No surprise here: Tim Frazier leads all Big Ten scorers through Wednesday’s games. (Photo credit: theschoolphilly.com)

• Illinois (2-0) — It may not be much — wins against St. Francis (NY) and Colgate — but the John Groce era got off on the right foot. The interesting thing (and it could be a good sign) is that the Illini have found ways to win without shooting the ball particularly well. They’ve shot 44 percent from the field and 56 percent from the free throw line in their first two games, but have shot well from three, defended well, and kept their turnovers down in a way that they were unable to during most of exhibition play. 
• No. 1 Indiana (2-0) — So far, so good for the top-ranked Hoosiers. It’s disappointing that Tom Crean doesn’t have a better non-conference slate scheduled for us to get a real good grasp on the talent level of his group. Georgia on November 19 may be the first relatively tough game for the Hoosiers before a November 27 meeting with No. 14 North Carolina. Other than that, a December 15 meeting against a rebuilding Butler group might be the only other litmus test. Don’t expect the Hoosiers to really have their backs up against the wall until well after the New Year.

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. While most of the nation is focused on college football in late August, the revealing of the college basketball TV schedules gets everyone into the hoops frame of mind once again. This year, of course, changes everything inside the conference, as every inter-conference game will be televised. Whether it’s the ESPN family of networks, the Pac-12 Networks, FSN, or CBS, every single one will be shown somewhere. The Pac-12 revealed that TV Schedule yesterday, both for non-conference and in-conference games. It’s pretty incredible to look at.
2. With the TV slate revealed, both Oregon schools released their schedules today. Visits from Vanderbilt and Nebraska, not to mention a road game at UNLV, highlight Oregon’s schedule, while the Beavers will take on New Mexico State in Corvallis, Alabama in New York City, and Kansas in Kansas City. As you can tell, both teams still need to add one more opponent. Oregon State’s slate features an interesting game with San Diego on December 22nd to be played at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Not only will it help the team get a feel for the place before the Pac-12 Tournament is held there in March, but it will also be played a mere two and a half hours after the completion of the Las Vegas Bowl.
3. In case you haven’t read enough on how foreign summer tours help bond teams together, check out this post-China piece on UCLA. On the court, the Bruins dominated in their three games. Without the help of Shabazz Muhammad, who was held out of the trip due to an ongoing NCAA investigation, the Bruins dominated anyway, winning all three contests by a combined 118 points. Those with the Pac-12 Networks got to watch a replay of the Bruins final game, a 92-63 win over the Shanghai Sharks, and they were treated to Travis Wear and Kyle Anderson relentlessly attacking the Yao Ming owned club. Wear and Anderson finished with 26 and 21 points, respectively.
4. In what is usually a slow time in the world of college basketball recruiting, 2013 recruit Egor Koulechov reaffirmed his committment to Arizona State after the loss of two assistants on the Sun Devil staff last week. The small forward chose Arizona state over Providence, Richmond, Rutgers, and UAB.
5. It’s back! After starting in mid-season last year with a Pick’Em Contest, Drew and I will kick things off (get it, cause it’s football) right at the beginning in 2012. Each week we’ll put our picks for the weekend games here, reveal the current standings to you as we go along, and eventually declare a winner at the end of the year. Each week we’ll pick the most interesting game and try to call a score on that one (in bold below), while the other games we’ll pick straight up. Here are our picks for this week:

We’ve gone through the Oregon roster and told you about the returnees and the newcomers, but let’s put it all together today: What does the 2012-13 season hold for the Ducks? Just how good will returnees like E.J. Singler, Tony Woods, and Carlos Emory be, and which of the newcomers will emerge as major contributors? And most importantly, can these Ducks match or improve upon last year’s NIT appearance? Let’s break out that old crystal ball again and see what it says.

Singler’s A Small Forward That Can Knock Down The Three (credit: Andy Wooldridge)

UO’s Leading Scorer – E.J. Singler. With Devoe Joseph now out of the picture, Singler will get all the touches he can handle in the Duck offense. That can be both good and bad as opponents will surely key in on the senior until another consistent scorer emerges. Singler is an athletic three who is able to get open on the wing, so he needs a good point guard to get him the ball. Johnathan Loyd will start the season there and showed flashes of brilliance last season. Incoming freshman Dominic Artis will back him up, a slashing one-guard who can use his small frame to cut through seams in a defense.

UO’s MVP – Carlos Emory. Emory emerged as a major scoring threat towards the end of 2011-12 and will be the go-to guy in the post this season. Emory can play both the three and four, but due to a serious lack of scoring big men on the roster, he’ll spend most of his time as a power forward.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last year eight players earned significant playing time for the Ducks. Of those eight, four are now gone — three have used up their eligibility and will be playing for a paycheck in one place or another next year. Also gone is a man who only played in two games for the Ducks, but was a major part of the rotation before transferring to Missouri. With three recruits coming in expected to play immediately, there will be no problem finding bodies to replace the departed, but the experience and savvy they possessed is not something that can be expected of most freshmen. In other words, these guys will be missed.

Jospeh’s (#34) Energy Is Something That Won’t Be Replaced In 2012-13 (credit: AP)

Devoe Joseph – Joseph played just one season in Eugene after transferring over from Minnesota, but he had a big impact in his single year. Despite not being eligible for the team’s first six contests, Joseph came in and rolled off seven straight games in which he scored in double figures. It took him just two games to go from a role player coming off the bench to a full-time starter. Behind Garrett Sim, Joseph was second on the team in three-point percentage; a great distributor as well, he averaged 3.3 APG and kept opponents on their toes whenever he had the ball. Perhaps the quality that will be missed most, however, is the energy that Joseph brought night in and night out. On defense, Joseph led the team in steals and was one of just two players to average more than a theft per game. When he wasn’t actually stealing the ball from an opponent, his annoying, in-your-face defensive style at least got everyone out of their seats. Perhaps showing Duck fans what they’ll be missing in the coming years, Joseph closed out the year by averaging 19.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 1.3 steals in Oregon’s Pac-12 Tournament and NIT contests. His contributions led Oregon to the quarterfinals of the NIT, and subsequently earned him a spot on the Toronto Raptors summer league team. Joseph impressed with the Raptors, scoring in double figures three times in seven games. He signed with the Ukrainian club Khimik-OPZ Yuzny about a week after the conclusion of summer league.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Minnesota will be one of the most intriguing teams to watch in the Big Ten next season after the momentum the team built in the NIT thanks to some young players who will now be mixed back in with returning star Trevor Mbakwe. The Golden Gophers are spending their summer months playing together, and Amelia Rayno has some updates from the Howard Pulley Pro City league end-of-summer tournament. She reports that Rodney Williams says Mbakwe has practiced with the group a few times and “he wasn’t moving too fast yet, but he didn’t look like he was too nervous out there.” If Mbakwe can get back to his old double-double self and complement Williams and youngster Andre Hollins, Minnesota could do some serious damage.
2. How would you like to be the guy asked to step in and take over Robbie Hummel‘s spot at Purdue? That unenviable position will likely be filled by committee, in the form of sophomore Jacob Lawson and redshirt freshman Donnie Hale. The two will have big shoes to fill after Hummel’s five seasons with the Boilermakers, helping bring Purdue back to the upper echelon of college basketball. “We’re both trying to get out there and play just as hard, just so coach knows we really want that spot,” Lawson told the Indianapolis Star. “With me and him battling, it’s going to be a battle every day.” Lawson has appeared in 30 games, including four starts, but replacing Hummel’s versatility and leadership will be anything but easy.
3. In the wake of the punishments the NCAA handed down to Central Florida, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo spoke to USA Today about the landscape of the game today and how his job is impacted by AAU basketball and agents. Izzo said in the story that he has “absolutely” lost out on bringing recruits to Michigan State because he’s refused to “cheat” and said there are plenty of other coaches around the country who have gone down the same road. “A lot of people have lost players,” Izzo said. “And I am not saying that cheating is 80 percent of the game. It’s probably 20 percent. But it’s probably 70 percent of the top 20 percent [of player recruitments]. College basketball is a business. This [recruiting] is a business now because it leads to ours.” Third parties are a part of the game now more than ever before — with everything from shoe companies to summer showcase tournaments wanting a piece of the action — and that just means more pressure for everybody.
4. All the basketball fans watching Team USA at the Olympics in London right now are going to be left with a four-year void once the games are finished in a few weeks. CBSSports.com‘s Jeff Goodman got a head start on the anticipation for the 2016 games and his potential roster has some Big Ten names heavily in the mix. Goodman prognosticates that Michigan point guard Trey Burke and Indiana center Cody Zeller could be among the starting five on that team, which is likely to go to 23-and-under starting at those games. If that’s the case, players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant would not be eligible. And if Coach K is ready to call it quits? How about Tom Izzo taking over? Basketball in Rio de Janeiro could have a very Midwestern feel come 2016.
5. New Nebraska coach Tim Miles says recruiting is going well, although he’s still waiting on his first commitment. There are bound to be some growing pains for a program that just joined the Big Ten and didn’t have a real smooth go of it in its first year in the conference. The school fired Doc Sadler, but has the benefits of a brand new basketball facility to help draw players to Lincoln. Miles told the Omaha World-Herald that Nebraska, which has five scholarships available for 2013-14 and then just one for 2014-15, is looking to build a contender. “We’re recruiting in the right places,” he said. “We want to bring in guys who will help build a winner.”

Nebraska was expected to be a bottom-feeder in the tough Big Ten in its first year as a member and, quite frankly, the Huskers didn’t disappoint. Nebraska finished the year last in the conference, tied with Penn State, and enjoyed just 12 wins overall. But plenty has changed since March. The Huskers have made improvements to their facilities and, most importantly, have made a change at the top by bringing in former Colorado State coach Tim Miles. The biggest question is: How will Nebraska adapt after one year in the conference? Can they take what they learned in their freshman season and make the necessary adjustments and improvements for their sophomore campaign? Only time will tell, but it all starts in the summer.

Can Nebraska do better than one big win this year? (J. Hannah/LJS)

• Evaluating Last Year: Nebraska was a weak team in a relatively weak conference before coming to the Big Ten, where it was an equally weak team in a much stronger conference. It didn’t help that the Big Ten was at its best last season, but that means it can only get easier for the Cornhuskers the rest of the way… right? Maybe. The Huskers played a decent non-conference schedule — with USC, Oregon, Wake Forest, Creighton and Central Michigan on the slate — but really hit a wall in Big Ten play. Their best win of the year, by far, was at home against Indiana on January 18, and the Huskers dropped nine of their last 10 contests. Basically, any season in which the head coach is fired afterward can’t be considered much of a success.
• State of the Program: The only place to go is up. And it seems that things are pointed in that direction, despite NU’s recent history. Doc Sadler was at the helm for six seasons (five of them in the Big 12) without leading the Huskers to the NCAA Tournament once, but Miles, who took Colorado State from 7-25 in his first season in 2007-08 to 20-12 last year, could be a difference-maker. He also has the benefit of the brand-new $18.7 million, 84,000-square foot Hendricks Training Center, which has new practice gyms, locker rooms and team rooms for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. It’s already helped to land some transfers, including Terran Petteway (Texas Tech) and Walter Pitchford (Florida), who will sit out this season but can practice with the club and should provide a lift down the road. Nebraska may not have performed well in recent years but there’s a clean slate in Lincoln and plenty for Miles to work with to attract potential recruits and fans. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Everyone in the Big Ten has seen what a force Jared Sullinger can be in the post, but some doctors are warning NBA executives about his potential in the professional ranks, according to a report from ESPN.com. Chad Ford writes that some are concerned that Sullinger’s back troubles could shorten his career. The former Ohio State All-American is expected to be taken early in the first round in the upcoming NBA Draft. Also, here’s our take.
2. Could Michigan State basketball be looking at participating in a throwback game? Retro jerseys are one thing, but how about a retro facility? Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis — the brainchild behind basketball on an aircraft carrier and one of the first to consider playing hoops in a football stadium — is floating the idea of playing a game at Jenison Field House, where the Spartans played before they called Breslin Center home. It may be tough logistically, but it would be a great way to pay tribute to the historic 1963 Loyola of Chicago–Mississippi State NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional semifinal game that was notable for Mississippi State leaving the state against court order to play against a team with African-American players on it.
3. If Nebraska is going to join the ranks of the elite basketball programs in the Big Ten, one key will be to have facilities on par with those other programs. The Chicago Bulls seem to think that is the case. Executives from the Chicago organization toured the Hendricks Training Complex in Lincoln, and were blown away. “That’s one of the highest compliments we’ve had,” Marc Boehm, Nebraska’s executive associate athletic director, told the Omaha World-Herald.
4. Minnesota‘s new athletic director, Norwood Teague, officially began his tenure on Monday and said negotiations with basketball coach Tubby Smith were in the “eleventh hour.” “I think it’s going really well,” Teague told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “What happens with these negotiations is you get the bulk done and then these little things hold you up and then you worry that they’re larger things – and they’re not.”
5. Draymond Green was the face of the Michigan State basketball team this season and went on to be named the conference’s Player of the Year while leading the Spartans to a Big Ten championship and No. 1 seed on the NCAA Tournament. As he prepares for the upcoming NBA Draft, the Big Ten accolades continue to pile up for the versatile big man.

1. You’re probably reading this post approximately 8-12 hours after textapocalypse went into effect in college basketball last night. As the midnight bell tolled, a new NCAA rule went into effect allowing coaches to bombard high school sophomores and above with as many phone calls and text messages that they can muster. You might recall that one of the very first posts on this venerable site back in 2007 suggested that the NCAA’s decision to ban text messages in light of news that Billy Gillispie (then at Kentucky) was knocking out 8,000 messages a month was a good idea. Even in those short five years, how people communicate with one another has changed significantly (texting has essentially replaced phone calls between young people), but that doesn’t mean that middle-aged coaches will do any better with it now than they did then. One thing is certain — with social media like Twitter and Facebook today existing side-by-side texts on everyone’s smart phone, there’s bound to be lots of texting hilarity that will ensue from just the auto-correct function alone.
2. Cincinnati and Xavier decided on Thursday that all the on-court fun the players have had at the Crosstown Shootout (now re-branded as the Crosstown Classic – lolz) in recent years shouldn’t be limited to the student-athletes punching each other on the floor. With the choice to move the game to a neutral site downtown and tickets split down the middle, this two-year move will allow fans to get in zip each other up while enjoying the game from the stands. Look, we understand the logic behind moving the game away from home sites where the vitriol heaved upon the visiting team produces a volatile situation, but is college basketball turning into a sport where only games at neutral sites are those worth having? Between the Kentucky-Indiana ridiculousness and now this, we have to wonder if the sport is losing one of the very things that makes it special (home-and-home rivalry games). What’s next — Duke and Carolina on a Charlotte/Greensboro/Raleigh rotation?
3. It didn’t take long for former Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler to find a landing spot. Kansas announced on Thursday that Sadler, who has a 149-107 record as a Division I head coach, would take over as the Jayhawks’ Director of Basketball Operations. He replaces Barry Hinson, who left KU after the season to become the new head coach at Southern Illinois. Sadler continues a trend of high-major college coaches keeping their name fresh in the industry by taking assistant positions when they come available. For example, former Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey is currently an assistant at Florida, biding his time until another choice job comes available and an AD is willing to take another chance on him.
4. Speaking of the Gator program, Florida fans received some excellent news on Thursday when Virginia Tech forward Dorian Finney-Smith announced that he would transfer to Gainesville in light of Seth Greenberg’s firing. Finney-Smith joins Damontre Harris as transfers heading south to play for Billy Donovan, giving the two-time national champion head coach a leg up already on his 2013-14 roster. The 6’8″ player averaged 7/7 last year in 30 minutes per game for Virginia Tech, but he clearly needs to spend the off year working on shot selection (33.2%) and bulking up. Finney-Smith is already an elite per-minute rebounder, but with another 30 pounds on his frame he could easily average double figure boards in two years for the Gators.
5. The biggest knock on Bruce Weber at Illinois was his recruiting (or lack thereof), especially in the talent-rich Chicago area. As the new head coach at Kansas State, he faces a more difficult recruiting situation in that the nearest major city is Kansas City, a town not exactly known for its prep basketball talent in the same sense as the Windy City. As a result, Weber went on record Thursday stating that he plans to branch out to more places, even as many as all places. Well, except the West Coast. Weber said during a Big 12 coaches’ teleconference that he wants to recruit the Midwest, Texas, the East Coast, and of course, Chicago. All we can think is that Illinois fans must be snickering in their cereal this morning.

Welcome to the Big Ten, Cornhuskers. It was not the easiest season for Nebraska to join the ranks of the conference, and the results were apparently not what the school had in mind, as Doc Sadler was fired after season’s end and Tim Miles brought in to lead the team next year. But it’s hard to fault the squad too much coming into the conference in one of its strongest seasons in years. Nebraska really held its own through a pretty formidable non-conference schedule, before struggling (as expected) through conference play. Let’s take a closer look at the year that was:

Beating Indiana qualified as the highlight of Nebraska's season. (J. Hannah/LJS)

• In a nutshell: It was bound to be an adjustment for Nebraska, coming over to the Big Ten from the Big 12, and it certainly was. Senior Bo Spencer was really the Cornhuskers’ only consistent scoring option (leading the team in points with 15.4 PPG) for the worst scoring offense in the conference (60.9 PPG) and the second-worst field goal percentage defense in the Big Ten. They couldn’t rebound on the offensive end, turned the ball over too much, and weren’t great from three-point range, but hey… the Huskers led the conference in free throw shooting percentage. So there’s that.
• Overachievement: For arguably the worst team in the conference to knock off one of the best, just about everything has to go right. That it did on January 18 when the Huskers upset Indiana in Lincoln, 70-69. Nebraska got Indiana at a bad time — it was the Hoosiers’ third straight loss and they were struggling mightily on the road — but it gave the Nebraska students something to savor in their first year in the conference (see photo above). Spencer was fantastic, with a game-high 23 points, and four Huskers scored in double figures, to Indiana’s two. The biggest bonus came on the bench, where Dylan Talley and Jorge Brian Diaz combined for 20 points, 13 rebounds and just two turnovers. Read the rest of this entry »