Daily Skinny (Oct. 16)-Big Ten Overview

[coolhandgopher]

We’ll start off Big Ten Friday with a blog from the Big Ten Network, which gives short shrift to the Gophers except for some acknowledgement of Damian Johnson’s defense:
http://www.bigtennetwork.com/blogs/index.asp?post_id=3206

Illinois
Illinois is counting on a leaner, more focused Demetri McCamey this season who appears to be benefitting from the push provided by the talented freshman on campus:
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x593084192/Most-important-Illini-has-matured

Among those highly touted newcomers, D.J. Richardson seems to shine the brightest, and he already sounds like an emerging leader for the Illini:
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=powers_scott&id=4543452

Indiana
High expectations are following Jeremiah Rivers to Indiana after his transfer from Georgetown, but I have the same question as the author of this article-is Rivers all he’s made out to be?:
http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/10/13/ith-super-happy-fun-time-player-profile-jeremiah-rivers/

While Indiana will improve from last season, it seems a bit premature to place them at the edge of contending for NCAA berths in the Big Ten:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091013/SPORTS/910130308/1002

Iowa
It looks to be a long season in Iowa City, but there could be some young talent fighting it out at point guard (although I’ve never heard of Anthony Tucker projected as a point):
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...&theme=/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=SPORTS

Michigan
It could be a big year in Ann Arbor as predicted in this column:
http://www.freep.com/article/200910...eilein-has-proved-to-be-the-right-man-for-job

It appears Manny Harris is primed to make himself a frontrunner in the Big Ten Player of the Year race:
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/afte...y-harris-returned-to-michigan-more-explosive/

Michigan State
Since the national title game, Korie Lucious has been knocked out of playing basketball due to a broken foot suffered against North Carolina. Spartan fans have to hope that the sharpshooter’s timing isn’t affected after such a long time off:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20091014/GW02/310150016

Speaking of recovering from injuries, it will be interesting to see sophomore Delvon Roe’s improvement this season now that he’s healthy:
http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2009/10/shooting_4_indianapolis

Northwestern
It seems I’ve been posting a lot on Northwestern already this off-season, but I’ll throw out a couple tidbits I found. The first is in reference to the Sporting News preview, which has the Wildcats making their debut in March Madness:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chi...tings-news-colleg-basketball-predictions.html

The trend of offering basketball players as freshman in high school wasn’t one I expected to extend down to Evanston, but it has:
http://nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/indiana/article_1e7f2c3a-18c3-5a8b-9c70-9c2050992ca0.html

Ohio State
Thad Matta’s got an advantage at the starting line versus all other Big Ten teams; no newcomers to meld into the flow of things:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/liv...bk15.ART_ART_10-15-09_C1_3NFCH5C.html?sid=101

Of course, the news that Dallas Lauderdale is going to miss 4-6 weeks isn’t pleasant for a team that’s so perimeter orientated:
http://www.cleveland.com/collegespo....ssf?/base/sports/1255509048101060.xml&coll=2

Penn State
Not surprisingly, it’s a bit tough to find words on the most overlooked basketball program in the Big Ten, but this article offers some hope for the Nittany Lions basketball future:
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/10/12/sale_shows_hope_for_2sport_fut.aspx

Here’s College Sports Net’s preview on Penn State:
http://collegehoopsnet.com/penn-state-basketball-preview-54-167192

Purdue
This blog breaks down the expected contributions of the newcomers to the Boilermakers this season:
http://www.hammerandrails.com/2009/10/13/1083150/basketball-2009-10-the-newcomers

The Boilermakers will start the season without Lewis Jackson, but it shouldn’t have much impact on the season since we’re talking about two exhibitions and Cal State-Northridge:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091014/SPORTS/910140337

Wisconsin
It was hard finding much on the Badgers, so we’ll go with this article on Joe Krabbenhoft, post-Badger days:
http://www.keloland.com/Sports/NewsDetail7984.cfm?Id=91220

A look at the Badgers before practice starts-maybe because it’s Wisconsin, I like to nitpick, but towards the end of this article, the author states how Wisconsin is never picked to do well by the media; memory seems to tell me that throughout the last decade the media has acknowledged Wisconsin as a favorite in the Big 10 every year. Quit your bellyaching and revisionist history, Badger backer:
http://host.madison.com/sports/colu...cle_ce09f462-b928-11de-b0dc-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[SelectionSunday]

"With the exception of big man Goran Suton, Michigan State returns every key cog from last year's team that fell to North Carolina in the national title game."

Replacing Suton on the front line is the biggest concern, for sure, but I think this guy forgot about Travis Walton. Walton's defense and leadership (and clutch shooting performances in the NCAA) was pretty darn important to that team. He was their engine. Sparty might have trouble replacing some of Walton's intangibles.