College Basketball Season

Greetings! It has been a while since I have posted about...well anything. Work has kind of dominated my life the last month or so, but I am trying to find more balance between work and everything else. Many of the college basketball experts at USA Today/CBS Sports released their EARLY pre-season teams today and to be honest not a lot of surprise on these teams. I am not going to pretend that my sphere of knowledge in college basketball extends beyond the Big 10 (at least not this early in the season), but I think overall this is going to be a good year for the Big 10.

Indiana is the front runner to win the conference with many key players returning this year. Watford, Olidipo, and Zeller (POY candidate) give them a lot of size upfront which is crucial to success playing against the rugged teams in the Big 10. Defensively they struggled at times last season, especially playing team defense. They also have a few freshmen coming in that will be impact players for Tom Crean's squad.

The next team you have to look at is Michigan. They have their two top players from last year (Burke and Hardaway) returning plus one hell of a recruiting class that will play major minutes this season. The key for the Wolverines will be the play of Burke. At times he was the best point guard in the country last year and if he can consistently knock down the outside jumper he will be very difficult to guard. Also add in the fact he will have more weapons around him and you could see more of a transition game from UM this season.

In East Lansing, Tom Izzo will have his hands full as the team lost one of the best Spartans of all-time in Draymond Green. His leadership will be greatly missed and now it is Appling's team. Haven't heard if his jumpshot is any better, but he needs to find more consistency on the outside for the Spartans to compete for a Big Ten title. Expect to see lots of incoming freshmen Gary Harris who will need to take on a scoring role for this Spartan squad.

When talking about the Big 10 you cannot overlook Ohio State especially as they have the best offensive player in the conference (Deshaun Thomas) and the best defensive player in the conference (Aaron Craft) as well. The big question for Thad Matta is who is going to be the inside presence for OSU. Without Sullinger they will need to put forth a better team rebounding effort and will also have to look for more scoring from the outside.

One of these four teams will win the Big 10 title this season. Last year three of these teams tied for the conference and we might see it again this year. The formula for winning the Big 10 has been holding serve at home and then stealing road games. There will definitely be a lot of parody in the conference this year and no game is a guarantee win on the road. Here are a couple other players/teams to watch out for.

Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota) - One of the best rebounders in the country, but he is coming off of knee injuries so the question is can he be as explosive as he use to be inside. Rodney Williams is also a SR this year and is the most athletic player in the Big 10 which will create match up problems for the Gopher opponents.

Brandon Paul (Illinois) - Remember his performance last year against OSU? 43 points if I remember correctly and he completely took over the game in the 2nd half. He has the capability to be a big time performer and carry the Illini to the tournament.

Tim Fraizer (Penn State) - Arguably the most valuable player in the league for the gaudy stats he puts up. He is going to keep Penn State in some games this year and teams will need to key in on him in order to avoid an upset from the Nittany Lions.

Wisconsin - You can NEVER count out a Bo Ryan team. They will always be tough to beat at the Kohl Center even if they don't have the talent they have had in the past.

Predictions:
It is hard to forecast a college basketball season in October but I think for the most part we won't see any major surprises this season. I think Michigan has the most upside this season, but it is always tough with freshmen and projecting how they will adapt to the college game and lifestyle. I am going to pick Indiana to win the conference though as Zeller is just too much of a difference maker to pick any other team.

1. Indiana
2. Michigan
3. Michigan State
4. Ohio State
5. Illinois
6. Minnesota
7. Wisconsin
8. Purdue
9. Northwestern
10. Iowa
11. Penn State
12. Nebraska