is expected to play a key role in the backcourt. Ryan once again praised Frank Kaminsky, a forward who has a good jumper for a big guy which fits perfectly in the Ryan’s offensive system.
4. The Iowa Hawkeyes are considered a sleeper in the Big Ten mainly due to their underclassmen such as Aaron White (11.1 PPG) and Adam Woodbury. Junior wing Roy Devyn Marble (11.5 PPG) will be their primary scorer offensively, but Fran McCaffery believes that Eric May, the only senior with a scholarship on the roster, needs to be effective for Iowa to meet their lofty expectations this season. May averaged 4.3 PPG in 14.7 PPG last year but wants to be a lock-down defender for the Hawkeyes during his final season. May is supposed to be in “great shape” according to the coaches and Iowa will definitely need somebody to set the tempo on the defensive end after losing Matt Gatens to graduation. They will push the tempo and play a fast brand of basketball but if they are not able to defend, McCaffery’s team will fall short of making the NCAA Tournament.
5. Speaking of former Big Ten seniors, Illinois’ Mike Davis was drafted as the fifth overall player in the NBA Development League over the weekend. Davis had a solid career at Illinois as he averaged at least 11 PPG from his sophomore season on. He was not highly recruited out of high school but former Illini coach Bruce Weber appreciated his work ethic and intensity. Davis also averaged eight rebounds per game during the final three seasons, and he has the size (6’9″) to continue to play professional basketball at some level for a few years. He might not make the NBA but he can certainly work his way out of the Development League and possibly play in Europe for a few seasons.