Iowa

College Basketball: 20 Random Thoughts & Observations

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:42:39 -0500

20 Random Rants, Thoughts, and Observations from the Week in College Basketball by CollegeHoops.net Editor Shawn Siegel:

1 - Jonny Flynn is even better than I ever gave him credit for. He's more than just a speed guy.. he's a money point guard.

2 - Syracuse needs to do some serious work on their ole 2-3 zone. The problem right now is simply personnel. They don't have enough length & height to really cause havoc with their traps.

3 - Damion James (Texas) is up there right now for the Least-Improved Player award.

4 - What's with all the Purdue fans who think their team is the greatest thing since Double Stuffed Oreos?

5 - Blake Griffin has been a monster, but Oklahoma still seems majorly flawed. Willie Warren's putting up decent ppg totals, but needs to become a much more active rebounder, passer, and ball-handler if the Sooners expect to go far.

6 - The Old Spice Classic is loaded. Can't wait for this event.. it puts the Preseason NIT or even Maui to shame.

7 - Bob Knight is getting better as an announcer, but I could still do without him.

8 - Yes, Indiana will stink this year. But Tom Pritchard is a pleasant surprise, he's a legit Big Ten talent, which is more than I expected

9 - Arizona fans better get used to losing. Losing to UAB at home isn't a huge deal, but barely putting away Santa Clara is. The Broncos couldn't even beat FAU.

10 - Get ready to start hearing about Washington State's Klay Thompson. With the way DeRozan and others have struggled, its not even out of the question he could be the Pac-10 ROY.

11 - Back to DeRozan for a sec, he has to be considered a major disappointment so far. 9 ppg wont cut it, especially when you add in his 12 turnovers and just 3 assists. Yes, its early, but I just haven't seen any reason to think he'll be effective in the half-court offense.

12 - On the flip side, Samardo Samuels has been dominant in two blow out wins. 42 points in 50 minutes of play. Louisville plays an extremely soft early schedule so I see no reason why he won't put up big numbers for the next month. He's legit.

13 - Notre Dame needs to hit a couple damn FT's. At least no air balls fellas.

14 - I hyped up VT's Jeff Allen in the off-season as Most Improved Player candidate, and he's made me look good so far averaging 18 and 11 per game. Allen has even more room for improvement left.

15 - I dont think G'Town's Austin Freeman worked out all summer.

16 - Xavier's a very fun team to watch. They have 8 legitimate starting-quality players, and Kenny Frease has serious potential. But yet, they still seem to lack that one go-to guy that will put them over the top. Their depth and athleticism should lead them to an A-10 title, but I don't see a big March run happening this year.

17 - Outside of Drake's surprise season, last year was somewhat of a downer for the MVC. This year looks to be ho hum again, as SIU and Creighton are only okay. Illinois State's off to a nice start but they don't play a good team until January 3rd..

18 - Wright State was supposed to be a contender for the HL title along with Cleveland State and Butler, but the Raiders are 0-3, and coming off a brutal 55-37 home loss to Miami. The team is shooting a hard to imagine 34.8% from the floor.

19 - What are the odds Oregon State loses every game this season against D1 opponents? 50%? 90%?

20 - Anthony Tucker's been a nice find for Iowa. The freshman guard is averaging 16 ppg for a team that desperately needed help scoring the ball. In fact, the Hawkeyes 2nd leading scorer is also a freshman, Matt Gatens. Iowa finally faces a real test this weekend against West Virginia.

- I've been busy getting the pickem game going (why haven't you signed up yet??) and finishing CHN's preseason material, so apologies for the lack of content recently!

Big Ten Coach Ranking: Tom Terrific

Jeff Fox — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:44:24 -0500

It doesn't appear that too many Big Ten teams are going to light the college hoops world on fire this season. However, more than likely this will only be a temporary slump. With the level of coaching talent roaming the sidelines in the league, its teams are sure to be competing for national championships again sooner rather than later.

1) Tom Izzo - Michigan State

Tom Izzo is untouchable at the top of this list. Why? A national championship, four trips to the Final Four, four regular-season Big Ten titles, four National Coach of the Year awards. That's why.

2) Thad Matta - Ohio State

The trip to the 2007 title game was nice, but Thad Matta has built the Buckeyes program into more than just a one-year powerhouse. A serious bidder for all the top recruits in the country every year, Matta has also led the squad to 37 conference wins over the past three years, second best over this period behind Wisconsin.

3) Bo Ryan - Wisconsin

Speaking of the Badgers, Bo Ryan has led Wisconsin to a conference best 38 wins over the past three seasons. Despite always being overlooked and underrated, Ryan's squads get the job down year in, year out.

4) Tubby Smith - Minnesota

The much-maligned Tubby Smith has done nothing but win at every stop he has made in his coaching career. Minnesota shouldn't be any different.

5) Bruce Weber - Illinois

A few years back Bruce Weber probably could have given Izzo a tough run for his money for top spot on this list. However, his program has been in a steady decline since its 2005 peak.

6) Tom Crean - Indiana

It's going to take awhile to fix the mess Tom Crean inherited, but if he could recruit and win big time at Marquette, doing the same at Indiana shouldn't be a problem.

7) Matt Painter - Purdue

Matt Painter definitely has the Boilermakers back at the level the program was used to under his mentor Gene Keady. They should be at or near the top of the Big Ten at season's end and are poised to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.

8) John Beilein - Michigan

John Beilein is another coach who inherited a mess of a program. It'll probably take a few more years before he gets the Blue up to the level of success he enjoyed at West Virginia.

9) Todd Lickliter - Iowa

Todd Lickliter proved he could win big at a small-time school (Butler). Can he win in the Big Bad Big Ten though?

10) Ed DeChellis - Penn State

After posting seven conference wins last season, maybe Ed DeChellis has Penn State headed in the right direction.

11) Bill Carmody - Northwestern

The Wildcats won one conference game last season and two the year before. Enough said.

Big Ten Player Grades: 2008-09

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:13:22 -0500

Big Ten Player Grades

I've graded each Big Ten starter based on projected stats and overall talent. Along with a bench grade, each team has a potential score of 60.0. Teams are ranked according to the sum of the player grades, but these do not necessarily match my personal team predictions. The projected stats are from CHN's Fantasy Stats Preview. Note that the order here does not necessarily match my personal or CHN's projected standings. Each team's top graded player is highlighted in red.

1	MICHIGAN STATE
	G Kalin Lucas - 12, 3, 6	8.0
	G Chris Allen - 12, 3, 2	6.5
	F Raymar Morgan - 16, 7, 3	8.0
	F Delvon Roe - 12, 7, 2	7.0
	C Goran Suton - 9, 10, 2	7.0
	Bench	6.5
		43.0
2	PURDUE
	G Chris Kramer - 8, 3, 4	6.0
	G Keaton Grant - 12, 3, 3	6.5
	G E'Twaun Moore - 17, 4, 3	7.5
	F Robbie Hummel - 14, 7, 3	8.0
	C Nemanja Calasan - 8, 6, 1	5.5
	Bench	5.5
		39.0
3	OHIO STATE
	G Anthony Crater - 8, 2, 5	5.0
	G William Buford - 10, 3, 2	6.0
	F Evan Turner - 13, 6, 3	7.0
	F David Lighty - 10, 4, 2	6.0
	C BJ Mullens - 18, 9, 2	9.0
	Bench	5.0
		38.0
4	WISCONSIN
	G Trevon Hughes - 13, 4, 3	7.0
	G Jason Bohanon - 12, 3, 2	6.0
	G Joe Krabbenhoft - 9, 7, 3	6.0
	F Marcus Landry - 12, 7, 1	7.0
	F Keaton Nankivil - 5, 6, 1	5.0
	Bench	5.5
		36.5
5	MICHIGAN
	G Manny Harris - 18, 4, 4	7.5
	G Laval Lucas-Perry - 12, 3, 2	6.0
	F Anthony Wright - 8, 5, 2	5.0
	F DeShawn Sims - 14, 6, 1	6.5
	C Zack Gibson - 8, 6, 0	5.0
	Bench	5.0
		35.0
6	MINNESOTA
	G Al Nolen - 6, 4, 5	5.5
	G Lawrence Westbrook - 12, 4, 3	6.0
	F Devron Bostick - 13, 3, 3	6.5
	F Damian Johnson - 9, 6, 1	5.0
	C Ralph Sampson - 7, 6, 1	5.5
	Bench	6.0
		34.5
7	ILLINOIS
	G Demetri McCamey - 12, 4, 4	6.5
	G Trent Meacham - 12, 3, 3	5.5
	G Alex Legion - 14, 3, 2	7.0
	F Mike Davis - 8, 5, 1	5.5
	F Mike Tisdale - 8, 5, 1	5.0
	Bench	4.5
		34.0
8	PENN STATE
	G Talor Battle - 14, 4, 4	6.0
	G Danny Morrissey - 10, 2, 2	5.0
	G Stanley Pringle - 9, 3, 3	5.5
	F David Jackson - 9, 5, 1	5.0
	F Jamelle Cornley - 15, 7, 2	7.0
	Bench	4.5
		33.0
9	NORTHWESTERN
	G Michael Thompson - 15, 3, 4	6.0
	G Craig Moore - 13, 3, 3	5.5
	F John Shurna - 6, 5, 1	4.5
	F Kevin Coble - 16, 6, 2	6.5
	C Kyle Rowley - 7, 7, 1	5.0
	Bench	4.5
		32.0
10	IOWA
	G Jeff Peterson - 6, 3, 4	4.5
	G Matt Gatens - 9, 2, 2	5.0
	G Jake Kelly - 9, 3, 2	4.5
	F Cyrus Tate - 12, 8, 0	6.5
	F Jarryd Cole - 10, 7, 0	6.0
	Bench	5.0
		31.5
11	INDIANA
	G Devan Dumes - 11, 3, 3	5.5
	G Verdell Jones - 9, 4, 4	5.5
	G Nick Williams - 12, 3, 2	6.0
	F Kyle Taber - 6, 7, 1	4.5
	C Tom Pritchard - 7, 6, 1	5.0
	Bench	4.5
		31.0

8.0+ Players

9.0 BJ Mullens

8.0 Robbie Hummell

8.0 Kalin Lucas

8.0 Raymar Morgan

Note: MSU's sum of 43.0 is on par with other top of conference teams (but lower than UNC's leading 47.5). In general though, the Big Ten rosters had the lowest average scorers, and featured the least amount of high value players.

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