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Thread: Ohio State set to own the Big 10?

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    Ohio State set to own the Big 10?

    Conference preview: Big Ten
    Nov. 2, 2005
    By Gregg Doyel
    CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
    Tell Gregg your opinion!


    Ohio State was not a fluke last season, won't be a fluke this season and will be among the top 10 programs in college basketball by next season.

    Get used to it.

    Predicted Finish
    Team Postseason
    1. Ohio State NCAA
    2. Michigan State NCAA
    3. Indiana NCAA
    4. Illinois NCAA
    5. Iowa NCAA
    6. Wisconsin NCAA
    7. Michigan NIT
    8. Minnesota NIT
    9. Northwestern None
    10. Purdue None
    11. Penn State None
    The Big Ten has been waiting for someone to fill the vacuum created in recent years by the slides of Indiana and Purdue, and Ohio State is doing just that. It began last season when the Buckeyes won 20 games and probably would have received an NCAA Tournament bid had they not been on a self-inflicted postseason ban after the firing of Jim O'Brien.

    Ohio State ought to win another 20 games this season and go to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. And then next season, when center Greg Oden and one of the best recruiting classes in recent history arrives, it'll be fun for Ohio State fans. Heck, this season will be fun for Ohio State fans.

    It'll be fun for most Big Ten fans. The league has seven or eight teams capable of reaching the NCAA Tournament, though the top-to-bottom balance will take its toll. Put it this way: Minnesota won 21 games, returns Vincent Grier and gets back former starters Adam Boone and Maurice Grow from redshirt years. And we've got Minnesota finishing eighth.

    Ohio State
    Top three: C Terence Dials, PF Ivan Harris, G Sylvester Mayes.
    NCAA or bust: Out of nowhere, Ohio State was good enough in March to go to the 2005 NCAA Tournament in Thad Matta's debut season. The Buckeyes didn't go, however, because their administration had already decided to withdraw from postseason consideration to head off severe NCAA sanctions in the wake of the O'Brien mess. All in all, it wasn't a bad choice. The Buckeyes ought to be NCAA-eligible this season -- and with a team that can do a lot more damage in March. Look for Ohio State to win the league thanks to the return of every important frontcourt player, and the addition of transfer guards Ron Lewis and Sylvester Mayes. Lewis was Bowling Green's leading scorer two years ago, while Mayes was an offensive force of nature in junior college. And please, please, don't overlook Dials. He's one of the best five centers in America, whether or not you know his name.

    Michigan State
    Top three: SG Maurice Ager, C Paul Davis, SF Shannon Brown.
    NCAA or bust: Most media sites have the Spartans winning the Big Ten and ranked nationally among the top five. We don't, but we still recognize the reason for optimism among Michigan State fans. Ager, Davis, Brown and PG Drew Neitzel are a formidable foursome for Tom Izzo to start with, and the return of three -- (3) -- redshirted power forwards gives Izzo plenty of options for the final starting spot. PF Marquise Gray has the highest ceiling of any of the power forwards, and perhaps the highest ceiling of any of the Spartans other than Ager. If Gray's ready to be a force, everyone else in the media just might have been right about this team.

    Indiana
    Top three: C D.J. White, PF Marco Killingsworth, SG Robert Vaden.
    NCAA or bust: "NCAA or bust" describes more than Indiana's season. It describes coach Mike Davis' career. Normally, an NCAA-or-bust proclamation is bad news for a coach, but it shouldn't be for Davis. Let's be honest: If he can't get this team into the 2006 NCAA Tournament, it'll be time for him to go. For years the Hoosiers have been outmanned in the frontcourt, but this season Indiana has the makings of the best frontcourt in the Big Ten, and perhaps the best frontcourt nationally this side of Connecticut. White was a freshman All-American last season, and the 6-foot-8, 265-pound Killingsworth was one of the SEC's best players as an Auburn sophomore and junior before sitting out last season as a transfer. And then there's foreign freshmen Cem Dinc and Ben Allen. The backcourt, now, becomes Indiana's biggest issue -- and the preseason thumb injury to PG A.J. Ratliff means another Auburn transfer, Lewis Monroe, will have to start the first several games.

    Illinois
    Top three: PG Dee Brown, C James Augustine, PF Marcus Arnold.
    NCAA or bust: One year after having the perfect college basketball team -- three scoring point guards, a selfless power forward and the double-double candidate at center -- the Illini will have to settle for something a little less ideal this season. But still, they've got something worthy of a spot in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Brown is the only remaining guard from last season's trio, and Augustine is the only other starter coming back. But most teams would love to have that as a starting point. Add Arnold, a beefy transfer from Illinois State, to a supporting cast featuring SG Rich McBride and the returns of redshirted SF Brian Randle and SG Calvin Brock, and Illinois can compete with any team in the Big Ten. If a couple of the freshmen are capable of playing 20 minutes per night -- not forced into it by necessity, but literally capable -- Illinois might just win this league.

    IOWA
    Top three: PG Jeff Horner, SG Adam Haluska, PF Greg Brunner.

    NCAA or bust: The Hawkeyes were an NCAA Tournament team last year even after the late-season loss of SG Pierre Pierce, so why shouldn't they be one this season as well? Everyone else of note is back, including the big, skilled backcourt of Horner and Haluska. Brunner, C Erek Hansen and PF Doug Thomas are a fine three-man rotation for the two post spots. That's a nice start, but just like last season, the Hawkeyes need to develop some depth. A breakthrough season by junior G Mike Henderson isn't just an intriguing idea -- it's an imperative one.

    Wisconsin
    Top three: SF Alando Tucker, PG Kammron Taylor, C Brian Butch.
    NCAA or bust: Good thing the Badgers' roster looked so deep last season, because they suffered heavy losses. Four key players graduated: PF Mike Wilkinson and his backup, Zach Morley, and scoring guards Sharif Chambliss and Clayton Hanson. All told, that's nearly 36 points per game for coach Bo Ryan to replace. Tucker and Taylor are a good place to start. Tucker is an All-American waiting to happen, while Taylor is capable of doubling his 8.4 ppg scoring average of a year ago. Meanwhile, this would be as good a time as any for Butch, the former McDonald's All-American who was a healthy redshirt in 2003-04 and a serviceable freshman reserve last season (3.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg), to bring the thunder. The team returns plenty of other talented players, led by SF Ray Nixon and C Greg Stiemsma. And freshmen SF's Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry are studs.

    Michigan
    Top three: SF Lester Abram, SG Dion Harris, C Courtney Sims.
    NIT or bust: The Wolverines hope this will be the season they should have had last year. Last season's team, coming off the 2004 NIT title, was a projected Top-25 club before injuries (to Abram and PG Daniel Horton, among others) and off-court issues (Horton's) sent the Wolverines spiraling toward a 13-18 finish. Everyone from last season is back, and those injuries have healed. Still, it wouldn't be Michigan without an issue of some sort, and for now that issue is PF Brent Petway's first-semester ineligibility. However, Sims and PF Chris Hunter are good enough to hold down the low post during non-conference play, and if everyone on this team can stay healthy and eligible the rest of the way, Michigan's going to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. This being Michigan, however, we just don't think Tommy Amaker is going to get that kind of luck.

    Minnesota
    Top three: SF Vincent Grier, SG Maurice Hargrow, PF Dan Coleman.
    Who will win the Big Ten this season?
    NIT or bust: There wasn't a bigger surprise in college basketball last season than Minnesota, which shrugged off projections of the Big Ten basement to reach the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The best player from that team, Grier, is back, and he'll be buffeted by two returning guards: sixth-year senior PG Adam Boone and ex-Arkansas transfer Hargrow. If Coleman can play stronger than he did as a spindly freshman, and if hefty sophomore C Spencer Tollackson can do a plausible imitation of graduated Jeff Hagen, the Gophers might just get back to the NCAA Tournament. But to get there, things will have to go wrong for more than one of the Big Ten teams rated ahead of Minnesota.

    Northwestern
    Top three: PF Vedran Vukusic, C Mike Thompson, G Mohamed Hachad.
    Bust: The Wildcats could have been a postseason contender this season with the returns of Vukusic, Thompson and Hachad, and the addition of Kentucky transfer PF Bernard Cote. But then PG T.J. Parker went for the money in Europe. And so the Wildcats won't be a postseason contender after all. You know something? Bill Carmody deserves better.

    Purdue
    Top three: PF Carl Landry, SG David Teague, PG Korey Spates.
    Bust: Matt Painter's first year as coach got off to an awful start before practice even began. Projected starting PG Tarrance Crump, a star juco transfer, was arrested following his suspected involvement in a hit-and-run accident. Crump has been suspended indefinitely, but in the meantime Painter got good news with the late NCAA clearance of his team's only other pure PG, Spates, who must start as a freshman. Purdue's best player, Landry, is an All-American candidate if healthy, but he's not healthy. Not yet. He suffered a torn ACL in late February and is not quite 100 percent.

    Penn State
    Top three: SF Geary Claxton, PG Ben Luber, PF Travis Parker.
    Bust: Ed DeChellis has gone international in his third season at his alma mater. Why not? The domestic route hasn't worked. DeChellis lost two more transfers from a year ago, C Aaron Johnson and SG Marlon Smith, and saw a third potential starter this season, SG Danny Morrissey, suffer a season-ending knee injury in October. Penn State will be led this season by the decent returning trio listed above, with help from a trio of foreign freshmen: SF Nikola Obradovic, C Milos Bogetic and PF Joonas Suotamo. The best of the bunch is said to be Suotamo, a Finnish native who gets compared (of course) to another Finn, ex-Utah star Hanno Mottola.
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    Accolades
    First team
    G - Dee Brown, Illinois
    G - Maurice Ager, Michigan State
    F - Alando Tucker, Wisconsin
    F - Jeff Horner, Iowa
    C - Terence Dials, Ohio State
    Second team
    G - Vincent Grier, Minnesota
    F - Carl Landry, Purdue
    C - James Augustine, Illinois
    C - Paul Davis, Michigan State
    F - Marco Killingsworth, Indiana
    Player of the year
    Terence Dials, Ohio State
    Newcomer of the year
    Marco Killingsworth, Indiana
    Breakthrough player
    Brian Butch, Wisconsin
    Coach on the hot seat
    Mike Davis, Indiana

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    Gophers will be competitive. Watch out!
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