As I write this, the first regular season games are about to get underway, so it’s time to unleash our All-Big Ten first team to the masses. We’ve already released our third team and second team selections, along with our other various award winners this week. So now here’s the best five players in the league as voted by our five-man writing staff.

RTC All-Big Ten First Team

Branden Dawson, senior, Michigan State 6’6″, 225 lbs. (11.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 61.3 % FG). Dawson is now one of the top offensive options for the Spartans after largely playing a secondary role in his previous three seasons in East Lansing. After a breakout NCAA Tournament where he averaged 16 points and nine boards, it’s reasonable to believe that the Gary, Indiana native will produce more games like that as he steps into a much larger role. He has elite athleticism and the tools to be a force on the defensive end, and finishing in transition. If he can develop any consistency shooting the ball away from the basket, he could play himself into the lottery.

Branden Dawson (left) could be dominant for Michigan State in his final season in East Lansing. (Al Goldis/AP)

Terran Petteway, junior, Nebraska 6’6″, 215 lbs. (18.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 0.8 BPG). The rise of Petteway’s status as one of the best players in the Big Ten coincided with Nebraska becoming an NCAA Tournament team. The Texas Tech transfer was an unknown commodity for the most part until putting up 30 points against UMass. He then continued to pretty much score at will all season. He’s equally adept at taking the ball to the rim and oftentimes getting to the free throw line, or hitting shots from deep. Questionable decision-making and shot selection issues are about the only negatives to his game, but with the emerging talent around him, he should cut down the mistakes. This will lead to gaudy numbers, but better efficiency as the Cornhuskers look to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Read the rest of this entry »

We continue our preseason Big Ten rankings today with spots #9 through #5. The bottom tier of teams, #14 to #10, released earlier this week. These middle tier teams will be fighting to be on the right side of the bubble — and providing us with great drama — all season long.

9. Maryland

• What they do well: Defense. Mark Turgeon has had a top 40 squad in adjusted defensive efficiency the past couple seasons and it’ll likely be his area of focus once again.
• What they don’t do well: Retention. Seth Allen, Charles Mitchell, Nick Faust, Roddy Peters and Shaquille Cleare all transferred out of the program in the offseason — not exactly inconsequential players.

Dez Wells is one of the few familiar faces in College Park this year. (Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback)

• Get to know: Melo Trimble. The top 40 recruit will need to use his offensive skill set to help replace all the lost scoring from last season.
• Why they’ll finish 9th: The exodus of key players and unfamiliarity in the Big Ten will cause some very sharp growing pains for the Terrapins.
• Why they’ll finish higher: This team still has talent and is used to playing top-notch competition. If they can get all their new pieces to gel together, they can compete in a relatively down Big Ten.

8. Iowa

• What they do well: Offense. Last season, the Hawkeyes were fifth nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency and they bring a majority of that roster back this year.
• What they don’t do well: Mental toughness. Last season, Iowa wilted in close games against Villanova and Iowa State. Things really spiraled out of control at the end of the season when they lost seven of their last eight contests.

Read the rest of this entry »

Four years ago, John Beilein’s crew nearly took down Duke in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 with Darius Morris and Tim Hardaway Jr. leading the way. The following year without Morris, Beilein inserted a precocious freshman named Trey Burke into the lineup and led the Wolverines to the top of the Big Ten. The following year he added three more freshmen into the starting lineup and improved to the point of a National Championship game appearance. Last year, when everybody thought the run was finally done and Beilein couldn’t keep up with lost personnel, the Wolverines were an implausible three-pointer away from a return trip to the Final Four. For the past four seasons, Michigan’s offense has ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation in offensive efficiency. Producing at least 1.1 points per possession over such a long period of time doesn’t occur by chance — it happens because of an open-minded approach to adjusting the offense to players’ strengths and controlled experimentation with the available personnel. While the Wolverines do not appear to be a Final Four favorite this season, discounting their chances to challenge Wisconsin for the league title is probably not a good idea.

The following are three reasons why Michigan should have an elite offense again this year:

Never underestimate John Beilein’s ability to design an extremely potent offense. (Getty)

1. The Wolverines have plenty of long-range shooters. It shouldn’t be a news flash to Big Ten fans that Beilein’s teams consistently move the ball to find long-range shots — 35 percent of their field goal attempts last season came from beyond the arc. Last year alone, they hoisted a robust 700 threes between their top six scorers. Ball-handlers dribbling off screens and kicking the ball to to the corners is a signature play within Beilein’s offense. Burke ran it to find Stauskas two years ago. Stauskas ran the same play last year with Glenn Robinson and Derrick Walton. Walton will take over that baton this year and he will not lack for shooters. A Michigan small-ball lineup would include Spike Albrecht, Zak Irvin Caris Levert and Walton — all of these players shot at least 38 percent from distance a year ago. There will be plenty of shots from long-range and luckily the Wolverines have a bunch of guys who shoot pretty jumpers.
2. Irvin could be an effective version of Hardaway. Irvin and Hardaway are both 6’6” and can pull up on a dime off the dribble to shoot a jumper. The knock against Hardaway was his poor shot selection, but the jury is still out on Irvin’s efficiency because he didn’t play enough minutes last season. If the sophomore doesn’t force shots, he has the talent to become a very good scorer in this league. He is big enough at the wing position to grab a couple of offensive boards per game and keep the defenses guessing. Beilein will definitely try to use him on pick-and-rolls with Walton because both of them are effective from the mid-range. If Irvin works well within the construct of Belein’s game plan, he could be a super sophomore.
3. Robinson’s departure could lead to better overall efficiency. Robinson was extremely talented but was also consistently flat-footed and didn’t try to attack the basket enough. Instead, he often crippled the Wolverines’ offensive flow by hoisting ill-advised shots from the corner when he easily could have used the back-door cut instead. And despite shooting 147 three-pointers, he made only 31 percent of them, the worst such mark on the squad. Take those shots and distribute them across players such as Walton and Levert, each of whom tends to make better offensive decisions with the ball, and now you have an offense that could actually be more efficient than last season’s top-ranked group.

College basketball makes its return on Friday, and the Big Ten microsite’s writing crew has come together and formally voted on their preseason All-Big Ten teams. Having already released our pick for Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, we’ll release the rest of our preseason projections later this week.

RTC All-Big Ten Third Team

Shavon Shields, junior, Nebraska 6’7”, 221 lbs. (12.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 44.3% FG). Terran Petteway is the obvious catalyst for the Huskers, but Shields, a Big Ten honorable mention selection last year, will be his primary sidekick. Standing at 6’7”, Shields can pose significant match-up problems at the two-guard spot. The Olathe, Kansas, native ranked 11th in the Big Ten in defensive rebounding last season, pulling down over four caroms per game while leading Nebraska with 5.8 boards per game. His ability to get to the basket is what makes him truly indispensible, while all his work on the boards from the wing positions are gravy.

Shavon Shields Leads the RTC Big Ten Preseason Third Team (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

Rayvonte Rice, senior, Illinois 6’4”, 230 lbs. (15.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.66 SPG). Rice made waves in his first season of play at Illinois (he redshirted the 2012-13 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules), leading the team in points and pulling down 210 rebounds, just one shy of the team high. Rice will be counted on even more this season after Tracy Abrams was lost for the season with a knee injury. If Rice can improve upon his three-point percentage (29.5%), he’ll be a far more dangerous player this season. Pairing a solid long-range game with his size, strength and overall toughness would serve the Illini well come postseason crunch time.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here we go… headfirst into another season heralded by our 2014-15 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season completely guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight rather than 30 days from now. Over the next month you’ll get one reason per day until we reach the new season on November 14. We’ve captured what we believe were the 30 most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head in astonishment. For all of this year’s released posts, click here. 

#3 – Where Ridiculous Times Three Happens.

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 preseasons.

1. What do NBA starters Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal, and Michigan State’s Branden Dawson all have in common? They were a few of the highest-rated recruits in the Class of 2011. While the first three players mentioned all moved on to the NBA after just one season of college ball, Dawson is still playing in college, something he didn’t necessarily envision when he committed to the Spartans four years ago. After receiving a second-round grade from the NBA’s Draft Advisory Board, he decided to return for his final season hoping to both increase his stock and get a college degree. If he has a big senior year as the focal point of Tom Izzo’s offense, sticking around might very well have paid off.
2. Many including myself assumed that Nebraska forward Leslee Smith would be sidelined for the whole upcoming season after suffering a torn ACL over the summer. Well, Smith is actually recovering so far ahead of schedule that head coach Tim Miles recently said that “we’re hoping to have him ready in mid-January, about a week or two into Big Ten play.” This is huge news for the Cornhuskers, as Smith will give the team another beefy inside presence to battle with some of the size the other B1G squads will bring to bear.
3. Michigan freshman Austin Hatch isn’t on any top 100 recruiting lists, but his backstory is arguably more inspirational than that of any college basketball player in recent memory. After surviving two plane crashes that took the lives of both his parents and left him in a coma for eight weeks, it’s simply amazing that he’s shown such perseverance to stay after his basketball dreams. On Monday night, Hatch scored his first collegiate point in Michigan’s exhibition win over Wayne State. He then received a standing ovation after being removed from the contest, and there probably wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Here’s hoping Hatch has many more nights in Ann Arbor like the one he experienced earlier this week.
4. Richard Pitino’s battle against father Rick Pitino will undoubtedly mark one of the national and Big Ten highlights of the opening set of games Friday night. Minnesota is looking to prove that it deserves to be in the Top 25, while Louisville wants to defend its top 10 preseason ranking. In advance of the season opener, the duo staged an entertaining press conference in Puerto Rico with the elder Pitino cracking jokes while both coaches sharing just how fond they are of each other’s programs.
5. Indiana has not had much good news as of late, but Collin Hartman returning to the lineup and playing well in the team’s two exhibitions definitely qualifies as some happier news. Hartman tore his ACL in March, but he’s already back in the fold and looks no worse for the wear. With a depleted roster because of suspensions and injuries, Hartman played nearly 20 minutes in each of the two preseason contests, burying a couple of threes in Monday’s game. If Hartman can continue to shoot the ball well, the Hoosiers will possess some of the best perimeter shooting in the B1G with James Blackmon Jr, Robert Johnson, Nick Zeisloft and Yogi Ferrell also capable deep shooters.

1. Too often we lead off this space with bad news so it is a pleasure to write about Austin Hatch again and this time for a positive story. You may remember Hatch, a talented high school player who was involved in two plane crashes separated by eight years that took the lives of his entire immediate family. Hatch, who had been a Michigan commit before the incident, ended up staying on his Michigan commitment and after extensive rehab made it onto the court for an exhibition game for the Wolverines hitting a free throw for the first point of his college career. We are not sure how much Hatch will play for the Wolverines during his time in Ann Arbor, but just the fact that he was able to make it back to the court is inspiring in itself.
2. Nebraska got some good news recently as senior forward Leslee Smith is ahead of schedule in his recovery from tearing his left ACL and is expected to be ready to return by mid-January. Smith averaged 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds last season and his return would add a lot to a Cornhusker team that could be competitive at the top of what should be a very good Big 12 Conference this season. The news for New Mexico was not as promising as junior college transfer Jordan Goodman is now expected to be out longer than originally anticipated as he recovers from several nagging injuries and is not expected to be back until December. Although the Lobos have plenty of quality in the backcourt, Goodman could be essential in the frontcourt in what should be a transition season for the Lobos.
3. Today is the first day of the early signing period for high school basketball recruits. While it doesn’t generate the hoopla of the regular period–particularly for football–it is still fairly significant as many top prospects sign binding letters of commitments to institutions. The two biggest names who are expected to commit later this week are Skal Labissiere (#4 overall–looking at Baylor, Georgetown, Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina, and Tennessee) and Isaiah Briscoe (#9 overall–looking at Connecticut, Kentucky and St. John’s). You may remember Labissiere as the heavily touted recruit who recently announced that he was going to “attend” a prep school that did not exist yet for his senior year. It is unclear if either will sign, for their sakes, we hope they don’t since it binds the recruit to the school, which means that the recruit cannot back out even if everything about the school changes.Personally, we would like to see these letters of intent disappear and simply allow a player to verbally commit, which would allow that player more flexibility if (and when) a coach moves.
4. Last week, we linked an article from Ken Pomeroy that showed that the AP Preseason Poll did have some predictive value. This week, he has a slightly more broad-based analysis of various predictive models. While the overall analysis is not that complete it does show that the four prediction models that are most often referenced are fairly accurate. In terms of determining which is the most accurate that will be difficult as it will probably require several years of data and we would assume that most of these systems update their algorithms every year so a long-term analysis might not be as useful.
5. By now, you have probably read a column or seen a Twitter debate about whether this Kentucky team could beat a NBA team. This year the annual ridiculous debate was started by Chris Briggs, the coach of Georgetown College (that’s College not University and not the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University), after Kentucky beat his NAIA team 121-52. After the game, Briggs said Kentucky “could have beaten some NBA teams tonight” and later added that “if they play like they did tonight, they’re an NBA playoff team.” Every year we hear this debate and we reflexively dismiss it as ridiculous although we could envision a scenario where the Philadelphia 76ers could be trying to score on their own basket. However, now that we have a NAIA coach talking after a game where his good, but not great NAIA team got blown out we might have to reassess things.

Yesterday the microsite rolled out the first half of our AAC non-conference schedule rankings, listing teams from #11 to #6 based on the competitiveness of their schedules. Today’s rankings of the top five are a bit more interesting, primarily because a lot of these games are projected to have NCAA Tournament implications and are therefore deserving of a closer look. Here are the top five non-conference schedules in the conference, starting from the easiest to the hardest:

• #5 Cincinnati: We have frequently used this space to blast Cincinnati for its soft non-conference schedule and it seems like Mick Cronin is finally listening. Last season’s slate featured four games against teams ranked #300 or lower, whereas this season only Eastern Illinois comes into the season lower than that mark, and the rest of the Bearcats’ schedule should give the team ample opportunities to pile up resume-enhancing wins. The Emerald Coast Classic could result in a match-up with Creighton or Mississippi, and the team also welcomes San Diego State and VCU to Fifth Third Arena before the end of 2014. And even though the game will be played in February this season, don’t forget about the Crosstown Classic against Xavier either. If the Bearcats can win a couple of those games and follow that up with double-digit victories in the conference, it will be tough to keep Cincinnati out of the NCAA Tournament.
  

  Josh Pastner’s team will have an early chance to answer how good they can be. (USA TODAY Sports)

• #4 Memphis: No team in the conference plays a more difficult season opener than the Tigers, which are headed to South Dakota for a prime-time showdown with Wichita State. That’s a great opportunity, but aside from the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational in which Memphis will play Baylor and perhaps Illinois, the non-conference schedule looks comparable to last season’s 151st-best slate in the country. The only other game worth paying attention to is the December 13 return game home date with Oklahoma State. If Memphis is on the bubble in February, it will be worth remembering that the Tigers opted to play Prairie View A&M and Western Illinois as part of their non-conference schedule this season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to conference preview season. In this, our third of eight conference preview RTC Podblasts that we’ll be rolling out before the dawn of the season, Big Ten microsite columnist Deepak Jayanti (@dee_b1g) joins us to discuss the key storylines, teams and players to watch among the 14 teams of the Big Ten. As always, Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114) hosts the podblast, and the full rundown of topics is below. Make sure to tweet at us (@rushthecourt) if you have any opinion on which team should be the gang’s new favorite heading into the 2014-15 season.

Also remember to add the RTC Podcast to your iTunes lineup so that you’ll automatically upload it on your listening device after we record. And don’t forget to check out our 2014-15 Preseason Storylines Podcast, and feel free to contact us at any time — we’re listening.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released its watch list for the 2015 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award on Tuesday, tabbing 36 players including junior Yogi Ferrell of Indiana, sophomore Derrick Walton Jr. of Michigan and freshman Melo Trimble of Maryland.  Michigan’s Trey Burke was the last Big Ten player to win the award, doing so after leading the Wolverines to a runner-up finish in the 2012-13 season. Prior to Burke, Illinois’ Dee Brown last nabbed the honor In the 2005-06 campaign. A list of 20 Cousy Award finalists will be released in early February, and that will be trimmed down to five lucky players in early March. The 2015 winner will be announced during Final Four week.

Derrick Walton will see an increased role in Michigan’s offense in 2014-15.

As a sophomore, Ferrell led the Big Ten in three-pointers made per game (2.8) and was sixth in the Big Ten in assists per contest (3.9). On a roster that features no seniors, Ferrell’s effectiveness as a leader will be tested early and often, especially after the Hoosiers’ horrific offseason. Sophomore Devin Davis remains in the hospital after getting hit by a vehicle driven by freshman Emmit Holt, and sophomores Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson were suspended for failing drug tests. If Ferrell can handle the pressure and successfully guide Indiana through a tough non-conference slate that includes SMU, Pitt, Louisville, Butler and Georgetown, he can showcase himself as an early favorite to be named as a Cousy finalist in February.

Read the rest of this entry »