Big 10 Hoops This Season Will be Unwatchable
1-liner, College Basketball November 12th. 2008, 12:00pmBig 10 Hoops: There’s Michigan State, Purdue, and then a wasteland of garbage. Tom Crean probably can’t cajole 15 wins out of Indiana. Michigan will be the Manny Harris show (he’s on our fantasy team) and is NIT-bound, at best. Ohio State’s David Lighty is a nice player, but freshman BJ Mullens ain’t no Oden, and that’s no 20-win team. The team to watch is Minnesota, but it is probably a year away. Wisconsin returns a few nice players, and could be the 3rd team from this wretched league to get into the NCAA Tournament.
35 Responses to “Big 10 Hoops This Season Will be Unwatchable”
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November 12th, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Chris Webber – The gift that keeps on giving.
I think my favorite Michigan team was one of the Amaker ones while I was there. They started 16-3, then lost 7 out of their last 10, got bumped in the first round of the Big Ten tournament and then missed the NCAAs
November 12th, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Ohio St is better than you think. And if by “he’s no Oden” you mean, he will play the entire year and has an offensive game, than yes, he is no Oden.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:06 PM
15 wins?? I’m just hoping for double digits.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Isn’t there a bylaw in the TBL employment manual that states any mention of The Big 10 must also include a comparrison to the SEC? Or is that only for football.
If it weren’t for the millions of dollars he’s getting paid, I’d pity the hell out of Crean. What a mess.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:12 PM
didn’t crean get a few good recruits for next year?
November 12th, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Is “nice player” like scrappy?
November 12th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Diesel- Crean will get you wins, put them down for 18. book it.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Agreed. Someone told me where they read something that had Mullen as overall No. 1 draft pick for the NBA in a few years. I am not sure about that, but he will be good. I think they will challenge for second place in the Big Ten behind MSU.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:16 PM
slc-they are playing for 3rd. this is a Purdue/MSU battle.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:18 PM
wasnt osu’s incoming class the number one recruiting class?
November 12th, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Crean’s class for next year is Top 5. He did a damn good job for this year considering the situation he was put in.
Sparty, please look at the roster. I think Crean is going to do a great job there, but not this year (in terms of win totals at least). This year is going to be a lot of teaching and re-building of a crumbled foundation.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
moleman
number 2 overall from scout.com
November 12th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Once Bruce Weber finds a few guys who can run the point, get some rebounds, learn the motion offense, and ditch their bleeding teammate in the front seat of their totaled car after a drunk driving accident, that Illini squad will start making some noise.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Part of it is because he is a 7 footer, and “you can’t teach height.” He does have a fairly polished offensive game. If he continues to work and get better, I see no reason why he can’t be the #1 pick.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Michigan in the NIT? Wow! Setting sights pretty high.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Diesel, are you an IU Grad or student? If you are “close to the program” in that sense (your alumni or student), what’s the feel from the Hoosier fans? Are they going to handle a year of sucktitude for future good?
November 12th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
raise the bar and try to win it
/ohio state fan
//nit means nothing
November 12th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
@ Chesea: Michigan can be a sleeper. Belien can win with his quirky offensive system (see: Pittsnoggle, Kevin) and I actually like the 1-3-1 he played at WV (don’t know if he plays it at Michigan). He doesn’t have to bring in top 10 classes, but from what I’ve understood, isn’t his class this year pretty respectable?
November 12th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Don’t really see how people can keep discounting Wisconsin. Lost Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor last year and won Big Ten regular season and tourney titles and made it to the Sweet 16. If Bo Ryan’s involved, you can’t count them out
November 12th, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Rockets, I’m an alum (undergrad ‘05, grad school ‘07). I think after the Sampson debacle the fan base can handle a rough year that is building towards a positive future. There are always the fans that can’t handle any kind of losing, but the majority will be patient.
I always find myself being more realistic than my fellow alumni, but this time around everyone seems to be tempered in their expectations for this year.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Belien has brought in decent classes and most people around here expect Michigan to be much more competitive this year. I think the goal HAS to be an NCAA birth. Anything less is another year of failure.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
why? sell me OSU
November 12th, 2008 at 12:57 PM
If Crean gets 15 wins out of this group, Nicks English Hut on me!
November 12th, 2008 at 1:11 PM
You guys are on crack, if Crean gets 12 wins he should be coach of the year. They played a close game with a Division II team last night. They have 3 players over 6′6.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
@cubsdynasty
Had a buddy who went to the game last night. Said we look like a HS team. Just can’t wait until the alma mater fully rids itself of the Sampson garbage, no matter how few wins we have this year. Crean’s got a top 5 recruiting class coming in, 6 players in total. You can be damn sure some of those guys will be suiting up next year as true frosh.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:25 PM
Ohio State will be better than last year. It all depends on point guard play. They have a freshman (Crater) and JC kid (Simmons) vying for time. If either or both are serviceable, this is a 22-24 win team and making things interesting at the top of the Big 10.
If they struggle, the team will also likely struggle to get to 20 wins and an NCAA berth.
Lighty is now a junior (seems like his 6th year already) and is playing his best ball, by far. Mullens is solid, but not as great as his hype… at least not yet. He will probably go pro before he is ready, but will cash out doing so. William Buford is another frosh that can score it, but seems allergic to D right now.
My call? 22 wins, 3rd place Big 10, 1-2 wins in the NCAA…
This would be Purdue’s conference if Martin wasn’t douchey and left. They had the makings of a Final 4 team, but losing an important piece of the puzzle takes them down a notch or two.
Michigan State is everyone’s fave, but I’m not sold. Yes, good. Top 10 good? Not sure about that. Can’t figure what will make them that other than Izzo’s great coaching (just ask him in one of his 300 media junkets during the pre-season).
Wisky? Guaranteed to be better than anyone thinks. I hate Bo Ryan, but that SOB can coach it with the best of them…
November 12th, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Wally- I agree with everything you said.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:29 PM
Lets see they were pretty good last year and lost some players. They have some very good players and Big Ten is weak.
A good coach with good recruits in a weak conf. Think Florida’s team last year…(didn’t you love them?)
November 12th, 2008 at 1:46 PM
I’ll keep it short since others have already made the case:
Big 10 sucks this year (only teams that are better: Michigan St. Purdue and maybe Wisconsin, but OSU could beat any of those teams).
Always good recruiting classes.
Decent coach.
7 footer with offensive game.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Michigan St. [robably won’t win the BUg Ten, but they will go further than any other Big Ten school in the tourney (as always). I think Michigan will make it to the NCAA tourney this year. They have more players than just Harris tbl. They have a future NBA calibur PG coming in this year from California.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Ohio State is an absolute lock to make the NCAA tourney. Period.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:28 PM
For OSU, I’m nervous about where the points are coming from.. but what do I know (I only called about 100 basketball games on student radio a few years ago..). We always had a love/hate relationship with Butler, but he could score for them. But he was no leader.
November 12th, 2008 at 4:15 PM
It’s really an epic fail to call tOSU a < 20 win team.
We have a consensus top 2 selection in the 2009 NBA draft, last year’s Mr. Ohio, and David Lighty.
NBA talent at the college level (Mullens, Buford) = wins. The recipe is pretty simple.
November 12th, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Unless you’re K-State from last year apparently, eh Nick?
November 12th, 2008 at 5:08 PM
What do you mean?
21 wins and made it to the 2nd round.