This post doesn’t matter. Scrimmages are poor man’s exhibition games; exhibition games are in the preseason; and the preseason is useless. The only people who watched these “secret” scrimmages are the participating coaches and players. And yet, information about them always gets out because nothing’s ever a secret on the Internet, allowing us to wildly overreact to games that don’t even count as not even counting. As we head into the opening weekend of the regular season, here are some such overreactions. Information herein is mostly courtesy of random message board posts and hearsay. #HotScrimmageTakes (miss you, Grantland) are my own and should definitely be saved to fill out your brackets in four months. Enjoy.

Scrimmage or not – Roy Williams and UNC will be expected to perform at a high level this season. (Getty)

No. 1 North Carolina defeated No. 18 Vanderbilt by 12. The Heels stormed out to a 20-3 advantage and never looked back. Justin Jackson was their leading scorer and Isaiah Hicks was impressive off the bench. Joel Berry II started at point guard and ran the show most of the way. The Commodores got good performances from Camron Justice — Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball last year — and Riley LaChance, but those were not enough to prevent the nation’s No. 1 team from exacting some measure of revenge from previous scrimmages.

#HotScrimmageTakes – This UNC team is a hybrid of 2009 and 2005. Berry is Ty Lawson. Marcus Paige is Ray Felton. Kennedy Meeks is Sean May mixed with Tyler Hansbrough. Jackson is a bigger, less temperamental Rashad McCants. Hicks is a cross between Danny Green and Marvin Williams. 40-0 or bust. Vandy starts slowly and is shocked by Stony Brook before placing seventh in Maui (needing overtime to beat Chaminade) but goes 12-6 in SEC play thanks to Justice and LaChance averaging a combined 44 points per game. They’re one of the Last Four In and lose yet again in March to a mid-major as Dayton (yep, Dayton gets another home play-in game) completes the season sweep after winning in Memorial Gym on December 9. Read the rest of this entry »

Maryland’s remarkable turnaround in the past 12 months has been a hot topic in the run up to this season. Mark Turgeon has transformed the proud but suffering program back into national title contenders, and while the head coach who engineered everything certainly deserves a great deal of the credit, the primary catalyst on the floor has been sophomore guard Melo Trimble. The Arlington, Virginia, native was a highly regarded four-star recruit coming out of high school, but no one expected him to immediately dominate in the manner that he did last season. To wit, Trimble finished an All-Big Ten freshman campaign by averaging 16.2 PPG, 3.9 RPG and 3.0 APG. In the offseason, he decided to spurn the NBA to lead an upgraded Maryland roster to a Big Ten title and Final Four before making the jump. There wasn’t much doubt about it: Melo Trimble is the RTC Big Ten microsite preseason Player of the Year.

Melo Trimble is the best player on the best team in the B1G. (David J. Philip/AP)

Trimble was so effective because of his ability to both shoot the three (41.2%) and score inside (55.1% field goal shooting at rim). The shot chart below shows how most of his field goal attempts came from those two spots on the court. Additionally, his slashing ability earned him a large number of trips to the charity stripe: Trimble shot a Big Ten-best 240 free throws last season, where he made opposing teams pay for fouling him (86.3%). This combination of threes, shots at the rim and free throws made him one of the most efficient players in the league, as evidenced by his true shooting percentage of 62.8 percent (second in the Big Ten).

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Sometimes it’s best to keep your analysis simple. There are four elite recruits coming into the Big Ten this season, and all of them are large in stature and pedigree. Each is 6’8″ or taller and played in multiple high school All-Star games last spring. Michigan State’s Devonta Davis, Indiana’s Thomas Bryant and Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan could all make huge contributions to teams that have serious aspirations for March glory. But sometimes an award just goes to the player on the best team. In this case, we here at the RTC Big Ten Microsite feel that Maryland freshman Diamond Stone will be the Big Ten’s Rookie of the Year.

Diamond Stone is our pick as Big Ten ROY. (USA TODAY Sports)

One year ago, Stone capped off a storied run at Dominican High School in Milwaukee by deciding to head to Maryland. In picking Mark Turgeon’s Terps, he spurned his home state school (along with Connecticut and Oklahoma State) and relations between the two parties on social media haven’t exactly been cordial since. He will bring a polished offensive game that features a variety of post moves as well as the ability to step out to three-point range. Things aren’t as rosy on the defensive end of the floor, but, at a minimum, Stone has the size and athleticism to threaten some shots at the rim. Read the rest of this entry »

The college basketball offseason is a long one, but when early November arrives, everyone is already in midseason mode. Attrition, players not enrolling, and other unexpected roster shuffles, while important, are not coaches’ primary concerns at this time. But it is easy to forget the one related thing that can still throw a wrench into the upcoming season: preseason practice injuries. As an example, two Big Ten teams were hit with the bug just this week. Northwestern announced Wednesday that sophomore forward Vic Law will miss the entire season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, while Maryland announced that sophomore guard Dion Wiley will miss around four months with a torn meniscus. Both are former four-star recruits looking for breakout seasons, and their absences will hurt. Here’s what it means for the Wildcats and Terrapins.

Vic Law’s season-ending injury will test Northwestern’s offensive depth on the perimeter. (Brad Rempel, USA TODAY Sports)

Wiley, the 44th-ranked player in the class of 2014 (according to Scout.com), averaged 4.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game as a freshman, appearing in all of Maryland’s 35 games. Head coach Mark Turgeon acknowledged in the preseason that Wiley was slotted to start at two-guard this year. While he individually was poised for a boost in production, Maryland’s deep perimeter rotation makes his loss relatively survivable. A significant injury is unfortunate, but the silver lining for Turgeon is that it makes his minutes allocations a little easier to sort out. A result is that sophomore Jared Nickens and Duke graduate transfer Rasheed Sulaimon’s roles have become a little clearer. Nickens, another former top-100 recruit, is likely to start in Wiley’s place with Sulaimon spelling him off the bench. The former’s 113.4 offensive rating (per KenPom) was the second-highest offensive rating on the team last season behind Melo Trimble. He started nine games and averaged 6.7 points per contest with 57 made three-pointers. His offensive game is a little one-dimensional, as three-pointers accounted for 78 percent of his shot attempts last year, but there’s always room for a shooter. Sulaimon brings a little more passing and driving ability to the lineup, but his best attribute is the three-pointer as well.

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College basketball fans can breathe a little easier today. Certain milestones come along during October and November that make the season seem that much closer. Midnight Madness, conference media days and the release of your go-to preseason magazine all show incremental progress toward that first tip-off. On Monday afternoon, the second of the two major college basketball preseason polls was finally released, meaning that we really aren’t very far away now — just 11 days, in fact. A total of six Big Ten teams were on the AP voters’ initial ballots — Maryland, Michigan State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan — so here are a few quick takeaways from today’s release.

Denzel Valentine is a big reason why Michigan State is one of six teams ranked in the preseason AP top 25(Getty).

• Best Conference Debate: Many pundits feel that the ACC and Big Ten will be battling all season for the crown as best conference this season. Score round one for the B1G, as the league put two more teams inside the Top 25 (six) than the ACC (four). The Big 12 also has four teams listed in the AP poll, while the SEC and the Pac-12 each have three. Give credit to the ACC, however, for listing three teams (UNC, Duke, Virginia) among the top six. The ACC also has four more teams listed within the next 10 of the “Others Receiving Votes” category, while the Big Ten only has one (Iowa). We’ll have to wait for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in early December and the rest of the non-conference portion of the schedule to see how this particular competition between leagues plays out.
• Purdue and Michigan Get Extra Love:  Maryland (#3), Michigan State (#13), Indiana (#15), and Wisconsin (#17) all start in the exact same spot in both polls, whereas Purdue and Michigan both ended up with a slightly better position in the AP poll. The Boilermakers were tied for 24th in the Coaches’ Poll but will tip off at 23rd in the AP. Michigan just barely finished outside the Coaches’ Top 25 by two points, but they cracked the AP by taking the place of West Virginia in these rankings.
• Plenty of Chances Against the Top 25: There will be at least 16 games where Big Ten teams will have a chance to knock off a Top 25 team, as of the current rankings within this poll. Many of these games were already highlighted in our previous posts. In addition to these match-ups, there are also 10 possible games in tournaments, where if the bracket plays out a certain way, more resume-enhancers will be available for the league.

In honor of one of the very best holidays around, we here at the Big Ten Microsite have come up with some of the scariest things different players, coaches, and even referees might have to face in the coming season. Welcome to our 2015-16 Scary Superlatives.

Troy Williams is the stuff nightmares are made of for a lone defender back on defense (USA Today Sports).

• Scariest Dunker Who Could Put You on a Poster: Troy Williams, Indiana. Williams is one the best athletes in the league, and he has already assembled a solid little highlight reel of dunks in his two years in Bloomington. Being the only man back in transition defense when Indiana has a 3-on-1 break going is definitely nightmare-worthy.
• Scariest Clutch Shooter: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State. The man whose last name conjures up imagery from a different kind of holiday celebration proved his ability to make big shots when his game-winning dagger shattered the hearts of the residents of Columbus, Ohio, last season. Not too many B1G coaches would feel very comfortable in an endgame situation when the Michigan State senior has the ball.

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RTC recruiting guru Sean Moran takes an in-depth look at the players ranked as five-star recruits from the high school Class of 2012. How many of these players are still in college? How many are already out of the NBA? We also encourage you to check out his contributions at The Intentional Foul dedicated to recruiting coverage and analysis. You can also follow Sean at his Twitter account @Seanmohoops for up-to-date news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Note: Best of the B1G: Top Non-Conference November Games published earlier this week.

After the holiday tournaments come to a close at the end of November, the December non-conference slate in the Big Ten is clearly and unequivocally highlighted by the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. These should be the two deepest basketball conferences in the land and the match-ups on tap should not disappoint. There are some other games after this event that are also worth checking out as well, several of which could have NCAA Tournament ramifications. Here are the best December games involving Big Ten teams.

December 1

Mark Turgeon and Maryland get a early chance to make a national statement. (USA TODAY Sports)

• Maryland-North Carolina: Two former ACC foes renew their longtime rivalry, and do so in a season where they are both expected to be title contenders. This game could not only be the best game in the B1G non-conference slate, but also potentially one of the best in all of college basketball.
• Michigan-NC State: Two teams that barely missed a preseason ranking in the coaches poll, and two teams that will get up and down the floor. This game could loom large in March if either team is on the bubble at that time.
• Ohio State-Virginia: There’s a very good chance that the Buckeyes will be 5-0 coming into this game, offering the first chance for the nation to see how Thad Matta’s youngsters can handle one of the best defenses around.

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Despite the large number of games involving Big Ten teams during the first weekend of college basketball, things don’t really get going until the the following Tuesday of ESPN’s Tip-Off Marathon as the Gavitt Games (including Maryland, Penn State and Nebraska) and the Champions Classic (Michigan State) tip off. Much of the best non-conference action will come from the former event, which will pit the Big Ten against the Big East for eight games over four days. In chronological order, here’s a look at most of the marquee Big Ten match-ups during the first month of the season.  Potential late-round games in holiday tournaments are also included with an assumption that brackets will hold true to form.

November 17

• Maryland-Georgetown: Lofty preseason expectations for Maryland aside, this one is going to be absolutely huge within the Beltway. These two teams — located just 10 miles apart in the DC area — should play every year, so it’s a treat to get this match-up so early in the season.
• Michigan State-Kansas: The Spartans can make an early statement here, as both teams have legitimate national expectations coming into the season. Whether you are looking for veterans who have seemingly been in college for 27 years (Denzel Valentine and Perry Ellis), or rookie superstars (Devonta Davis and Cheick Diallo), this one will be worth watching.

Denzel Valentine Is Back For A Final Season In Spartan Green And White (Photo: USAT Sports)

November 18

• Illinois-Providence: Part of the Gavitt Games, the Illini will have a difficult test without Kendrick Dunn as they travel to Rhode Island to take on consensus preseason All-American Kris Dunn.

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Even in an era where many teams within both college and pro basketball are making the decision to go smaller with their lineups, the massive post player is not dead. Need proof? Look at top-three NBA draft picks Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, who parlayed their respective one-and-done seasons into multi-million dollar contracts. On that note, three B1G freshmen will enter college basketball this season looking to achieve similar results, with high expectations and impressive pedigrees in tow. Rookie Thomas Bryant will give an Indiana unit with shooters galore some height on the interior. Freshman prospect Diamond Stone spurned his home school in Wisconsin to join a Maryland team with legitimate National Championship hopes. Lastly, newcomer Caleb Swanigan de-committed from Michigan State to team with the heavyweight tag team of AJ Hammons and Isaac Haas at Purdue. All three will almost surely have an impact on the league this season, but which one will be the biggest force?

Diamond Stone Gives Maryland the Size It Needs (Photo: WaPo)

Bryant, for one, seems to be exactly what Indiana needs. Last season the Hoosiers were outstanding offensively, ranking ninth in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency. They did so predominantly by shooting the lights out and simultaneously cutting down on the turnovers that plagued them in 2013-14. You have to figure that adding a legitimate post player with significant offensive ability will only enhance the Hoosiers’ opportunities to find quality looks from the perimeter. But even more importantly for Tom Crean’s squad, Bryant really needs to make his presence known on the defensive end. Indiana cannot rank anywhere close to last season’s 214th best (worst?) defensive unit in the land if it wants to improve upon a 20-14 mark. The combination of Bryant and Michigan transfer Max Bielfeldt gives the team much more in the way of size and bulk than they had a year ago. With a true big man defending the rim, Troy Williams and the Hoosiers’ other wings should be able to apply more ball pressure.

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