Complete 2014-15 Big Ten NCAA Basketball Primer Heading into Conference Play
Big Ten? More like Big One.
That’s not entirely fair, and one could say not fair at all. The 7'0" beast in the room is the Wisconsin Badgers, fully loaded with Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.
Big Ten conference play will be heated between Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State. And while the ACC and SEC will get most of the attention this year based on the possibility of undefeated teams or storied rivalries, the Big Ten will solider on.
And as CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander noted at the beginning of the season, “This could be a big year for the conference in terms of strength among middle-of-the-pack teams. Clubs 5-10 could be bunched but finish above .500, only increasing the league's power numbers and giving it a good chance at seven or more bids come March.”
Hey, there could be a Final Four team here. Let’s see how this conference shakes out.
Nonconference Records
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Penn State: 12-1
Maryland: 11-1
Wisconsin: 11-1
Indiana: 10-2
Ohio State: 10-2
Minnesota: 10-2
Illinois: 9-3
Iowa: 9-4
Michigan State: 9-4
Northwestern: 8-4
Nebraska: 7-4
Purdue: 8-5
Michigan: 7-5
Rutgers: 7-5
Biggest Lessons Learned from Nonconference Play
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Michigan is in Shambles
John Beilein has his work cut out for him this year. Preseason projections shined favorably on Michigan. Now? Not so much.
Four straight losses to NJIT, Eastern Michigan, Arizona and SMU have put Michigan’s NCAA tournament chances at risk.
Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek wrote, “Michigan may have entertained ideas of competing for a Big Ten title when the season started. Now an NCAA tournament spot seems like something of a long shot if things don’t turn around.”
Maryland, My Maryland
The Maryland Terrapins are making quite an impression in their first season in the Big Ten.
Big wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State hang proudly on Maryland’s sash. And once they get Dez Wells back from injury, these Terrapins could make some serious noise in conference play.
The Injury Bug Bites Hard
Wisconsin was without a strong Sam Dekker, Maryland made out without Wells and Michigan State was hit hard by the Branden Dawson injury.
That’s a lot to weather. Here's Bleacher Report’s R. Cory Smith on Dawson's impact: “In the loaded Big Ten, the Spartans are still one of the programs hoping to contend for a conference championship. Without Dawson, however, that task would look much more difficult moving forward.”
As all these players get stronger and healthier, they will need to make an impact as the conference charges through January and February.
Top Storylines to Watch
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Will Wisconsin Plow Through the Big Ten?
The consensus is that Wisconsin is the team to beat in the Big Ten this season. With Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes leading the team, the Badgers are close to unbeatable. Their only loss is to Duke.
“The Badgers have rarely been this elevated in October,” writes CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. “Everybody loves Wisconsin this year in part because the team brings back almost everyone from that Final Four team.”
Experience backed up by talent could spell disaster for everyone in the Badgers’ way.
Keep an Eye On the New Guy
The new guy making a difference so far is Maryland (sorry, Rutgers). The Terps have two big wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State and a tough loss to a top-10 team in Virginia.
Who saw this coming?
Norlander wrote, “Dez Wells, Evan Smotrycz ... and then let's see what happens.”
What’s happening is that Maryland is 11-1 and doing some of that without their star guard in Wells. Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon may see Wells back on the court when it opens conference play against the Spartans.
“Met with the surgeon…he’s still on the four-week deal. He’ll go back [to the surgeon] late next week. It’s really sore,” Turgeon said, via The Washington Post's Roman Stubbs. “We’ll really protect it the next seven or eight days. It’s more about the ligament than it is the bone.”
Can Tom Izzo Dig Out of the Early Trench?
Michigan State can be excused for losing to Duke early in the year in the Champions Classic. It was a battle and Duke simply had more talent.
But what happened to the Spartans? They lost to No. 11 Kansas by five, fell to Notre Dame by one point in overtime and then got beat by Texas Southern at home.
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf called this game the biggest upset of the season so far. That said, the Spartans have Tom Izzo on the bench, and there’s no question he won’t have the Spartans thinking top three once the conference get heated.
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Rivalry Games and Can't-Miss Matchups
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Michigan at Michigan State, Feb. 1
It appears this season is in the gutter for the Wolverines. Five losses already this season has their sights set more on the little square dance than the Big Dance.
Though Michigan has had its share of embarrassing losses, Michigan State can’t exactly boast that its record is blemish-free. The Spartans jabbed Michigan for losing to NJIT. That’s grist for the mill since the Spartans lost to a 1-8 Texas Southern team.
We’ll see how these teams’ fanbases use their collective creativities to rib the opposition.
Wisconsin at Ohio State, March 8
Conference title implications will be heavily on the line at this point. Maybe it will already be in the bag, but if not, this game promises to be a gem.
The majority of analysts have Wisconsin and Ohio State in a one-two finish in the Big Ten. Having a game of this magnitude this late in the season could make for one of the more entertaining games of the year.
Iowa at Nebraska, Jan. 5
This game will be a preview of who will be the best of the second-tier teams in the Big Ten. So far neither has been super impressive, though Iowa can boast a win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Nebraska, for its part, has been missing the close putts. Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek wrote, “The Cornhuskers lost to Creighton and Hawaii, the latter of which is less explainable, but the real problem was the home loss to Incarnate Word. That just isn’t supposed to happen, especially after Nebraska made the NCAA tournament a season ago.”
So, as they say, we’ll see.
Freshmen to Watch
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D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State
Russell has impressed so far this season. This freshman leads his team in scoring with 17.2 points per game and shoots 42 percent from the three-point line.
"I don't look at it as carry the load," Russell told Bill Landis of Cleveland.com. "I just happen to be an OK scorer."
James Blackmon, Indiana
Blackmon once considered going to Kentucky, but instead enrolled at Indiana—much to coach Tom Crean’s delight.
Blackmon leads the Hoosiers with 17.6 points per game and is second on the team with 5.1 rebounds per game. He shoots 88 percent from the free-throw line and 47 percent from the field.
“He can score with his eyes closed, right?” said Crean, via Fox Sports.com's Reid Forgrave. “But he needed to get to the point where he could make decisions, could pass the ball, move without the ball, play faster, harder, longer, especially on the defensive end.”
Ricky Doyle, Michigan
Most of the attention was given to Kameron Chatman, but Ricky Doyle has outperformed Chatman so far and has earned a starting role for the struggling Wolverines.
Doyle averages 7.3 points per game and 3.3 rebounds while shooting a sizzling 69.6 percent from the field.
Doyle told Bleacher Report's Adam Biggers, “I feel like I definitely have improved since I got here—significantly since high school. I still definitely need to improve just all around. I just need to be a better player just to help my team out.”
Top Big Ten Player of the Year Candidates
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Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Frank Kaminsky won’t be denied this season. He’s a serious contender for national Player of the Year honors, not just the Big Ten.
He’s a matchup problem for any team, can play inside and out and has the experience and confidence to put this team on his back.
His numbers speak for themselves: 15.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 53 percent from the field and 43 percent from the three-point line.
D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State
Russell has the type of ability to carry the Buckeyes through the Big Ten this season.
He’s currently leading his team in scoring, and if the Buckeyes make a spirited run at Wisconsin, it will be largely because of his talents in Thad Matta’s offense.
Russell has infused the Buckeyes with an energy it desperately needs, and if they pull an upset over the Badgers, Russell will get some serious POY attention.
Dez Wells, Maryland
Wells has only played five games so far this season, but in those games he has led the Terrapins in scoring with 16.2 points per game. He still has plenty of time to make an impact.
Maryland may be the surprise team in the Big Ten. Once Wells is healthy, he could have them in the thick of a conference run.
It all hinges on Wells’ surgically repaired wrist. A healthy Wells could mean big things for the Terps.
Predicting the 2014-15 Big Ten Awards
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Freshman of the Year: D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State
As talented as Blackmon is for Indiana, Ohio State’s Russell has the fast track to Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.com wrote:
"Russell is evidently already OSU's best player. A 6-5 and about 180 pounds, he'll be the perfect 2 guard for the Buckeyes. Some believe he's the best shooting guard in the class of 2014. He shoots left-handed and has good passing ability as well. He can be a point guard when needed, most likely.
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Russell plays on the better team and poses possibly the biggest threat to taking down heavily favored Wisconsin.
Coach of the Year: Bo Ryan, Wisconsin
So get this: Bo Ryan works with a budget of $1,399,814, the smallest in the Big Ten and 242nd in the country.
Ryan led many of the players on this team to the Final Four a year ago and has a serious chance at reaching the Final Four and beyond this year. The only thing stopping Ryan is an unexpected surge from one of the predicted Big Ten bottom-feeders breaching the water’s surface.
Player of the Year: Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Until Kaminsky falls off the Wooden watch list, it does nobody any good to look elsewhere for a Big Ten Player of the Year.
Big Ten Favorite and Dark Horse
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The Favorite: Wisconsin
The favorite, far and away, is Wisconsin. With Kaminsky and Dekker leading this team, it’s hard to bet against the Badgers this year.
They have the players and coach to win the Big Ten, but they’ll have to earn it with teams like Ohio State and Maryland nipping at their 7'0" heels.
As CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander noted, “Bo Ryan's club is stacked because it has valuable pieces on both sides of the ball. No team is perfect, but Wisconsin looks as well-rounded as about any other team in hoops. Expect a top-five team in offensive efficiency and a top-20 one on defense.”
The Dark Horse: Maryland
Now that the nonconference games have shaken out, Maryland has walked away as a shocker to be in its current position: 11-1 while missing it's best player, Dez Wells, for seven of those games.
The Terps were pegged as “average” in the preseason, but that sentiment may have changed. Now, as Maryland’s Jon Graham put it to The Baltimore Sun's Don Markus, this “team is different. Right from the start, we've wanted to create an identity on the defensive end — defending and rebounding. So far we've done a good job with it."
Maryland has a big win over Iowa State already and has lost to only Virginia so far this year, one of the best defensive teams in the land.
It’ll take a few breaks and maybe a key injury to another team, but Maryland’s first year in the Big Ten could be filled with big statements.
Who Makes the Tournament
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Shoo-ins: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State, Maryland
Wisconsin and Ohio State may be the only true shoo-ins on the list. Michigan State has some serious issues and Maryland is more of a surprise than anything.
Michigan State and Maryland get the services of their injured players coming back soon and will make a strong, concerted run at March and beyond.
Hopefuls: Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Penn State
Fran McCaffery and Iowa have already taken down North Carolina and have tough losses to Texas and Syracuse. Minnesota, the defending NIT champs, could make a run, and Indiana’s James Blackmon makes them a dark-horse contender to reach the tournament.
Longshots: Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers
Michigan, a once confident selection to make the NCAA tournament, is now in the battle for its life with awful nonconference losses. Purdue has slipped and the other teams need some beastly production to get into the thick of tournament talk.
Predicting the 2014-15 Big Ten Standings
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1. Wisconsin
2. Ohio State
3. Maryland
4. Michigan State
5. Iowa
6. Minnesota
7. Indiana
8. Nebraska
9. Illinois
10. Penn State
11. Michigan
12. Purdue
13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers
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