2019-2020 Big Ten Predictions

[bball_craz_31]

With the media week starting next week and the start the of the 19-20 NCAA Women's basketball season under 3 weeks away, figured would be an okay time to start a predictions thread.

here are mine for the Big Ten Season and the awards. I put "Honorable mention" list for players I also considered for the list.

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

First Team:
1. Destiny Pitts-Minnesota
2. Kaila Charles-Maryland
3. Naz Hillmon-Michigan
4. Ali Patberg-Indiana
5. Ae’rianna Harris-Purdue

Second Team:
1. Kierstan Bell-Ohio State
2. Maori Davenport-Rutgers
3. Shay Colley-Michigan State
4. Kathleen Doyle-Iowa
5. Shakira Austin-Maryland

Honorable mention: Amy Dilk-Michigan, Taiye Bello-Minnesota, Abi Scheid-Northwestern, Imani Lewis-Wisconsin, and Makenzie Mayer-Iowa

Player of the Year: Kaila Charles- Maryland

Coach of the Year: Teri Moren-Indiana

Freshman of the Year: Maori Davenport-Rutgers

All-Freshman Team: Kierstan Bell-Ohio State, Maori Davenport-Rutgers, Diamond Miller-Maryland, Kaelynn Satterfield-Ohio State, Rickie Woltman-Purdue

Honorable Mention Freshman: Rikki Harris-Ohio State, Jasmine Powell-Minnesota, Shay Hagans-Penn State, Ashley Owusu-Maryland, Taiyier Parks-Michigan State

 

[CutDownTheNet]

That’s a great analysis. And I can’t think of any reason to disagree with your bottom 7. I’ll slightly permute your top 7, below, based mainly on believing the College Sports Madness Top 44 a little more. Plus maybe a little hope-and-prayer attitude toward our Gophers.

As far as player rankings and awards go, I think you know a lot more than I do on that, and I’ll only make one exception. I’m putting Taiye Bello on first team, or at least second team, Big Ten. I have no clue who I’d drop off your list to make room for her (anybody but Destiny Pitts or Kaila Charles).

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

 

[tripledouble]

bball, I like your analysis. Wondering if you overlooked Maryland's Mikesell on your first and second team picks? I agree with CutDownTheNet in thinking that Bello has a shot at being a first or second team selection at the end of the year. She should average a double-double. Just hoping that our Gophers can help her out with rebounding. And I think that people might be underrating Nebraska by a few slots. I don't think they'll be a top half team, but I think they do better than bottom 3. Lots of good teams in the BIG this year and the bottom teams should be closer to the top teams than last year. For me, Purdue is a bit of a wild card. They could finish anywhere from 3 to 7. I think Maryland is clearly the best team going into the season. Indiana, OSU, and the Gophers should be in the top 4. I think OSU will be the second most talented team in the conference, but with so many new players, it will be interesting to see how quickly they come together as a team. I would agree that Indiana is probably the most likely team to finish second. Our Gophers could finish as high as second and I'll be disappointed if they finish lower than fifth. Pitts got off to a slow start last year. I expect her to start strong this year with the additional year of experience and some additional outside shooters in Hubbard, Staples, and maybe Scalia.

 

[Shades]

Shakira Austin on first team.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Picks with last season's record in parenthesis:


1. Maryland (15-3): No comment needed

NCAA Bound

2. Ohio State (10-8): On paper…
3. Minnesota (9-9): Apparently, many a night we’ll get to watch Taiye Bello perform without a safety net. When Taiye needs a rest, I’m looking for Lindsay to play five guards.
4. Indiana (8-10): The Hoosiers always have a couple of players whom you must chase for 35 to 40 minutes a game; it’s hard work plus the Hoosiers are going to be good.

NCAA Bubble: (in league which had seven teams with records between 10-8 and 8-10 nearly everyone is on the bubble).

5. Michigan (11-7): With Thome graduated, the Wolverines are going small-which would be more exciting if Deja Church hadn’t transferred to DePaul.
6. Rutgers (13-5): Most of their better players graduated.
7. Iowa (13-4): Lisa Bluder brings back her wide open offense without enough offensive players.
8. Purdue (8-10): Maybe they gel.
9. Michigan State (9-9): Losing Sidney Cooks to transfer didn’t help.
10. Nebraska (9-9): The Huskers have been less than the sum of their parts.

The Bottom

11. Northwestern (9-9): It’s been quiet in Evanston.
12. Penn State (5-13): “Carolyn Kieger did a fine job at Marquette” will be written a lot.
13. Wisconsin (4-14): I’m through writing that Jonathan Tsipis will coach up the Badgers as the season progresses until he actually coaches up the Badgers as the season progresses.

Beyond the Bottom

14. Illinois (2-16): At media day, Nancy Fahey said the Illini are “driven to take the next step”. That Illinois had two B1G wins (one over Minnesota) means there’s still room to fall.

 

[tripledouble]

For what it's worth...probably not much.

1. Maryland. Far and away the favorite in the BIG. Probably headed deep into the NCAA tourney.
2. Indiana. Lots of experience (and talent) inside and out. Patberg is a big factor in why I'm picking them to finish higher than the teams below them. Much deeper than last year.
3. Purdue. Could finish as low at 7th, but they are experienced and talented at every position. Could this finally be a good year for the Boilers? Can they shoot well enough?
4. Minnesota. Could finish as high as second, as low as seventh.
5. Ohio State. Lots of talent, but very young. I was originally thinking they would finish second, but with all these freshmen, I think it may take them awhile to get going.
6. Michigan State. Colley, McCutcheon, Clouden, Gaines, Hollie. Lost Allen at the post and Cooks to transfer. Loss of Cooks really hurts. Colley extremely talented but can be very inconsistent.
7. Michigan. Hillman, Dilk, Brown. Some talented players and some good depth.
8. Nebraska. Some talented sophomores. Will have good depth, but the team's talented players aren't as talented as those of the teams expected to finish higher.
9. Rutgers. Where will the scoring come from? Seems like another mish-mash of a team similar to recent CViv teams.
10. Northwestern. Some experienced players. Pulliam has the ability to be second team BIG.
11. Iowa. Life after Gustafson will be a challenge.
12. Wisconsin. Has more depth and experience than he's had in recent years, but still not enough talent to get into top half of conference.
13. Penn State. Not much there for Kieger. Looks like she'll have to build the program from the ground up.
14. Illinois. They'll miss Wittinger. Holesinska is a nice player. Beasley also has some talent.

Top 7 teams should be NCAA Tourney bound. Maryland's Charles the POY.

 

[samloupete]

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

 

[Waffle]

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

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

https://www.espn.com/womens-college.../women-basketball-2019-20-power-5-predictions

ESPN:

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

Welcome to the sixth annual installment of "Can anyone catch Maryland?" The Terrapins have owned the Big Ten since joining the conference, and Brenda Frese's team is again the favorite, led by All-American Kaila Charles, Taylor Mikesell and a typically robust recruiting class. Without a Rachel Banham, Kelsey Mitchell or Megan Gustafson around to slow them, it isn't clear that a challenge awaits. Like Iowa, Minnesota lost a special leading scorer in Kenisha Bell but otherwise returns a solid core for Lindsay Whalen's second season. Indiana and Michigan State return their leading scorers (Ali Patberg and Shay Colley, respectively) and most of their starting lineups but have more ground to make up after modest conference showings last season. Michigan walks a middle path, with super sub Naz Hillmon presumably ready to offset some notable losses in the starting lineup.

Are Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue on the mend?

One of Ohio State, Penn State or Purdue won at least a share of the Big Ten title in 15 of 16 seasons immediately preceding Maryland's arrival in the conference. All three of them were often near the top. But neither Purdue nor Penn State has finished in the top three since the Terrapins arrived, and after battling for titles with Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State slipped out of the mix a season ago as well.

Yet there appears to be reason for optimism with all three bellwether programs. Penn State starts fresh with coach Carolyn Kieger, a winner at Marquette. Built around all-league selections Ae'Rianna Harris and Karissa McLaughlin and well-regarded freshman Rickie Woltman, Purdue has the tools to escape mid-table purgatory. With five top-100 recruits, led by Kierstan Bell, Ohio State has a fighting chance this time around. -- Graham Hays.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

https://www.swishappeal.com/ncaa/20...d-michigan-state-minnesota-iowa-kaila-charles

Swishappeal's B1G preview: 8 Things to Know:

5. Can Minnesota Stay Consistent all Season

Although a dream non-conference performance under first-year head coach Lindsay Whalen saw the Golden Gophers enter Big Ten play 11-0, they got a rude awakening almost right away. Although Minnesota ended up breaking even in conference play, it had to overcome losing seven of its first nine games first.

Having broken into the media’s Big Ten preseason rankings at No. 5, it’s clear there’s hope for Minnesota this season. Whalen enters her second season with three returning starters, including junior Destiny Pitts, the preseason All-Big Ten selection who’s also already one of Minnesota’s best three-point shooters ever. But will these positives be enough to maintain their dominance all season?